Monday, May 25, 2015

Calamity Campground, Idaho

 

We arrived at Calamity Campground on Wednesday, May 20. As I said in my previous entry, we love this place and we really like our site. We don’t have a view of the lake that Kim likes at the site, but it is only a short walk away. Our site (A8) is on a spur road and gets almost no traffic. The really cool thing is we have a picnic table and fire pit that is very private below the site that is like a private kitchen and dining room. Unfortunately, every time we have tried to eat dinner down there, it has rained. Come to think of it, it has rained every day that we have been here. I guess that is common around the country.

We have gone paddling a couple of times, here are a few shots from the lake. Here is the boat ramp and dock. It was kind of choppy the first day, so we did not go far.

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We found a small cove that protected us from the wind. We just stopped and hung out for a while.

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The next day the water was like glass. We went much further. It was a very nice day. 

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I really like that last picture.

After the paddling trip on the 21st, I decided to walk the campground. Our campground hosts, Cheryl and Mike had told us about a Moose they have seen in the past, but not this year. As I was climbing a steep hill, I saw something black in the bushes. At first I thought it was a horse, but when he turned his head sideways. It was surely a moose. My guess is that it was only about a year old. While I was watching him and looking for mama, I saw a second one to my left. Two baby moose, now that is a first. These things were still very large, my guess about 1000 lbs., but much smaller than other moose I have seen. I never did see Mama.

May 21, 2015 3_23_27 PM 

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I did not get a good shot of baby moose #2, but that was a cool experience.

We have hung out here for what will end up being 6 nights. The crowds did come on Memorial day, but did not come all the way to the campground. I think we had about 6 sites taken over the weekend. I took a ride down to the snake river below the dam and wow there were large groups with 100’s of ATV’s enjoying the weekend. I will do a separate entry about the ride for my riding friends.

It is now Monday afternoon and as is normal, most have headed home to get an early start on making it to work tomorrow. Here we sit in this empty campground enjoying the peace and quiet.

We are moving on tomorrow. We want to get somewhere closer to Jackson, Wyoming so that we can make a few short trips to Grand Teton National Park. Get ready for lots of pictures of big mountains with snow on them and beautiful lakes in the foreground.  I hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend and at some point remembered what Memorial Day is all about. 

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the tip on the great campsite. Is it in a campground or were you boondocking? Will it fit a 40ft 5er? We'll be in that area and were looking for a nice spot on our way to Jackson. Also looking for some boondocking in Jackson. We'll be trying to get into Colter Bay but it is FCFS.

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    1. Debbie, Calamity Campground is a USFS campground. It is $12 per night, no hook ups. We did have water right at our site (A8). That site and a few others will fit a 40 footer. We are in a 39 foot 5er. There are lots of boondocking sites down by the dam, but on weekends there will be ATV's all around you. We found a great place near Jackson. It is Atherton Creek CG. It is also USFS and is $12. This place is beautiful! I will be writing more about it in coming days.

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  2. Thanks for sharing and I'll be looking forward to your upcoming posts!

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  3. Were at Calamity right now. It's gorgeous! I think I remember you posting about a boondocking site in the Gros Vente area? I'm rereading your Teton posts.

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