The Summer Routine

It's nearly August here in North Idaho. We've slipped into our summer routine - warm/hot and dry weather, lots of visitors, and communal evening meals. We had a relatively rainy spring and early summer - I've seen that once before, but I've never seen a wet August here. That sounds idyllic, but we get occasional smoke from forest fires and the grass fires (set deliberately by grass growers to stimulate new growth). The latter activity is increasingly controversial as the non agrarian population climbs.

This weekend Eli's brother Ivar with family and Eli's son Nik (maybe with friend) will show up. Then my youngest, Jim, will come up with me when I come back from a trip to Spokane. Eli's sister Brit and family are in and out of town, but will settle in for a while next week. They have their own place.

Daily activities vary from person to person, but mountain hikes and mountain biking are the rule. City Beach is a few minutes away so that is a common destination in the heat of the day. Although there a handful of decent restaurants offering waterfront ambience, the culinary talents of this 'organic' group are more than competitive; so we rarely go out to dinner.

Sandpoint's flavor is changing, now that it has been discovered and pushed by several national magazines and newspapers. Real estate prices have skyrocketed, property taxes have tagged along, an esthetically challenged "bypass" is in the works, large condo developments are invading relatively pristine waterfront, and newcomers abound. This was prophesied by the Eagles many years ago when Don Henley sang "call someplace Paradise, kiss it goodbye".

Richard
2005.07.28

Visiting the Priest

Yesterday Eli and I drove to the north end of Priest Lake, about a 90 minute drive. Accompanying us were Eli's sister Brit and their mother, Mag. We carried three bikes as well. After parking the Subaru, we walked 1.5 kilometers along the shore line trail to reach the campsite infested by the Rinck and Price families, friends from the greater Sandpoint metroplex.

The campsite was on the lake shore with the Selkirk mountains in the background. When we arrived, most of the men and boys were out wake boarding on the lake, but eventually both boats returned and filled the camp with teenage energy.

After settling in for a while, a group of six of us (led by 12 year old Jansen Rinck) biked that same shore line trail north for 7.62 kilometers to Upper Priest Lake. Our group included Eli, Brit, Diane Rinck, Debbie Price, Jansen, and me. Mag stayed in camp on the shore of the lake, enjoying the view. The ride is one of those magical single track routes where you feel that the elves just scattered before you came around the last corner. It is technical in places, but not physically demanding. After everyone but Jansen and I took a swim, we road back to camp for lunch. Then, about 3 PM we returned to the car, loaded the bikes, and drove back to Sandpoint.

Lower and Upper Priest Lakes get a fair number of visitors, many from Spokane. Yet the waters remain pristine and the scenery unspoiled. Despite the attraction of Priest Lake, we only visit on rare occasions. The Sandpoint area can match the scenery and has the significantly bigger and deeper Pend Oreille Lake with some of its own remote, unspoiled beaches.

Richard
2005.07.22

Riding like Lance

Our TV is fed from an aerial in the attic, netting us one TV station from Spokane - about 75 miles distant. Consequently, this morning Bill D'Olier and I drove up to Diane and John Rinck's home so we could watch the 10th stage of the Tour de France. We were polite and invited ourselves first. As we watched Lance Armstrong power up toward Courcheval, I thought to myself that yesterday (on my ascent to Schweitzer) I rode like Lance - unfortunately it was Lance at age 97.

At this point, I bike Schweitzer about twice per week and am slowly getting back into my summer biking shape. In between these 'big' rides, I do an occasional run and/or some single track biking. Today I ran, but Eli took two of her friends (Jan and Vicki) into the Syringa heights single track system. All three returned, but detoured to a local coffee/pastry shop on the way home.

This Friday I hope to get the Fulbright application into the mail. Then over the weekend I'll do a section of fence using the method I started employing last summer - 30 inch steel fence post stakes in concrete, then treated 4x4 posts bolted to the stakes. The wood posts are therefore above ground, significantly lessening rot, and semi-easily replaced. The fence should last beyond my lifetime, especially if I die during its construction.

Richard
2005.07.12

Summer Trundles On

I continue with occasional solo bike rides to Schweitzer, but (with Eli) have also been biking the Syringa Heights trail system on the west edge of Sandpoint. In Austria, the concept of "no trespassing" in rural environments gains only a little traction; so in the alps it's easy to find bike routes. There are some places where hikers and bikers might interfere with one another, so paying attention to signage and exhibiting good manners are appropriate e.g. don't ride through planted fields. Here in the states, it's another matter - owners of large rural tracts jealously guard their property; visitors are typically unwelcome. And that's not unreasonable, since the public is often careless with trash and the application of common sense is uncommon.

Some years ago we biked quite without restraint in the Syringa Heights area; the number of bikers was few. As that rural, forested area became developed, the new owners were loath to have bikers blasting past their castles. We abandoned some of our favorite rides, fearing confrontations with angry property owners. Then the local bike club stepped in and secured permission from individual property owners to use a nice selection of designated trails. So once again we can use a wonderful system of single track trails, maintained by volunteers. Presumably this can continue until all the forest is developed - as long as we bikers respect the rights of the property owners and don't stray onto non designated terrain. Kudos to the bike club and the cooperating property owners!

Eli's son Nik is currently here for a short visit, but will be back in late July. He is on his way back from Victoria to Phoenix and caught a ride here for this quick stay. It's always great to see him and observe his positive energy.

Richard
2005.07.08