Category: Landscapes

A Trip to Northern Idaho – Part 5

by Michael

Welcome to part 5.

After a very good lunch at My Kitchen in St Maries ID, we continued to follow the road east out of town, following the St Joe river. We asked at the restaurant about the moose and were told that about around 19.4 miles there would be moose just lying around all over the place! We could hardly wait. Finally! Some big wildlife to capture!

On our way, we continued to watch to see what else we might see. It wasn’t long before we started seeing all sorts of eye-catching sights, such as this field of blue wildflowers. I’m not sure exactly what type of flowers these are, but I’m pretty sure these are not the blue bonnets we have been seeing in other places. Still though, a very pretty scene.

A field of pretty blue wildflowers

If anyone knows what these flowers are, let me know and I’ll update this page and give you credit for the knowledge, because I have no idea.

More pretty wildflowers

A little further down the road we came across a waterfall right off the roadside. Well, you know this is going to call for a stop and photos. Karen took this one but made the mistake of telling us she was taking it. Yes, I’m sucking in my gut. Hey! You would too if you had just eaten the burger I had! I was stuffed!

Me and Janice by the waterfall.

Throwing caution to the wind (this would be a recurring theme), I crawled down the bank of the roadway to get down at the water level. I found a place under the bridge where I got this shot. However, I had been so excited about jumping out of the car, I left my tripod so getting a longer exposure was not possible. My old hands aren’t as steady as they once were. Still though, this captures the scene rather well, showing the power of the water flowing down the mountain. Not all waterfall photos have to be with a slow shutter speed.

Roadside waterfall

And, of course, while I am “risking life and limb” for a shot (ha!), Karen is taking the beauty route and finding more pretty flowers up top. This is not the same as the field of flowers we saw before, but still very pretty. I noticed there are a lot of blue flowers up here.

Roadside wildflower

After driving well past the 19.4 mile mark on the road, we still had seen no moose. I was even driving extra slow, pulling over to allow others to go past us to keep from missing anything by driving too fast. Still though, there was plenty of beautiful scenery. Even the power pole couldn’t ruin this beautiful framed scene.

Framed mountain

Making our way back I saw a turn off for Killarney Lake and decided to give wildlife one last chance to make an appearance for the day. Time was running out and at this point I had pretty much given up hope of seeing a moose.

The drive around the lake was nice. It was relaxing to be off the highway for a bit. There were some waterfowl in the area so it wasn’t a total bust. Karen got this cinimmon teal duck (?) floating on the lake, just enjoying the afternoon sun.

Continuing on around the lake we saw a few other birds but it was mostly quiet. And then, as we reached the end of the road, I looked across the lake to a shallow marshy area and what was it I was seeing? Yes!! A Moose!! It wasn’t the massive herd we had been told about, and it wasn’t a male with a huge rack, but by golly, we got us a moose! We can go home happy now!

While the moose was on the other side of the lake, we didn’t get any close-up shots, but we were happy with the fact that we got to see one so we weren’t going to complain. Now it was time to head back to our room, relax, and prepare for our next day. Let’s just say that our little waterfall today had bitten me and I had some research to do!

Stay tuned for part 6!

Michael
Sharing God’s Creation, One Click at a Time

All words and photos copyright 2019 MHampton Photography
Equipment used: Canon 5DS-R, Canon 1DX II, Canon T6S, and various Canon lenses and Insta360 One X

A Trip to Northern Idaho – Part 3

by Michael

Welcome to part 3!

After spending time at Fernan lake, we headed to pick up Janice. We then headed to Post Falls ID, which is between Coeur d’Alene and Spokane. I had mentioned I would like to find some waterfalls somewhere so obviously a place named Post “Falls” would seem like a likely place to find some.

Well, we got there and what we found wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but very cool and exciting nonetheless. Originally designed to power a lumber mill, the dam has been turned into a hydro-electric facility that provides power for miles around.

Avista Dam on the Spokane River in Post Falls ID

Of course, while we were there we took time for a group shot. I’m still getting the hang of this 360 camera but it gives some pretty cool views nonetheless.

Looking the other direction down the river you can see this beautiful arched bridge crossing the Spokane. Constructed in 1929 it serves as the only means of getting to Avista Island (to the left) for maintenance of the dam.

High Bridge

Karen caught my better side while I was shooting the bridge. This is what happens when you take the best vantage point for your photo leaving your wife to make do. 🙂

My better side

In the mean-time, Karen found some ducks at the park. This drake was being chased by a female. He wasn’t having any part of it and jumped in the water to get away. She remained right behind him as he swam away.

Mallard drake

After chasing the ducks, Karen emerged from the woods and I was able to catch her good side. 🙂

The woman of my dreams

After spending some time at the park we needed to let Janice take care of some puppy-sitting business for a friend in town. Lucky for us, this house was near access to the Spokane river and Janice told us to go play and come back for her later. When we entered the area there were signs warning of moose in the area so once more, we got our hopes up. We found birds instead, which we love, but a moose would have been great.

This black capped chickadee looks a lot like the Carolina chickadees in my back yard, but slightly different. So, a lifer for me to add to my list. This one must have been hungry because it had just caught a juicy morsel.

Black capped chickadee with meal

Of course, while I was chasing birds, Karen found more flowers. I believe this is another blue bonnet, even if it is mostly purple. I had no idea they grew this far north.

Another Idaho blue bonnet

After walking around a while, and not seeing any moose, Karen and I found a park bench along the banks of the Spokane River and decided to sit and relax a bit. It was very peaceful here and we enjoyed our time.

And while we were sitting on the park bench relaxing, this strange looking bird caught my eye. I was able to sneak up close enough to capture a few images before it jumped down and scurried into the brush. I recognized it as a quail from the forehead feather, but it wasn’t until later that a friend identified it for me as a California quail. Add another new one to the list!

California quail

And that about does it for this day and for part 3. Come back for part 4 and our hunt for the elusive moose!

Michael
Sharing God’s Creation, One Click at a Time

All words and photos copyright 2019 MHampton Photography
Equipment used: Canon 5DS-R, Canon 1DX II, Canon T6S, and various Canon lenses and Insta360 One X

A Trip to Northern Idaho – Part 2

by Michael

Our second adventure day was to see another mountain, this time east of Coeur d’Alene named Silver Mountain. Unfortunately, we got there and it was just like Wally World, closed. They weren’t opening the gondola rides up the mountain until the next weekend, after we were to leave. Oh well, time to improvise another adventure.

On our way to Silver Mountain, we passed Old Mission State Park, so we decided to stop and see what it was all about. This was a mission that was set up to minister to the local Native Americans in the area. This is noted as being the oldest building in Idaho, being built between 1850 and 1853 by Roman Catholic missionaries and members of the Coeur d’Alene tribe. The Sacred Heart Mission served the local community for many years and featured the chapel, the priests’ home, and a school. The school burned down in 2011.

Sacred Heart Chapel

Next door to the chapel was the house in which the priests lived. While certainly sparse by today’s standards, 150 years ago, I bet this was living pretty well. Here is a 360 view of inside the clergy house.

Back outside, being from Texas, we found it interesting that there were blue bonnets growing here on the grounds. I guess they were trying hard to make this place feel closer to heaven. 🙂

Blue bonnets in Idaho? Who knew?

After spending the day looking for adventure, we had dinner and parted with our friend Janice for the day. I then decided to hop onto Facebook and see if there were any local birding spots. I got a reply from someone connected with the Coeur d’Alene Audubon Society who recommended we try Fernan Lake. We decide that would be our first stop of the day tomorrow prior to picking up Janice. You see, we love Janice, but she’s just not into birds. 🙂

The next day we do just that. After waking up and eating breakfast, we head out to Frenan Lake to see what it is all about. We were not disappointed. While there is public access at various points around the lake, it is also surrounded by houses and private property. Some of the houses were pretty amazing.

Houses overlooking lake Fernan

We found at the south end of the lake, one of the occupants was an osprey. It was there nearly every day, just waiting for us to catch it and take its photo. Karen got this one.

Osprey on branch

Spend enough time watching an osprey around water and sooner or later it is going to get something to eat. It apparently caught this small fish around the corner because I did not witness the catch, but it did honor us with this fly-by.

Osprey with lunch

There were also several families of Canadian geese in the lake. We saw groups of just a few to one with about 15 little ones in tow. This is one of the families of medium size.

Canadian geese family

And what kind of birding place at a lake would it be without an appearance of a great blue heron! These huge majestic birds make flying look easy. I mean if these huge lanky things can fly, why can’t I?

GBH fly-by

Near the north end of the lake is a patch of water plants with beautiful yellow flowers. It was a very peaceful spot to relax before heading out on another day of adventure in Idaho.

Water flower

And that ends part 2 of our Idaho adventure! Say tuned for part 3!

Michael
Sharing God’s Creation, One Click at a Time

All words and photos copyright 2019 MHampton Photography
Equipment used: Canon 5DS-R, Canon 1DX II, Canon T6S, and various Canon lenses and Insta360 One X