Idaho & The Kootenai Wildlife Refuge

This week was a fun week, aren't they all? :) We went to visit really special friends of ours who have a ranch over near Sandpoint, Idaho. Our route took us down along the Koocanusa to Libby. The photo above is of Libby Dam. As you can see the water level is right up there. We really had great snowpack this year. Good news for all you folks down river!



Here's another one of mom's better wildlife shots. She really does a great job with statues! ;) The point here though is that this is the site of one of those Super Fund cleanup jobs. W.R. Grace nearly killed off all of the early Libby residents with asbestos. Now the place is a pretty park like setting. Better late than never but not much.



Next stop was the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge. This is located five miles west of Bonner's Ferry. If you are in the area you don't want to miss this place. It is gorgeous.



It doesn't take much imagination to figure what this refuge looks like during the Fall migration. There is an auto tour road that winds through the refuge and gives you a birdseye (pardon the pun) view of all the goings on.



Far and away the coolest thing we saw was a moose cavorting in the water. He's was too far away to get a good photo but boy was this guy having a good time. Mom really gets choked up when we see wild creatures expressing their uninhibited joy of living. Just watching makes you happy too!

Mom says maybe we will come back in the Fall. I hope so but there are so many great places to go in the Fall it's really hard to choose.



We spent a few happy go lucky days at our friends ranch and then it was home again. On the way back we took a different route and instead of going through Bonner's Ferry we went east on 200 and took 56 north back up to 2. We hadn't gone this way before and up 56 is Rose Creek Nature Trail and the Giant Cedars. And let me tell you those cedars are giant.



This is what I call a BIG foot! This is another stop you would want to make if you are ever in the area. The nature trail is very nice and an easy walk for anyone.

That's it from the Kinsey & Koty roadshow. Another great week for us we hope for you too!

©Kinsey Barnard