Crooked River Trail and See Spot Walk

Saturday ended up being a full throttle day for Lizman, myself and the Pei's of Adventure. We started the morning in downtown Boise at the 18th Annual Humane Society Fundraiser - See Spot Walk. There were thousands of dog owners and their furry friends walking this year. We even managed to run into Lizman's older brother Derrick, his girlfriend Lindsey and their Labrador Harley at the walk.

Once we made it out of downtown and had the mile walk under our belt we hit the Letterboxing trail fast and furious. We found four boxes on our way to Idaho City and then continued about 18 miles north of ID 21 to Edna Campground and Crooked River Trail. In my backpack ready to be planted were four letterboxes. Three were my new Leaf Warrior Letterbox Series (a limited number of LTC's are still available to trade) and my last Art By Caron Vinson: Capricorn Portrait Letterbox (no LTC's left to trade).

The almost three mile hike (out and back) is a walk through a high-elevation alpine ecosystem along a clear river on one of the few non motorized trails in Boise National Forest. Stunning rock outcroppings contrast with the surrounding forest. The trail does continue an additional 9.7 miles beyond my turn around spot (where I planted the last of the four boxes) but on this trip we stopped at the new 70-foot long single-span metal bridge. It seemed like a natural break in the trail for working my clues.

We still had several boxes to find on our return trip to Boise. We found one more Letterbox in Idaho City and then stopped for an early dinner at Trudy's. On our way back to Boise we found four additional boxes. I was almost stamping in the dark by the time I located the last box. This is about the time I discovered that Mr. Blackvelvetrav never put my headlamp back in my Letterboxing bag (shame on him). By the time we got home it was about 9:30 p.m. and the only energy I had left was to slip into a bubble bath and then into bed. A day on the trail is the best kind of tired anyone can have!