On Saturday we drove the short distance to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Trail in Challis National Forest. Upon arriving at the trail head (which would lead us to Langer Lake) we found this car from Texas pictured above.
Apparently two folks from Texas signed into the trail register for a 6 day camping/hiking trip but failed to list their actual destination in the log (bet they won't make that mistake again). On the 4th of July (their 4th day camping) around 2:30 p.m. a bizarre wind kicked up and snapped this healthy pine in half. It landed right across their car. There were many dead and burned trees right next to this one still standing without any damage from the wind.
Some nice Idaho folks did remove the tree from the road (it was completely blocked) and left a note for the out of state visitors. The ranger even came by while I was there with the dogs and left a second note that he would come back on Sunday to try to offer them assistance. He had been by each day after being notified but had no luck in tracking them down.
It's hard not to smile when you note the bumper sticker on the back of their car "Don't Mess with Texas." Maybe Idaho took it personally and decided to answer back. This was the only car in the trail head parking lot from out of state and they had work stickers and registration that was current from Texas (stickers on their now broken windshield) that definitely indicated that they were just traveling through. Bet they never come back.
On a side note 3 of the people that stopped to gander at the destruction I noted had hip holsters on with guns at their side. None of them were together but were from separate parties. I guess if all the gun slinging campers on their ATV's don't scare the folks from out of state the pine trees will take matters into their own hands. They also had a "Leave No Footprint" bumper sticker too. I think their new motto should be "Don't Mess With Idaho!"
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