Visiting our Public Lands

“This place is amazing!”

“These views are spectacular!” 

“These flowers are beautiful!”

 “This is the BEST HIKE EVER!” 

My superlatives kept coming as we continued hiking. Although they were rolling their eyes at me, Eric along with Teresa and Mark really couldn’t disagree. We were out on a fabulous 7-mile hike in Payette National Forest in the mountains north of McCall, Idaho. This was exactly how I wanted to spend my time after my bike race.

Post Race Time

After I successfully finished my Bike NonStop US bikepacking race, it was time to relax. Eric and I planned to spend a month making our way home, hiking and biking and visiting public lands along the way. Both Eric and I love to be physically active in outdoor spaces and what better way of doing this than on our public lands. We didn’t really have an agenda except to visit new-to-us places, to hike to a lookout in Canada that I really wanted to see, and to catch a ferry in Bellingham on August 1. 

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

After a few days of rest in Washington, D.C., with friends Elisa and Steve, we started heading west. 

First was a visit to see my sister, Cindy, who lives outside of Akron, Ohio, a 6-hour drive from D.C. It was great to catch up with her, and while there we realized a national park neither of us had visited was just 30 minutes from where she lives. Of course, we had to go. 

With my oldest sister Cindy

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a bit of an oddity as it is surrounded by urban America. It was first designated as a National Recreation Area to preserve the "scenic, recreational, natural, and historic" values of the land between Cleveland and Akron, which was threatened by development. It was redesignated as a national park in 2000 to provide greater recognition and protection.

We enjoyed stretching our legs on the iconic Ledges Trail. As a national park it is a bit underwhelming, especially when compared to parks such as Denali and Yellowstone, but it was pretty, and we were glad to have visited.

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

Next, we headed to northern Wisconsin. Eric had never been across Lake Michigan, so instead of driving around the lake (and through Chicago!), we opted to drive to Muskegon, Michigan, to catch the fast ferry to Milwaukee, spending time along both sides of Lake Michigan. Muskegon didn’t do much for us, but we enjoyed a couple of days just north of Milwaukee in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, riding bikes along Lake Michigan and taking a well-needed rest day when it rained. 

Biking along Lake Michigan in Two Rivers, Wisconsin

Neither of us had ever been to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, so we decided to take a kayak tour. Our guides were excellent, and we enjoyed the trip, especially kayaking through sea cave formations. Having done ocean kayak trips in Alaska, we were surprised by the lack of animals. We saw a couple of bald eagles and some songbirds, but that was about it. However, we did get a great tour of an old lighthouse. The day before the kayak tour, Eric hiked a trail along Lake Superior while I did a 50-mile bike ride exploring the coast and hillier inland country. Another great visit to another new-to-us public land.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Looking further west on the map, we didn’t see a lot of public lands until the mountain states but then we noted Theodore Roosevelt National Park in northwest North Dakota. Neither of us had been there, but I remembered that Matt and Karen Smith of the “Dear Bob and Sue” books and podcast (all about visiting national parks and public lands) considered it a hidden gem. We relistened to their podcast as we headed west. Even though they loved the park, we had low expectations. But we were surprised by 1) being able to get campsites on a July weekend in the middle of the busy summer tourist season and 2) the variety of landscapes and animal life in the park. Lots of bird life and prairie dogs and bison everywhere. We saw them driving, hiking, biking and even in our campsite. And the landscapes are like the more popular Badlands National Park in South Dakota. We loved the scenery and geologic formations of cannonball concretions and petrified wood forests. This area is definitely a hidden gem. Don’t miss it if you are in the area.

Petrified tree stump

Bison walking right by our car!

Cannonball concretions - a really amazing type of geologic formation

Family and Friends in Montana and Idaho

Next, we drove through Montana. We stopped at Pompeys Pillar National Monument for a hike and to see the place where William Clark (of Lewis and Clark) had carved his name in rock (history comes alive), and then it was on to Helena to visit friends. We got lucky again with the weather, having our second day of rain just when we planned a down day. 

Named after Sacajawea's son

It was cool to see Clark's name that he carved into the rock

Visiting Craig and Mary Kay Linke, Eric's good friends from college days.  We had a few years of both of our families backpacking together.

Visiting Linda Gryzcan, a 70+ bikepacker extraordinaire 

Then it was on to Missoula and visiting our daughter Montana. Eric had gone to college in Missoula, and it was fun to see some of his old haunts and hear stories of his escapades while in college. Eric and I hiked and biked in green spaces when Montana was busy and then when she was free, we all tubed down the Clark Fork River and went ax throwing(!). It was a short but fun visit.

We then headed southwest so we could visit Eric’s sister, Teresa, and her husband Mark in McCall, Idaho, and see the house they had recently built. We stopped along the Lochsa River to do a hike on national forest land.

Hike along the Lochsa River just west of Lolo Pass

McCall is a great small town surrounded by lots of public lands. We had fun doing the nearly perfect hike mentioned earlier, to Hidden and Hard Creek lakes. It ticked all my boxes. Mountain lakes and meadows with great views! Hiking that was stimulating but not too hard or too long! Perfect weather, sunny but not too hot with minimal bugs! And great company! We spent another day in McCall biking and going out on the lake on a pontoon boat. We wanted to stay longer but we still had the one place I really wanted to visit. It was way up in Canada in the Kootenay Mountains near Nakusp, British Columbia. It would be a long drive there from McCall, so I looked for more public lands where we might camp to break up the drive.

With Mark and Teresa at Hidden Lake

Beautiful hike to Hidden and Hard Creek Lakes near McCall, Idaho

The perfect hike with wildflowers, mountain vistas and great weather

Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Oregon and Washington have many public lands. One of my favorite places to visit when I lived in Spokane, Washington, was the Wallowa Mountains – majestic peaks set in the northeast corner of Oregon. Unfortunately, as it was summer, no campsites were available the days we would be there, but a couple of spots were left at Anthony Lake Campground in the nearby Elkhorn Mountains in Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. It looked to be a beautiful spot with hiking right from the campground. The weather was a bit iffy with highs in the mid-50’s and rain the first afternoon but then improving. We invited friends, Mike and Annie, who had recently moved from Fairbanks to Walla Walla, Washington, and they were gung-ho to camp with us. So, I made the reservations, and we planned to meet up at the campground.

With Mike and Annie at Anthony Lake Campground in the Elkhorn Mountains

The weather was cool our entire time camping, but it rained only a couple of hours, and we had a great time together. We hiked around the lake and the next day to another lake and a nice high lookout. We cooked over the campfire and played cards and had a great relaxing time. We were happy to have found another hidden gem. 

Then it was finally time to get to the one spot that I definitely wanted to see.

Saddle Mountain Lookout and Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park

I follow a van-lifer on YouTube, Simon Lambert, known as Foresty Forest, who does epic outdoor adventures while living in his van. He made a winter ascent of Saddle Mountain to a lookout hut, which looked absolutely amazing, especially the drone footage. It was bit of a hairy ascent in winter, but he mentioned there was a trail to the top in summer. I looked it up and found the trail to be very doable. It was the one place that I absolutely wanted to get to on our trip back home. 

We did get there, and it did NOT disappoint. What can I say? The 6-8 mile roundtrip trail was mostly in excellent shape with just a little rock scrambling and with some downed trees to go over and under. The wildflowers were at their peak, the views were incredible, and we even saw some mountain goats. The hut sits high up on a rocky prominence with 360-degree views. It’s an absolutely stunning location and you can even spend the night in the hut. It’s first-come, first-served, but we didn’t have enough time for that. So, we opted for a day hike. We were the first hikers to the cabin (we got up early to drive the 3 hours to the trailhead) and had it to ourselves for 40 minutes before being surprised by a helicopter that landed on a landing pad next to the hut. Four people got out, and about then others hiked up from the trail. But even that didn’t spoil the beauty of this glorious spot. I highly recommend hiking to this place!

Grouse posing in a field of wildflowers

A little climbing over and under downed trees!

A little scrambling near the top

Is it cheating to take a helicopter ride to this spectacular place?!

Since we were already in the Kootenay Mountains, I looked for something else to do. I remembered snowshoeing into Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park in early May many years ago and that it was stupendous. I found out that the 10 backcountry campsites at Kaslo Lake are first-come, first-served. We decided to try for it, but then I found that it was recommended to porcupine-proof your vehicle at the trailhead, as these animals can chew on tires and through brake lines, etc. It was recommended to either put chicken wire around your vehicle or wrap it in a tarp. It wasn’t clear which was better. Did we really want to spend the money on these things just for a couple of days in the backcountry? At first, we decided no, but then I rechecked the weather and it looked to be excellent (warm and sunny with only a slight possibility of afternoon thunderstorms). How could we pass up this opportunity?

Porcupine-proofing our truck with blue tarp AND chicken wire. It may have been a little overkill!  Most people just used chicken wire.

So we bought the supplies and got up early to be on the trail by 9 AM and hopefully get a backcountry site. We also decided to go on Monday instead of the weekend to increase our chances. We were surprised how many cars were in the parking lot when we arrived but hoped most of them were leaving. Everybody had their cars wrapped in chicken wire, so we prepared our car, too. But we had decided to be overachievers and use both a tarp AND chicken wire – we really didn’t want any car issues before our ferry trip. 

Kokanee Lake

The hike in was only 5 miles with 1700 feet elevation gain. The views just got better and better. Kokanee Lake, about halfway in, was beautiful although there was a little exposure over rocks as we hiked high above the length of the lake. We then hiked over Kokanee Pass before dropping through pretty meadows and finally reaching our destination at Kaslo Lake. We got a campsite (the camp did fill up that night) and after setting up our tent, we did another hike to the Kokanee Glacier Cabin (sleeps 20 and has electricity, hot showers, and indoor toilets -- all for $25/person/night!  It’s wildly popular and has a lottery to get a spot) and then further to the historic Slocum Chief Cabin and Helen Deane Lake. 

Kokanee Glacier Cabin - hot water, electricity all for $25/night/person

Not a bad view from the deck of the Kokanee Glacier Cabin

The historic Slocum Chief Cabin.  I'm pretty sure I snowshoed to this cabin from another direction almost 40 years ago.

Helen Deane Lake

The campground at Kaslo Lake has an enclosed cooking shelter with glass windows (which was great as the mosquitoes were annoying) and it was fun to meet other backpackers. We met Julie, a former Alaskan who, with her husband, started and ran Title Wave Books, a well-known independent bookstore in Anchorage, before they retired to Washington. We also met a mom, Joyee, and her two teen-age daughters, who lived off-grid with their dad and another handicapped daughter, in Slocum Valley – the valley further west near the equally spectacular Valhalla Mountains. It was fun to hear about their lifestyle, living with no electricity (except what they get from solar panels to run their computers and charge their phones) or running water. The family also play in their own band (called the Rainbow Hippos). They had been living this lifestyle for 15 years now and love the slower pace of their life. We ended up doing the same hike as them the next day so got to spend more time with them. 

Our campsite at Kaslo Lake

The cooking and food storage shelter at Kaslo Lake Campground

Inside the shelter

Joyee and her daughters who live off-grid in the Slocan Valley

The second day we did a hike up to Sapphire Lakes, summitting Mt. Geigerich first. Another day of stunning views and good hiking and great weather. Such an amazing place. And we and the other family had it all to ourselves. It was spectacular!

Sapphire Lakes

View of the Valhallas from Mt. Geigrich

Glory Basin

Time to finally go home

After the backpack adventure it was time to head to the ferry in Bellingham. We biked on trails and gravel roads in the national forest outside of Winthrop, Washington, and hiked in Whatcom Falls Park on the edge of Bellingham before boarding our ferry. 

On the ferry from Bellingham, Washington to Haines, Alaska

When we got off the ferry three days later, it was another two days of driving to get home. I have mixed feelings about this. It’s good to be home after 2.5 months away with over 12,000 miles of driving.  We had plenty of adventures, mostly good bad some not so much, including coming within 5 miles of running out of gas in very rural North Dakota and getting a huge hunk of metal stuck in our tire requiring getting four new tires in Castlegar, British Columbia. And me getting hundreds of no-see-um bites while in Theodore Roosevelt National Park!

But I’m also sad to stop exploring our public lands. There are so many beautiful and wild places in Canada and the US left to explore. We tried to see as many as we could along the way.  Almost every day we made sure to stop and stretch our legs on public lands that were on our route. 

Brownstone Falls in Copper Falls State Park in Wisconsin. We stopped here for a quick hike on our way to Apostle Islands.

It was nice to camp in our new pop-up camper-topper

Hopefully in a couple of years, we will do another trip. Maybe eastern Canada and New England in the fall? Or southwestern US in the spring? We are lucky to have so many public lands: BLM, national forests, national and state parks. Many of these places are at risk right now from budget cuts and possibly selling of the land to private investors. We need to protect these wild places for future generations to enjoy. If you feel the same way, please write or call and let your legislators know.