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We traveled 147 miles from Butte, MT to North Fork, Idaho. The Water’s Edge RV Park was our destination. It was a small RV Park nestled along the Salmon River with the river running behind all nine camping spots! The RV park is in the center of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness that is known as the Whitewater Capital of the world. Hmmm…seems like there should be cell service in the area…but there was none. We were thankful for wi-fi!
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Upon arrival at the RV Park, we were surpirsed to find just one RV in the park. What is going on? I went to the office to register (we had reservations), but, the office was closed. Our name was posted on the door with our assigned RV site number. We pulled into our assigned space, located right next to the only other RV in the park. The RV owner/neighbor was friendly and shared the wifi and bathroom code with us. This was our third time to this park, and on our prior visits, the park was always popular and full. It seemed strange to find it empty! Soon after we settled in, a huge wind storm roared through the valley. It was the strongest wind I had ever felt! Afterwards, we saw tree limbs down in the park and along the river. We were thankful, that we didn’t find any damage to our RV! We did not have a very warm, fuzzy, feeling about this visit!
During our 3 day stay, we drove to the small neighboring towns of Gibbonsville, Salmon, Darby, and Hamilton. A highlight for me was our trip to Darby to locate the Chief Joseph Ranch, a working ranch and filming location for the hit series “Yellowstone”. As we approached the driveway for the ranch, we could see the barricades and security guard. There were cars parked along the road and people were walking along the fence to get a peak at the ranch. I think that Ken and I were the only fans not in cowboy attire! Even the group from Argentina had cowboy hats! Ken stood back as I joined the other tourists taking photos. We were entertained by some beautiful horses that were running in the front, near the gate. Beyond the gate, there was not much that could be seen. A partial glimpse of the barn, and the back side of the main house. The ranch had two beautiful entryways complete with cameras and security. Through the gate, we could see the “Yellowstone Dutton Ranch” portal entry gate. We were surprised to discover how different the acutal ranch setting is from the portrayal in the show. Hollywood Magic at work! Still, it was a beautiful ranch in a beautiful setting!
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On our last day in North Fork, we drove to the ghost town, Shoup, on the banks of the Salmon river. Shoup was once a thriving gold mining town named after Idaho’s Governor Shoup. The town was established in 1881 when placer gold was discovered in the Salmon River. At one time there were more than 600 people living in Shoup, with the norml complement of saloons, an art gallery, and an opera house. Today, we could only find evidence of the past at the general store with their gravity gasoline pumps. Many adventurers enjoy the river canyon, but, today it was truly a ghost town.
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Leaving Shoup, we continued on“Salmon River Road”. We drove for miles along the river and encountered wildlife viewing, rugged scenery, historic mines, Native American pictographs.nThe weather was gorgeous, but, we didn’t see any rafters or fisherman today!
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Wildlife Viewing
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What a Beautiful Day for A Picnic
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At the end of the day we returned to the RV park and were happy to find two more RV’s had checked into the park. Supposedly, Bow Season will be starting soon, and business will be booming!
Tomorrow- Arco, ID
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