Day 65: McCall ID to Yellow Pine ID

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We are having two days in McCall.We are thrilled to be with Anne and Joe at their northern hemisphere home in McCall; and to be sharing our visit with Mark 'Radioman' Donham.

We are all going on a road trip to Yellow Pine, a very isolated village in the back country . The 80km journey from McCall follows the Lick and Salmon rivers on gravel roads.

We are going to meet some characters.

We stop occasionally along the way

There has been a huge forest fire in the valley. The granite hills are exposed.

Elly has come along for the ride. She is a very clever collie/blue heeled cross. She has us all trained, especially Anne.
We arrive at Yellow Pine and settle in for a late lunch.
Joe was hoping to meet up with a local who he has played golf with in McCall.
As luck would have it Barry Bryant came in to have lunch. A happy reunion.
Barry and his wife have a house on Stewart Island, New Zealand.
We learned a little about outfitting and guiding in the area. Barry is an enthusiastic hunter, pilot and outdoors person.
Meet Don. He told me he came to this area when he was a teenager 45 years ago. He lives in a walled tent year round. He grows his own potatoes and gets food in town and from his hunting.

He has been collecting morels in the forest and had come into town to sell some dried morels.

$10 an ounce is the going rate - that is worth smiling about.

Quirky wood carvings...
A golf course among the trees..
Fireweed to remind us of our time in Alaska.

We head home via another route.
We encounter a fallen tree which is too heavy for our strong men.

There is a solution.

Clouds are gathering as we return to McCall.
Humming birds are well treated here...
...and so are we!
A memorable day.
 

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