Emigrant Springs SP, Meacham, OR

 Day 31: June 23, 2021

Drive day: we arrive at Emigrant Springs State Park, near Meacham, OR

Stuff: Just a few photos of some things we get to see as we drive along the highway. And some wild flowers from our bike ride after dinner. And even though we have more “bars” here then we typically do, I had no luck posting the photos in the order I uploaded them to the blog. They skipped where they were most at home, I guess. So, there is no particular story here. Driving and flowers. That’s about it!

We followed and criss-crossed the Snake River as we made our way north on I-84. I took this one out of the passenger window just to show how important water is. Note the green, VERY green, field. In the foreground is what this would look like were it not watered excessively. There is a ton of agriculture in Idaho, followed by cattle ranching, with a few horses thrown in. We saw a ton of center pivot watering systems, along with some post waterers, and some set into the ground similar to what my California friends used to use for their lawns (Rainbird?). I would hazard a guess that most of the water for agriculture here is from the Snake River, which has been dammed and diverted into large irrigation canals. We were told that watering of crops is constant and continues night and day.

Hay bales were abundant all along the Idaho portion of today’s drive. These are HUGE hay bales, stacked, and then covered with plastic tarps. They looked a bit like airplane hangers!

We saw two yellow crop dusting planes between Rupert and Twin Falls (bonus smudge of dirt on the front windshield)

View looking up from our campsite. The smell is divine—like a cedar sachet. But you can see and hear the freeway through the trees—as glorious as the setting is, this may be our NOISIEST campsite so far! (I’ve slept in motel rooms like this, so we can manage here for three nights!)

Indian Paintbrush (and some orange honeysuckle being shy)

I was a bit shocked to see a strip mine of coal!! This is not a particularly good picture, but like I said, I was in SHOCK. I just don’t think of coal being in demand out west.

The individual flowers in this compound flower remind me of orchids!

I just loved the colors on this Showy Milkweed bud. So unusual.

Bonus photo of the plant. I would’ve missed these, but I got out of the truck when Dan was offloading our tanks at the dump station (RV talk for emptying grey water and black water tanks).

Yellow Wild Indigo (is that an oxymoron?)

More Yellow Indigo

Orange honeysuckle selfie fail

Orange Honeysuckle, noticed when taking Indian Paintbrush photo….

Tomorrow we do part of the Hell’s Canyon Loop and get educated on the Oregon Trail. Stay tuned….