In January of 1972, Jim Dix and I began plans for a backpacking trip in the summer of that year. He had grown up in Caldwell, Idaho, and wanted to hike in Idaho. During lunch one day we examined a highway map of the state, looking for lakes in the mountains. We found Ship Island Lake to the West of the towns of Challis and Salmon. We ordered the national forest map for the area, which arrived in a few weeks. We opened it up and there were many lakes and trails! We ordered the U.S. Geological topographic sheets of the same area and began planning for late July.

We packed up our gear and left Greenville, S.C., on Saturday, July 29, and were in Idaho by Sunday evening. We drove to our trail head (the end of the road, now Big Horn Crags campground) at 8600 feet elevation on Monday morning. We hiked 10 miles across gentle mountain trails (varying between 8600 and 9000 feet) to Heart Lake (at the Big Horn Crags) and looked down on the four Terrace Lakes and decided to camp at one of them. Our camping gear included our back packs, a 10x12foot coated nylon tarp for a tent, five days of food (dried), 1 qt. water each, cold gear, a small one burner gas stove, 1 qt. white gas, matches, maps, two sleeping bags, and two fly fishing rods. (I never carried a back pack of more than 35 pounds.) We soon discovered we did not have to make work assignments. We each performed the necessary work until it was all done!

Jim showed me how to fly fish along the lake shore. There were LOTS of cutthroat trout in that lake. We soon caught 5 nice 10-to-14 inch trout. The 14-inch trout was too big for the frying pan, so we didn’t keep any that were over 12 inches after that. We were on the next to lowest of the four small lakes.

There was a wisp of smoke at the upper lake. So Jim walked up to see who our neighbors were. He found a young couple and she was making a Jello® cheese cake and Jim liked dessert! Jim offered to trade some trout for half the cheesecake. They said they would take all five (their fishing was unsuccessful), and Jim agreed. We went back to fishing and after catching two more, the fish stopped biting! So, we had 2 nice trout to supplement our packed-in food. We carried light weight tent stakes and 50 feet of 1/8-inch cord, but no tent poles. We strung the cord between two trees, about 3 feet off the ground, with the edges about 6 inches above the ground for ventilation.

On Tuesday, Aug. 1, we hiked down to the Middle Fork of the Salmon river, 10 miles from 8500 feet elevation to 3500 feet elevation. It was cool and sunny at the start of that day’s hike. The forest was scattered with very tall conifers with expanses of grass in between. While we were in the early part of the hike, we saw a golden eagle family, male, female and a fully fledged young lighter-colored eagle.

The trail passed between two 100 foot tall conifers in which the eagles were sitting. As we approached, the male flapped his wings once, letting out a powerful call “you had better not harm my family!” Without moving his wings again, he circled back over us, and I took a picture with my small Olympia camera, silhouetting him against the very blue sky. He continued circling, soaring perhaps 2000 feet into the sky, almost out of sight! That roll of film jammed, and I had to open the camera, ruining all the pictures! (Was the spirit of that eagle too strong to be captured in the camera?)

Eventually we came in sight of the river far below, a tiny Coke-bottle-green ribbon. It looked like there might be watercraft on the river, but it was so far below, we could not be sure. As we descended, we could begin to make out river rafts. As we got lower, we could see kayaks also. Eventually, we could see people in bathing suits on the gravel bar at the mouth of Big Creek.

It was very hot in that 5000-foot deep mountain canyon, hotter than anything I had ever experienced in Kansas (which was 113ºF in the 1950s). It felt like at least 120ºF, but it was VERY dry (how hot was it?). The river was 75 feet wide, 15 feet deep, and flowing about 10 miles an hour. In the quiet sections, the water was clear enough to see the rocks at the bottom!