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The longest trip (in days) that I've done so far was a three day trip in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. It was only 18 miles in length but the scenery was magnificent. The mountains there are composed of a granite that is pink in color. I know that I shouldn't do this but I took home a small sliver of the pink granite to put on my desk. It helps to remind me of the fun I had on that trip.
The Sawtooth Mountains are located in the middle of Idaho between the towns of Sun Valley and Stanley. Sun Valley is located to the south and Stanley to the north. If you've never had a chance to see this part of Idaho, I highly recommend that you make the trip. There are lots of other things to do here including mountain biking. Go and have a ton of fun!
Another great place to go backpacking is in the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area, located in the northeast corner of Oregon. Some of the interesting features of the wilderness area include high alpine lakes and meadows, bare granite peaks and ridges and U-shaped glaciated valleys. Elevations range from 5,000 feet in lower valleys to near 10,000 atop the highest peaks.
| Random Backpacking Quote Of The Day |
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| ACTUAL comments received in 1996 from the Bridger Wilderness (Bridger-Teton National Forest) registration sheets and comment cards |
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The Lakes Basin Area is one of the most popular and, consequently, heavily used part of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. There is the opportunity to make a 60+ mile loop that encircles the best parts of the Lakes Basin area. Some incredible scenery, alpine lakes for fishing and relatively easy access guarantees that you won't lack for company on these trails though. Many of the people you'll encounter will be on horseback. This area also attracts hunters in the fall. If it's solitude you're seeking, you might do better to try one of the equally spectacular but far less crowded areas of the wilderness. I've had my eye on this loop for some time but it's been hard to set aside the week or so necessary to do it. No better time than now though.
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I've spent some time in this area and I've only just scratched the surface. The only drawback to the Jackson Hole area is the number of people you're likely to encounter. Get far enough off the beaten path and you'll cut way down on that number. The Idaho side of the Teton's has even less people visit it. I've often wondered about taking the tram up to the top of the Jackson Hole ski area and backpacking the ridges from there over to Grand Targhee ski area. It wouldn't be easy but I imagine you'd get to see a section of the country that most people don't. Have to keep this one in my planning schedule.
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Sacha is a cute little pincushion. He's not hard to care for and we love to rub his tummy. We feed him a pet food that has been specially formulated for hedgehogs. Every now and then we like to give Sacha a special treat - mealworms. We get the giant variety and Sacha just slurps them up real quick. I think it's his favorite snack. Sacha has been running our household for a little over a year so far. We hope to have him with us for a good long time!
You have to make sure that you have every avenue of escape covered up for hedgehogs. When we first bought Sacha, we also got a cage from the pet store. The cage had small openings at the corners of the lid. I didn't think that Sacha could squeeze through, but I was wrong! We came back one night and couldn't find Sacha anywhere in his cage. He had gotten out and was hiding under some bags nearby. Needless to say, we had to cover those routes up! And that wasn't the only time Sacha escaped!
Sacha is one of the most determined little creatures I've every encountered. We take him out of his cage at night to let him run around. We have a section of the house that we can block off and let him run to his heart's content. While we're out in the living room, we can hear the pitter patter of little feet as Sacha explores. Once Sacha gets it in his mind that he wants to go somewhere he doesn't let anything stop him. He puts his little nose underneath the object and just levers it up out of the way. Sacha has moved some surprisingly big stones using this method. And if he finds a particular place that we think he shouldn't be in, as soon as we block off the entrance, Sacha is back and trying to get in again. He definitely knows what he wants.
Even though they look like it, hedgehogs aren't related to porcupines. The hedgehog's spines, while sharp (kind of like a stiff evergreen pine needle), don't pull out like the porcupine. When frightened, the hedgehog rolls up into a ball and presents only his spines to the outside world. One word of caution, you don't want to be caught inside a hedgehog defensive ball! It can be quite painful.
We're working on making a wheel for Sacha to run on. The ones that you can buy at the pet store for hamsters don't work since the hedgehog's legs can fall through the wire wheel. There are wheels made specifically for hedgehogs but I want to try and make the wheel myself. So far we just have some ideas that we got from the Hedgehog FAQ (see "Other Hedgehog Pages" below). We have made a little tunnel for Sacha to play in. We went down to the hardware store and got a length of 4" PVC sewer pipe and one 3-way tee. We didn't use any glue so we could take the pipe apart if we wanted to (Also didn't want Sacha to try and eat the glue. He'd probably think is tasted bad and try to anoint himself with it.) It makes a nice place for Sacha to run through and also to hide out if he hears us coming.
If you're interested in getting a hedgehog as a pet, a really good reference book is "African Pygmy Hedgehogs As Your New Pet" by Dennis Kelsey-Wood. This is the book that we bought before we got Sacha and it has a lot of useful information in it.
A good place for info on the web is Other Hedgehog Pages.
| I found out about Sacha's distant cousin (at least he looks like Sacha), the Echidna. The Echidna lives in Australia (and the surrounding regions) |  |
If you want to find out more about this little creature, check out The Echidna and I web page. You'll find a lot of fun information there. Here's the author's description of his web page:
"(Pronounced eh-KID-nah, and NOT eh-CHID-nah) A small mammal, covered in a coat of spines and native to Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, also known as the Spiny Anteater. Like the Platypus, Echidnas are Monotremes, and therefore reproduce by laying eggs. This page aims to tell you all about Echidnas."
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Sea Kayaking is a new sport that my wife and I are very interested in trying out. We want to take an organized trip with an outfitter to get a feel for the sport before we invest in our own equipment. We'd sure love to see and listen to the Orca whales on our first trip.
Since we do live near the Columbia River we would have close access to paddling water. Water sports are real popular where we live but we don't have much interest in motor driven boats. A trip that sounds like fun would be to put in at the Vernita Bridge with sea kayaks or canoes, and float the Columbia down to Columbia Park in the Tri-Cities. That stretch of the Columbia River goes through the Hanford site and is also under consideration as a "Wild and Scenic River". This section is called the Hanford Reach. For a more complete explanation of what the Hanford Reach is, see the web page by Suzanne C. and Tiffany W. The Hanford Reach. The Reach area can also be accessed by road from Pasco. You can explore by foot, horseback, or mountain bike along the Wahluke Slope, just across the river from the old Hanford townsite. Check out the Backyard Tourist section of the local online newspaper (Tri-City Herald) for more information on recreational opportunities in the Wahluke Slope area.
Check out the Sea Kayaker Magazine internet page. The current issue of the magazine as well asis is an index of back issues. Other on-line sources include Wave-Length Magazine and A Salty Dog Magazine
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