McCall and Cascade, ID - August 28 - September 3, 2025

Thursday August 28, 2025

 Painters start today on the whole inside of the house, so since we were going to be relegated to living in the RV for the next several days anyway, we took a chance to see if we could book a spot in the mountains over Labor Day weekend.  We scored and found a place in McCall, ID (Black Bear RV) that could take us.  We had booked this park just after the 4th of July but had to cancel because the road had washed out and we couldn't get to McCall from where we were.

The park is very nice, lots of trees and so far very quiet, not full yet, but I'm sure it will be by the weekend.  The temperature is very pleasant here, only in the 70's so that is going to be a great change of pace for us.  We're hoping to get some hiking and fishing in while we're here.

Found a BringFido at the Marina in McCall and enjoyed some time looking out over the water of Payette Lake.

Friday, August 29, 2025

Took a drive south to Cascade, a nice town sitting along the banks of Cascade Lake.  We found a nice park and walking trail along the Payette River and took the boys for a long walk.  The river has been turned into a recreational area for kayakers and boogie boarders with a couple of areas of white water.

We bought some nightcrawlers and headed out to Horsethief Lake on the advice of the folks at the bait shop.  Just a few miles out of town, nestled in the pine trees.  We drowned a couple of the worms, but no catching - there was another guy there fishing and he hadn't had a bite all morning.

Gave up  on the fish and headed back to McCall where we found a great BringFido place for lunch and an adult beverage.  We shared that big Poke bowl you see in the picture, so much food we didn't quite finish it.

Saturday, August 30, 2025

Took a drive north today on US95 towards Riggins.  This road follows the Salmon River as it winds north towards its convergence with the Snake River in Hells Canyon.  A beautiful drive though the canyon, sorry we didn't stop to take some pictures.  After we came back into Cascade, we decided to explore Lost Valley Reservoir, a place that they said was good for fishing.  After 5+ miles of very washboarded dirt road, we found the water, but there wasn't anywhere we could get to it by foot, it was all surrounded by marsh and mud.

We drove up to Ponderosa State Park (on the penisula between Payette and Little Payette Lakes).  A great park with lots of hiking/biking trails.  Lots of people, but we found a place where we think we can go fishing early tomorrow morning.

We came back into town and were going to go back to the Marina, but this is Labor Day weekend and the town is packed and there wasn't anywhere to park, let alone an open table on the patio, so we came back to our RV and enjoyed food and beverage here.

Sunday, August 31, 2025

Headed back to Ponderosa State Park early this morning to try fishing before the crowds assault the lake.  We found a great location and got a few bites, finally got a very small (6" trout) almost to shore before he shook the hook out.  Even early, boats are out and the wakes are pretty rough, making shore fishing difficult.  We took the boys for a long walk in the woods in the park before heading to town to find a car wash.  Our adventures yesterday left the truck so dusty that you almost have to shower after opening/closing the doors.

We parked near the downtown area and walked around before the crowds got too bad, then found a table at the Salmon Brewing Company and had an early lunch/brunch, once again beating the Labor Day crowds.  Back at our campground to enjoy our outdoor area while everybody is out doing things and its quiet here.

Monday, September 1, 2025

Started the day with a good walk in Ponderosa State Park, from the visitor's center up the beach for a ways.  The boys love walking amongst the trees.  The University of Idaho has a camp here with cabins and Yurts, assuming that they have a lot of their Forestry classes up here.

We've decided that we're packing up and moving today, this campground didn't have sewer hookup and because of Labor Day weekend we can't get a pump out.  We found a great place in Cascade (20 miles south of here), right on the river for the next 2 nights, we can walk about 50 feet from our RV to go fishing.  Now that Labor Day is behind us, the campgrounds are almost empty.

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

A lazy day today, tried a bit of fishing here at our RV park and off the rocks across the road from here.  We didn't have any luck, but nobody else seemed to be doing any better.  We took a couple of long walks with the boys and then spend a lazy afternoon playing Rumycube.

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Last day, heading home, but not in a big rush as the painting crews won't wrap up until this afternoon, so we may still be relegated to either the RV or the basement until they take away all the tape/paper/plastic.  We were supposed to drop the RV at the dealer to get a bit of body work done, but the parts have not yet arrived.  We head to California on Saturday (non-RV trip) for a couple of weeks, so we'll have to either leave it at the RV dealer or put it back on its pad in the back yard.