Although we got up as early as other days we seemed to be slower in getting started today.  We had a pretty good breakfast at the hotel, consisting of scrambled egg patties, bacon, juice, and coffee, and I even went back and got a bowl of cereal with milk.  So we weren’t on the road until nearly 9 a.m..

Spokane is pretty near the border to Idaho, so we got our first picture in about fifteen minutes.  Then on over to Couer D’Alane before heading north to Bonner’s Ferry, where we took the short 5 mile auto tour of the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge is about 5 miles west and the river runs along the road for most of that.  We got a few nice photos of the slow-moving, glassy blue water.  There weren’t too many animals or birds out in the mid-day heat, but when we stopped at the headquarters to ask a few questions their hummingbird feeder was being ravaged by a large group of hummers.  It was fun to watch from only three feet away as they darted and sipped and generally raised all kinds of ruckus with each other as they fed.

I always thought that “refuge” meant a safe place to go.  But once I read the brochure they handed me at the headquarters I realized why we didn’t see many animals or birds.  Even though it is called a wildlife refuge, it really isn’t.  They even point out the hunting blinds and tell visitors where and when to hunt and what hunters can expect to find.  How bogus!

Back on the road again we headed east to Kootenai Falls.  This one was one of the toughest falls for the wife and I to reach and photograph.  Not only do you have to hike quite a ways but at one point you cross over a pair of railroad tracks and then have to descend 66 stairs on the river side.  Once down near the river it is another 10 or 15 minutes downstream to the suspension bridge from which you can supposedly see the falls.  We went that way first.  Finally reaching the bridge, we crossed slowly.  There is a sign saying “Only 5 persons on the bridge at one time!”  Well, being as big as I am, I figured I counted as two.  Luckily there weren’t lots of folks down there at that moment so we didn’t have to worry.  From the far side we walked up the side just a short distance to get a better view.  Then back across and hiked back upstream.  At the fork where we had gone downstream we took the northern fork and headed up to the falls.  Another ten minutes brought us up to a nice point at which we could get a much better view.  Then it was that hike back.  We had to take it very easy, and slow.  And those 66 stairs going up were nearly enough to drop us in our tracks, but we did survive.

On to a little town called Libby for a quick bite at McD’s.  Got a couple of nice pictures of large eagles that they proudly show over the streets in their town. 

I’m not sure what I expected to see when I saw information on the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge. Based on the name I think it was different than what I did see. Located in Idaho’s panhandle about five miles west of Bonners Ferry and 25 miles south of the Canadian border this 2,774 acre area, called mistakenly a refuge, was established back in 1965 as a habitat and resting area for migrating waterfowl. There are a couple of waterfalls but by mid summer they are little more than a trickle and the range said they were not worth the hike to get to them. The area is visited or home to 300 different species of wildlife. The name implies that it is a place providing shelter or protection from danger from the meaning of the word refuge. But we were handed a map which included all of the hunting blinds and regulations for hunting and fishing in the area. There is not protection or shelter from danger here for the wildlife. It is a wetlands area prime for the hunter of waterfowl. We saw very few birds and no animals in the hour we spent in the area, except for the many hummingbirds gathering at the feeder just outside the ranger station.