July 14, 2011 - Rye Patch Reservoir, NV to Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir, ID

July 14, 2011 - Rye Patch Reservoir, NV to Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir, ID

We depart from our eastward progress at Wells, right where the Humboldt Range reaches up to tickle Rt. 80, and after lunch in the shade of an acacia tree, at the town high school football field, across from a fleet of patiently waiting school buses sitting out their summer recess, we head north and begin our climb in elevation into Idaho.  Route 93 is a freshly oiled and gravel two laner, so our pace slows from the jangling whine and whistle of the interstate.  Hawks and Kestrels hover nearby, awaiting roadkill perhaps, and the parched Nevada valley gives way to a high desert grassland with growing knuckles of foothills as we parallel the Salmon Falls Creek while it carves a deep gorge to our west in its flow northward.  South of Twin Falls we pull out at Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir, where a large concrete arching dam, long in the tooth and leaking around it's edges holds back the meandering creek forming a long narrow lake which twists south and around a bend away from our site on the lake shore.  Its very quiet here and we feel lucky to have found such a peaceful respite from the roar of the road.  During our evening stroll we watched many killdeer stalking near the water's edge for bugs.  They seemed not to mind us watching and walked boldly through the grasses very close to the trail.