I spent the last week up at a friend's lake front cabin on Priest Lake in Idaho. I hadn't been up there in 20 plus years and it was the perfect time to escape the lock down. The first two days it rained relentlessly and we were pretty much hold up in the cabin.

By the third day, cabin fever had set in and since the rain had let up, I had to hit the trails. I picked a couple of the closest peaks and headed out. The first was a trip up to Binarch mtn. This road was pretty uneventful however the trail to the peak was a little more than I wanted to tackle being solo and all.

There is a deep mud pit at the base of that trail and the exit was a little too steep for my wheelbase. On the way down I noticed a side track that was not on my map so I wandered on down. This was the best route I took all week. It was about 3 miles of deep woods at the bottom of a valley following a creek. The track was just open enough to get the big rig down without pin-striping it. It popped out at one of the most secluded campsite I've ever been to.

After lunch and a beer I decided to check out the little hiking trail that led down to the marsh.

Coming back to the truck, I heard the scariest sound one could here when all alone in unfamiliar woods. A ruffed grouse started his wing beating ritual. It took me a sec after I heard the sound but it made me step a little quicker back to the truck. Imagine hearing a loud increasing thump-thump-thump chasing you down a trail.

Ran into a little forest jawa on the way out. The stump did make me lift off the gas a little until I could see what it was. Having enough of the haunted woods vibe, I decided to head back towards the cabin.

The trail up to Coolin hill was an easy trail but did require a little 4wd to make the climb. A slide last year cut off the road to the summit, but the vista from there was spectacular. This area is littered with trails to nowhere as well as trails to most of the peaks. I really wanted to try to make the trip up to Sundance mountain but the snow was more than I was willing to take on. All in all it was a great trip and I need to get back out here and explore more. We ended the week with a nice bon fire and cold beer. If you ever get a chance to hit up Priest Lake area, do it.