But wait, there’s more! The mountains of Idaho were awe-inspiring and had a LOT of really interesting places to see and things to do. If you missed it, check out our last post here. We have more America to see, however and decided it was time to go south a bit.

If you have read anything we have ever posted, cities are nice and all – but get us outside and we are in our element. We drove right on by Boise and even the little town of Mountain Home and landed (pun intended, you’ll see) in Glenn’s Ferry at Three Island Crossing State Park.

But wait! Three Island River Crossing has a lot hapenning!

We camped, we hiked, we laughed, we cried. It was a Dicken’s novel all wrapped up in a State Park campground.

Camping

Camping was great! There are enough old growth trees about that it stayed shady which was awesome because southern Idaho was experiencing the 2nd hottest summer in recorded history! Our site was spacious, with electric and water. No sewer hook ups but a convenient to access dump station was available.

Hiking was great!

There are a few trails emanating from the park itself. We walked all of them! Some of them come right up against the Snake River where you can still remnants of the Oregon Trail coming down the hill that makes the southern bank. Some of the trail wound around the campground. Parts of the trail went through cat tails and and even near the old Ferry location that was used after they decided losing a large percentage of wagons to the ford! There were quite a few flowers, some wildlife and stunning views to take in.

Disc Golf at a State Park Campground?!

Absolutely. The Disc Golf course was great and took us through all kinds of underbrush, near the river and across many areas that the pioneers made camp. We went as soon as it was light, and by 10 AM we were done, and sweating bullets. We took a moment to “accidently” stand in some sprinklers for the grass.

But wait, dinner theatre?

The small town of Glenn’s Ferry has a theatre, believe it or not. Glenns Ferry Opera Theatre dates back to 1914. The Theatre was created so that train passengers could spend some time (and hopefully money!) while the train took on coal and water. It largely was a stage for vaudeville and the occasional play, but there are records of some of the early silent movies being played.

Ash and I took advantage of the fact that a youth theatre production was happening during our visit, with a meal included!

Three Island Crossing

This location was chosen by earlier pioneers as it was one of the only locations that the Snake River was relatively shallow, and had a few islands in the middle to rest and recover before continuing the fording.

A great museum dedicated to the crossing is in the park. We learned a lot about how the Native Americans assisted with the early pioneers and how they lived prior to the massive amount of people that suddenly starting crossing in their rich fishing areas. Several items from the early pioneers are on display. This location, along with several other stops along the route, were “make or break” locations. Items that were deemed too heavy, unnecessary or even traded for food or maps were left behind.

Tragedy strikes!

Well, technically it struck enroute to the park. One of our cabinets popped open and several coffee mugs dropped to the cheap laminate countertop below. We had three causalities, 2 coffee mugs and the countertop. The countertop was constructed of MDF (at the sink!) wrapped in a plastic laminant. The laminate split. Then, since it was not glue to the MDF, quickly unravelled.

First we slapped some flex tape on it. Then we went into the hardware store in town and were debating how to coat the MDF. I was in line to purchase a sealer, epoxy and top coat. A nice local stated that there was a product that did all three, cleverly named (wait for it) countertop paint. One purchase vs three and we were back at the trailer.

It was still incredibly hot. We prepped the surface the night before, set an alarm and got up crazy early to paint. It was 84 degrees in the trailer (predawn) and Ash is painting in a jacket. There are some battles better not fought. Then, as we could not be inside for health reasons, we sat and had coffee (and a cigar) outside. Still not enough time passed, so we went to a local winery and snagged a passable lunch at winery prices.

Finally, it was cured and we returned to a great sealed surface!

It definitely pays to be resourceful while camping full time. It also pays to be flexible, patient and calm. Unfortunately, while I can be all of these things, I can rarely do them all at the same time. This particular learning occasion pushed all three of us to the breaking point! Did I mention it was triple digits temperatures the entire time we were there?

But wait! Even more!

This park had a ranger led event during our stay. It was birdhouse building event. I think it was geared towards pre-teens, so naturally Ash and Sierra had to go participate (I donated to the rangers after the event). They had a great time constructing and painting the birdhouse while I spoke with the rangers about the different species of birds in the area. We had seen seagulls (in Idaho!) on the way down and they confirmed it, as well as the large pelicans in the river.

This wrapped up our adventures in Idaho. Still heading south, so check back for an update on our reentry into Utah! Keep up with us by subscribing on our front page here, check out our archives here and join the adventure!