A drive from Kamiah to Nezperce then south to Grangeville through the heart of the Camas Prairie

June 23, 2007.

We are staying at Mountain View MH & RV Park in Grangeville. It is a Passport America Park $14 for FHU, cable & wifi. It isn't a resort but we had shade and a nice large site in a clean environment 208-983-2328. If you are looking for a "Resort" Christmas tree RV-Resort is on US 95 less than a mile from the middle of town.

SR-162 Woosie Road linking Kamiah & Nezperce

We were in Kamiah when we decided to drive to Nezperce. There are two ways to get there one via SR 64 the other west on the "truck route" SR 162 (the Woosie road). SR 64 starts out paved then a series of signs warn of narrow, twisting, gravel for 7 miles. That was the "exciting" part of the drive, along the side of a steep mountain hugging the side of a roadcut wondering what was going to happen if we met an 18-wheeler in oncoming traffic. As it turns out we did meet two vehicles but thankfully not 18-wheelers. As it turns out both vehicles were cautions. Thankfully, for Joyce we were on the inside next to the road cut. I think Joyce would have lost it if we would have been on the outside. Note that there are no pictures of this portion of the drive.

Joyce finally regained her composure, when the road widened, and started taking pictures again.

Exciting gravel road SR-162 Woosie Road linking Kamiah & Nezperce

Along this section the road is wide enough to easily pass another vehicle and the road on the downhill side is not so steep. While the downhill side is not so steep it falls for what seems like forever.

Funky basalt from an ancient lava flow

At one place the roadcut consisted of this "crazed" (my term) lava rock. I am familiar with several different varieties of lava but not this "crazed" or jagged look. Does anyone want to explain what causes this look? In other places we have seen this form of basalt on top of columnar jointed basalt. Molten lava forms basalt with different characteristics depending on how quickly it cools.

Funky basalt from an ancient lava flow

This is a closeup of that form of basalt from an ancient lava flow.

Extreme eastern edge of the Camas Prairie in western Idaho

Around one last corner we topped out on a wide plateau that quickly became a high prairie. At this altitude cattle were grazing in lush grass.

The plateau we popped out on was the Camas Prairie in western Idaho east of Nezperce.