Skyline Drive in McCroskey State Park
McCroskey State Park Skyline Drive
June 28, 2007.
We are staying in Coeur
d'Alene at Blackwell
Island RV Resort $30 for paved interior roads, FHU including
cable and wifi. This is a top notch RV park that even allows you to
wash your RV on site. Now that is something you do not see very often.
Today we are traveling north on US 95 between Lewiston, Idaho
and Coeur
d'Alene, Idaho in
our motorhome. Most of this drive is through prairie farms consisting
of rolling hills and grain fields. However, two completely different
ecosystems are saved for the public in the form of State Parks.
The first one is McCroskey
State Park. McCroskey is not one of those state parks that
draw weekend tourist for recreational activities. It is one of those
parks that saves, for all time, a a variety of unique ecosystems.
The story behind how this park came to be is also an inspirational
story, as you will see.
McCroskey State Park
As with many state and national parks, one individual was the driving
force behind
McCroskey State Park. Virgil McCroskey donated the land
for the park in memory of his mother for the enjoyment of all people.
Don't skip over that donation part. Virgil didn't donate just a "few
acres" he donated 5,300 acres complete with a 17-mile long "Skyline
Drive".
Idaho's McCroskey State Park
Welcome to McCroskey
State Park.
McCroskey State Park
McCroskey
State Park history.
McCroskey State Park's Skyline Drive
Sadly, we did not take the time to drive the entire 17-miles of "Skyline
Drive". It would have been a truly wonderful experience
as can be seen from these pictures.
Sceinc Vista in McCroskey State Park
Scenic vistas visible from the top of this outcrop are available
all along the 17-mile drive Skyline
Drive.
Really cool Skyline Drive in McCroskey State Park
For some reason we were more interested in continuing our journey
to Coeur
d'Alene than slowly traveling 17-miles on this beautiful "Skyline
Drive", so we turned around after about 5-miles.
McCroskey State Park
While we turned around without completing the entire 17-miles of
"Skyline
Drive" in McCroskey
State Park this is one of the things individuals should plan
to do when visiting the area.
Moose sighting McCroskey State Park
Not far from this spot on Skyline
Drive, we spotted a moose in the road. The moose was as surprised
as we were ------ Joyce had the camera in her hand but didn't get
a picture. I thought for a moment that the moose was going to charge
our Saturn. Instead, he wheeled around in the road and trotted away
from us for a few yards before bounding up the hill and out of sight.
One should not consider traveling over Skyline
Drive in McCroskey
State Park in their motorhome since Skyline
Drive is a narrow gravel road. We dropped the motorhome at
a rest stop on US 95 about one mile south of the east entrance to
the state park. That would probably be a good place for anyone drop
their RV while they experienced McCroskey
State Park.
After returning to the motorhome we connected up and continued on
our journey toward Coeur
d'Alene. We had one more stop to make before arriving in Coeur
d'Alene and that was Plummer Creek Interpretive Area near
Plummer, Idaho. I had information
from somewhere about Plummer Creek being an area where they have saved
a large grove (is grove the correct word) of 400 year-old Ponderosa
Pine trees.
We located a place to drop the motorhome while we went exploring
in the Saturn. This time things did not work out as planned. We never
really located "Plummer Creek Interpretive Area" although
we came close. It seems that Plummer Creek is only accessible via
a walking or bike path which is 7-miles long. It appears that one
can access the area from near the city of Plummer and on the eastern
end of the trail on Heyburn Road in Heyburn
State Park.
Until next time remember how good life is.
Mike & Joyce Hendrix
Mike
& Joyce Hendrix who we are
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