the Camas Prairie

The friendly rangers at the Slate Creek Ranger Station had told us that, at the top of White Bird Hill we would find the Camas prairie named for the plant that the Nez Perce Indians used to live off of. We had read that there were long vistas of purple flowers, but the rangers kinda shrugged and said that, “they were thinking of reintroducing them”. We saw some purplish-blue flowers everywhere we went but the camas seems to have been replaced with canola.

Our first stop on the Camas Prairie was Tolo Lake to see the Mammoth, just outside of Grangeville. It’s not there. That’s where they found the bones, but that’s not where they keep it. It’s at Eimers Park, in an obscure corner of the city of Grangeville. We met a very friendly woman, at the visitor center, next to the park, I think her name was Susie, I really need to write things down as we go along, she gave us all kinds of information about the Camas Prairie and Idaho County.

The Mammoth

Is it me or does almost every city have a mammoth exhibit, or have I just been to the places that have them? Whatever, they seem to be common place. The one here in Grangeville is a bit elusive, all the brochures tell you to go to Tolo Lake, once there, you’re instructed to go to Eimers Park, in Grangeville. It was a bit of a let down, the Mammoth is displayed in a glass house, that you can’t go in so you can’t even get a very good photo of it. There was however some interesting info about Grangeville and the prairie’s history.

Grangeville

We weren’t very impressed with this town for some reason, I can’t put my finger on it, but it wasn’t really a small town nor was it a big city, it just seems to be there. Their claim to fame seems to be Tolo Lake, the Mammoth and the Blue Fox Theatre. So been there and did that!

Mount Idaho

We wanted to check out all the little towns on this prairie, so we headed Southeast to Mount Idaho. One of the first sights was a drive-in movie screen, we’re couldn’t tell if it is still functioning or not. Wikipedia says it’s a ghost town, founded about 1862 and was the county seat from 1875 till 1902. There aren’t very many homes or farms, it was quiet, but not really a ghost town.

Cottonwood

Everywhere we drove there were just farms and farms, with beautiful fields of alfalfa and canola. We haven’t seen any potatoes yet, maybe it’s too early in the season.

 

The Monastery of St. Gertrude is just West of the city and was just absolutely picturesque. The grounds and the views from there of the whole prairie were really like being in a postcard!

The Dog Bark Park on the other hand, well we had to snap a photo, but we were not inspired to actually stop and take a closer look. It’s a Bed & Breakfast, for humans to stay and one would assume pets are welcome.

End of our travels on this prairie—Keuterville—we just loved this little burg. It looked so welcoming indeed!
 

June 3rd & 4th ~ Day 58 & 59 of our 2014 Road Trip

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