L is for Lolo and Lost Trail

Lolo Pass and Lost Trail Pass are two more of the many places and spaces in the fictional world inhabited by Cale and Lane and Dana as River and Ranch morphs into New Grass Growing.

They are real world spots as well. The Lewis and Clark expedition is the easy spot to start. They first climbed Lemhi Pass and looked down into Idaho. They then followed the Lemhi river/valley to its confluence with the Salmon. From there they went downstream on the Salmon, a bit excited thinking they had found a northwest passage. Disappointed in that, they ultimately climbed the Idaho side of Lost Trail Pass and looked north into Montana's Bitterroot Valley. Ultimately, they moved north down the valley to what is now known as Lolo and again turned west ascending to Lolo Pass and then down the Lochsa and onto history.

I can only imagine what this expedition faced on a daily basis. The wild tangles they encountered, the blowdowns and understory, must have been immense. At times they likely were able to stay on trails somewhat established by the natives and/or animals, but still relative to the highways of today, traveling the area back in 1805 was not for the faint of heart, not for those wanting lots of daily mileage.

This part of the world remains my favorite part of flyover country to this day, well worth visiting and moving through by any means available.

H is for hot springs

In the Idaho-based world of New Grass Growing (and River and Ranch) there are hot springs. They exist in the real Idaho as well. One of the pleasant outcomes of living in a geologically active setting is hot water. Generally this is because geologic activity tends to generate heat. Plate subduction, terrane accretion, plate moving over hot spot, granitic pluton cooling, you know, all the usual suspects.

Water, usually in the form of melted snow, works its way downward through mostly local fractures in overlying material. Heat increases with depth, so the deeper the water goes in proximity to the heat source (e.g. a granitic intrusion like the Idaho batholith) the hotter it gets. Literature fails to provide a consistent explanation for the introduction of water to the system for heating and then a separate exit of the now hot water from the system. Happily for whatever reasons of nature's plumbing, hot springs work.

In the world of River and Ranch and New Grass Growing, you'll find Lolo Hot Springs (most developed), Jerry Johnson's (on the far side of the Lochsa may now have a locked gate), Weir Creek (hardest to get to), Sharkey Hot Springs (out near Cayuse Creek), and the hot springs at the base of Lost Trail Pass. Down the river(s) you encounter Barth, Sheepeater, Sunflower, Hospital Bar and others that at the moment I am forgetting.

They are natural, others don't always leave them clean, and they may have naturally occurring sulphur-centric microbes giving them a distinct odor. So, use at your own risk and please leave them cleaner than you found them. They are really neat places.