THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT MCCALL IDAHO that touched me when we passed through this small town on a beautiful lake in the Payette National Forest back in ’03, something that made me want to return. So we did.
Williamson's sapsucker
McCall has changed over the years — haven’t we all? — but it still has a certain charm. I know it would be witch-titty cold in the winter, but as a summer destination it's hard to top. And the McCall RV Resort is by far the nicest place we have stayed. Period. Perhaps that’s why it was fully booked every weekend for the season. Well, two days was better than nothing. We used McCall as a base to search for two of Connie’s elusive species, the Western grebe and Williamson’s sapsucker, birds we had seen them before but didn’t have any photos.
Western grebe
Kamiah is about 150 north of McCall and it might as well be in another state. About the time you cross the Snake River you cross into the Pacific Time Zone, a curiosity since you are traveling north, not west.
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce
This is Lewis and Clark country — their Long Camp was right on the Clearwater River just across the road from our KOA campground. The entire area is on what is left of the Nez Perce Indian Reservation, which is just a pittance of what the government originally promised Chief Joseph and his tribe. Reneging on promises is a well-honed government practice, it seems, not just a 21st Century phenomenon. You may remember Chief Joseph who decreed “I will fight no more forever” after Army troops massacred the Nez Perce women and children while the braves were out hunting. Yet another black mark on our country’s history.
"I told you I was sick" Cemetery at Nez Perce National Historic Park
There isn't much to see at the Nez Perce National Historic Park except the Indian Agent's home. The Nez Perce left little behind and the government tried to take the rest, their culture and even their language. Those who remain on the reservation still cling to vestiges of their former way of life and there is a resurgence of interest in learning the language while there are still some alive to teach it.
