Idaho

While EDO was on the east coast visiting her cousins, VSO and I went to Idaho. On the way north, we wanted to avoid the long extension of California called I-15, so we went to Milford. From there, we headed west to Baker. The sun was out as we came into town, but a towering storm was building over Wheeler Peak. Spectacular. It was about the last we saw of the sun until we reached Twin Falls. From Baker to Ely to Wells to Jackpot, storm after storm rolled through. The temperature on the car said 47F and the smell was of bruised sagebrush. It was a pretty nice afternoon.

Idaho has some famous rivers. We spent a night by one of them. The Snake, near Twin Falls, has, well, some falls. The picture, above, is from one of them. Shoshone Falls. The Niagara of the West. I made a picture of the cascade. But I didn't post it here. It is nothing like Niagara. Well, it is like Niagara in that water is flowing, but Niagara is 10 times bigger.

From Twin we took the freeway west through the hundred miles of ugly sprawl that used to be Boise and turned north on Highway 95 to New Meadows. After a stop at Goose Creek, we met Keith at the Bear Basin trails for a short mountain bike adventure. It was probably made shorter by a somewhat bloody crash on Keith's part and a bit of a bonk on VSO's part. (I don't blame her. She'd been sitting in the car for 8 hours and went straight to riding uphill in 85 degree sun.) We followed Keith to his house for a good dinner with Karen and Bryce. Afterwards, Karen took us out to Payette Lake. If it weren't for the constant motor noise, it would be a beautiful lake. Clean, clear, refreshing, but not cold.

In the morning, after breakfast at the Fogg Lifter, VSO voted strongly for a return to Bear Basin. Karen joined us and we did another 60 or 90 minute ride. VSO loved it. Despite running out of gas the afternoon before, that was her kind of riding: not steep, not rocky, not tricky, just good, smooth single-track. By about 1p it was time to start back. We thanked Keith and Karen, and then joined the long line of traffic along the North Fork of the Payette. We suffered all the way to Banks. At that point, we turned up the South Fork. I'd never been there. It was really a beautiful canyon (below). Looks like a fun float, too. We turned south at Lowman and made it to Boise by 7p.

In the morning there was nothing for it but the long, hot, crowded, boring, ugly freeway run to Salt Lake City. I thoroughly enjoy that kind of thing. In Salt Lake we met Mark and Kristi for lunch at the Red Butte Cafe. The best part of the day: Pretty good food and really good friends. From there we drove to Nephi where we stopped for gas. We filled the car, but my tank was empty. I asked VSO to drive and I put my hat over my face. After about 40 minutes of semi-coma I felt a little bit better. By then we were in Fillmore, so VSO took us all the way home.