As we traveled out of Montana, through the mountains in Butte, we faced one more spell of freezing rain/snow. Once back down to the lower elevations, all of the bad weather was gone. Our route out of Butte took us south on Interstate 15 to our first stop, Idaho Falls.
Downtown historic Idaho Falls sits on the Snake River, which flows through the center of the city. We drove along the greenbelt (river belt) and stopped at the new Idaho Temple built by the Mormons. From there we headed to Craters of the Moon National Monument where we drove the 7 mile trail through the lava fields. Definitely worth the side trip as there was some really funky looking stuff in there, especially the lava river.
Our plan was to make a quick stop in Ketchum, a small ski town that sits at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains, on our way to Boise. We remembered an old Pony person we used to work with over 14 years ago that we knew moved to Boise. Well guess what?? Using Google and LinkedIn we were able to make contact with him. Even wilder! He now lives in a town less than 10 miles from Ketchum. What are the chances of that? A blast from the past! We met for breakfast on Georgia Game Day (WE DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT THAT HORRIBLE GAME) and grilled out steaks for dinner. It was great to catch up on so many years. Before leaving Ketchum, we drove to the highest point in the Sawtooth Mountains, Galena Summit at 8701 ft. The views at the base of the mountains were just as spectacular as the top. Autumn is beautiful!
Next was a quick stop in Boise to visit the Boise State college football stadium, and stock up on food for our trip to Hells Canyon since we’d be isolated for a while. The Hells Canyon Scenic Byway through the mountains flipped us between Oregon and Idaho several times. It was open range country and we had to dodge cows in the road as we came around a curve. We went through some of the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen anywhere. This was an ABSOLUTE total surprise! Not sure if it was the time of day, along with the angle of the sun, but the reflections of the mountains on the still waters of the Snake River were so real looking, absolutely AMAZING. We passed over the Brownlee Dam and the Oxbow Dam before reaching the Hells Canyon Dam campground. The campground was very pretty, sitting right on the river. There was no Internet, TV, or Satellite down in the canyon. Reminded us of our three day outage in Yellowstone. Kinda spooky but it was good to be detached for a couple of days. So what do you do? Hook up the iPod, and cook spaghetti and meat sauce! We listened to music, sang until 1AM, and had a GREAT time. Simple fun!
Of course, we had to visit the Dam before heading out of the canyon. I started walking the path down to the base of the dam until I saw warning signs for Copperhead snakes. I could so see where they would be hiding the path was full of rocks, brush and holes. That was it for me – out I went. Forget hiking to the bottom. There were sirens all along the Snake River that would alert people when an evacuation was necessary due to rapidly rising waters.
Hells Canyon is unbelievable, a must-see!
