Mountain High Vistas

Our adventures in the mountains continue!  Friends of ours used some modern technology a.k.a. apps on their smart phones, and discovered a road -- unbeknownst to us -- that climbs and winds into mountains close by us. We had no idea such trails existed that were open to the public in this particular area.  Here in Idaho, much of the land belongs to the state, yet much belongs to private owners as well, and sometimes it is hard to differentiate the two.  There have been a few times we were exploring on what we thought was state land, and then realized that it belonged to private owners who wanted no trespassers.  So we have learned to be very careful about where we are, to respect private owners of property.  It can be tricky at times though!  However, our friends found a website of the county that shows who owns each piece of property, and through this site, you can look and see where the private land, and state land is.  This is how they found the road that leads through state land (which is open to the public), and where we were able to see beautiful views of the area we live in.



As we drove up the mountain trail in our 4x4 truck with our friends J & MH, we were enthralled with the wildflowers were putting on the most beautiful display as well!

Love these beautiful yellow flowers!

Lupins abundantly spreading their glory!

A wild rose about to burst forth in bloom...

The most beautiful sight this time of year - when all the wild roses begin to bloom!

 Their fragrance is absolutely divine!  

We climbed up into the mountains higher and higher...

Each turn and switchback led to more amazing views!

It was a beautiful day to be out on the mountains... the fluffy white clouds filled the sky with character, while the sun shone its warm rays lovingly around us.

Each bend and turn in the road was exciting... you just never know what you will see around the bend!

My zoom lens was able to zoom in and capture a closer view...

Can life get any better than this?  Mountain top views second to none!

Finally we reached the plateau, and this expanse greeted us... wow!  What a vista!

Just beyond the plateau was the tip of the little mountainous area we were on.  Can you see the trail headed straight to the top?



We climbed about halfway up to the top before stopping, and realizing we needed better shoes (namely hiking shoes!).

As  you can see, it was a very, very steep trail, almost straight up, and it would also help to have walking sticks too.  You can be sure we will be back soon to finish our climb to the top when we are better prepared! You can see how far we walked (see how far away our truck is!), and we were still nowhere close to the top...

From the halfway up point, this was the view we were able to see.  With the day being so clear, we could see many many miles away!

Thanks to Ronda who blogs at Island Mother, she told me that the correct name for this beautiful flowering shrub is ninebark!  Thanks Ronda!  These grow everywhere all over the mountains, and it is nice to know what to call them now!

More trails could be seen leading around the mountain, and our adventurous hearts wanted to follow them.  However... we decided to save that adventure for another time.

What a beautiful spot we had found.  I can imagine a lovely picnic spread out here with this vista, can't you?  I promise you, we will be back to explore this area further.  My husband has mentioned wanting to tent camp here overnight... now that sounds like an adventure, don't you think!  

For now, our adventure was drawing to a close as the rain clouds began to hover.  As we made our way back down the mountain, we enjoyed the views from the switchbacks, and were thankful to have enjoyed another beautiful day together with our friends JH and MH, and enjoying the amazing world that we live in.  I'm already planning that picnic with the mountain vista... while my husband is planning the tent adventure... there is no doubt we'll try to do both very soon.  :)