Big Elk Creek

Knowing that the forecast was going to turn arctic, David and I took advantage of some "free" time (we turned off or ignored cell phone calls for a few hours) and drove over to Swan Valley to savor the foliage before it's too late.

Yesterday was probably the best day of the entire Idaho autumn. Many parts of the state do not see the complexity of color that can be enjoyed in Swan Valley. I'm not sure if it's the climate, soil, or greater variety and number of trees, but in my opinion, there's nothing quite like it in the rest of eastern Idaho.

Driving to the trail, we were virtually assaulted with color.




The Big Elk Creek Trail is tucked down in a broad canyon on the north side of the Palisades Reservoir. Past Palisades Creek, past Sheep Creek, even past Little Elk Creek, you'll see the brown sign for the Big Elk Creek campground. Winding back a picturesque road that is actually quite narrow and if you go too fast, you may wind up tumbling down a rather steep precipice -- I warned you -- you'll get to the surprisingly large campground. There's an attractive YMCA log cabin back there, as well as multiple bathrooms (read: outhouses) and generally lots and lots of horse trailers. The trail is at the end of the road ("They're always at the end of the road," David said). This trail is part of The Great Western Trail, so technically, it sort of has no end -- there's a trail map at the trailhead where you can review the myriad of trails that this one connects to -- we went back probably 3-3.5 miles, and met the junction of the Dry Canyon Trail, but other than that, met no other major milestones. This trail is about the journey - weaving in and out of forest coverage opening onto broad canyon views. I've read some claims that there are mountain goats back this way - and apparently abundant black bear (almost a deterrant for me) but we ran into nothing but a spooked grouse.

We stopped frequently for photo-ops during our 90-minute trail run (yes, I said "run" - I can't keep myself from running in the fall - that would be torture, like a morning without coffee, like meatballs without spaghetti, like steak without a bold red wine). The pictures that follow are in no particular order, but I will note that I have featured attractive pictures of David - something he claims I never do.