Delight in the Details

As you know, this country begs to be hiked and I love to do it! Who wouldn't like meeting the sweet-smelling wind at the top of a ridge then dropping down into the still air and lush vegetation at the floor of the next draw? Wide panaromas and the veins of a flower, hot sun and cold springs, steep hills and flat cattle trails...many different aspects make hiking something that calls to many of us.

Here are pictures of some little details pulled from a vast country. The first picture is of a bitterroot, our state flower. It was growing on a steep hillside which we were scurrying up, I using my hands extensively! What a place to capture a picture. I had to balance against the slanting side while working the camera. My companion held back grass that was in the way for me. We got it then continued the scramble up the side.

This little froggy was interrupted in his sunning as we came down a ridge and upon his little stream. My companion remarked, "This is a good place to see some frogs and turtles." No sooner said than done. This little guy plopped into the water and 'hid'.

Look closely at these neat old boards! Rough cut without the bark removed, these bright boards cloth most of the buildings in the 1930s sheep camp we came across. They are still so bright! That sheep camp had a barn with a corral built over a stream. I've seen that more than once in old corrals around here. It's a built-in water supply.  Back in Oregon something like that would create a muddy mess I would think!



While vast occures in one's mind as they hike through this country; the words tiny and delicate also enter in. Look at these flowers which fulfil both adjectives. Add beautiful as well!

This post wouldn't be complete without a man-made detail. Our starting point was a 'shack in the woods' tucked into a hill out in the middle of what some would consider nowhere. It is in a beautiful nowhere. And you reach it on a beautiful dirt road which wanders past a curving and warm creek, up past jutting rocks and down into another peaceful valley skimming away from the base of the mighty Sheep Mountain in the Gravellys. It is the dream of a neat man named Billy. His place will be a hunting 'camp' which hunters may rent and use as a base of operations. It's gorgeous! Wood everywhere, a big fireplace, a huge and lovely kitchen with the awesomest looking 6-burner gas stove! This painting shows the lodge's name and was done by a relative of the builder. It's a lovely spot.