107. Mount Borah

            I have lived in Idaho pretty much all of my life with the exceptions of trips away—a couple of extended trips to North Carolina and England. And just like I love being able to say I’ve been in every state in the union, I like to say I’ve been pretty much everywhere in Idaho.  But, of course, there is a lot of wilderness and roadless area that I haven’t been to, though I have attempted to at least take a look at every spot. As much as I have been to Lewiston, Idaho’s lowest point, I had never crested the summit of Idaho’s highest peak, Mt. Borah, until I had turned 50.

            Mt. Borah, all 12,665 feet of it, is in the Lemhi Mountain range, a desert range in east central Idaho with several peaks rising above 10,000 feet and a few over 12,000. It is the place of Idaho’s single glacier, though that may no longer be true even as I write this. My good friend, Doug Richards and his son Devin (who used to always want to be a mountain climber, but our Borah trip cured him of that) decided they would climb the mountain with me. This was seven years ago and just a little over a year after my heart bypass surgery. That little warning that I was limited in time told me I needed to do the climb. So we did it.

            I can’t really tell you how long of a climb it is, but like most Idaho mountains you just climb pretty much straight up the slope. At the base you are already around 7,000 feet so the climb can be difficult if you haven’t been acclimated to the higher elevation and we were all accustomed to 3,000 feet as an average. As a runner I can’t say I noticed much until we got to the point known as Chicken Out Ridge. This was the point that tested my fortitude because it is a more complicated bit of actual rock climbing where you had to keep three-point contact. A fall would definitely be fatal because the drop is probably close to 300+ feet. I’m terrified of heights. I took it one step at a time, never looking down, only forward. The bad part for me was completing it, looking down and realizing I would have to do it again to get down.

            Near the top after a snow bridge and the glacier, elevation started taking its toll on Devin and Doug who got headaches. They were ready to call it quits when I just took a couple climbs and realized I was at the top. Of course they finished and it was a gratifying moment filled with excitement. It’s a climb I’ll always cherish and I have to say I love Mount Borah.

106. Sun Valley, Idaho

           

           America seems to be a pretty divided country right now and the president seems to capitalize on those divisions.  But I’m not really interested in being divisive and that is what go me going on this blog after a hiatus and being disabled from my old blogspot blog. I don’t make any claims to writing great art in this space. I only hope to encourage myself and maybe some stray reader about all the positive things our country offers to everyone, no matter their political or philosophical persuasion. I made a lengthy list of things I appreciate and love about this country and set out to write about each one individually. Some of them just inspire a sense of national identity and pride in this country. Right now I’m thinking about Sun Valley, Idaho.

            Sun Valley is an addition to the old mining town of Ketchum and the two are just a few short miles north of Hailey and Bellevue. So sometime in the 1930’s the riches of mining were traded to the riches of wealthy men’s pocketbooks. And it is definitely an expensive place and a playground for the wealthy. I don’t personally think it is the most beautiful place in the state, but it is isolated and beautiful and that makes it a great place for famous people to get away. I’ve seen some pretty famous people there and they get to walk on the street without photographers ogling them or crazy fans asking for selfies. They get to live a portion of their lives outside the fishbowl.

            Of course anyone can still go there. It’s not beyond possibility, but it isn’t close to anything (even in Idaho) and unless you ski and can afford hefty prices for lift tickets, why would you want to? Just a short drive over Galena Summit and you are in the Sawtooths able to enjoy the most amazing scenery. But don’t think I’m talking Sun Valley and the Wood River Valley down. It still has appeal to me. I’m a big Hemingway fan and he lived and died there. I also like sports and even though I’ve never done anything more that go for a run or hike there, there are plenty of things to see in the way of the history of sports—especially winter sports. Sun Valley was the first downhill ski resort in the U.S.

            The reason I love Sun Valley and the Wood River Valley is because of all those things. It’s great to have an out of the way slice of fame and history that, like all of Idaho, shies away from the spotlight but has a great intersection with the bigger Americana. Just one more thing to quietly bind us together.

105. Cross Country Skiing

            I’m not tired of the summer yet, so don’t get me wrong, but I love to cross country ski. There are plenty of times when I can just hike a little way out of town with my skis and venture into the woods right outside my door. But there is also plenty of time to take little trips to the hills and speed along on the groomed trails around here. Winter is that time of year for me when it is really hard to get myself out for a run. I don’t like to run on icy roads because more than once I have fallen and injured myself. But with skiing none of that matters. Yes, of course I’ve fallen when skiing also, but landing in a pile of snow has never injured anything more than my pride. I guess I don’t ski fast enough to do any serious twists to injure myself either.

            But aside from all that staying fit stuff, skiing is just beautiful. Trees covered in snow, white vistas over the hills, sunny skies, cloudy skies—it doesn’t matter. I love going with friends and as I get older I’m prone to believe that is the best way. But I still enjoy it alone in the spaces close to my house.

            I know it’s not a particularly American thing. In fact, I think with its Nordic title it must be European. But in these northern climes it’s an activity that pretty much anyone who can walk can get out and do to keep themselves active and to see new scenes. It’s like one of those beautiful snow globe scenes and you get to be the guy who shakes it and the little figurine inside that gets to enjoy the falling snow. And it’s a pretty painless fee when you consider the fact that you can go almost anywhere where there is snow. So as an American of European descent who is a bit of a cheap skate but loves to be active, I highly recommend cross country skiing in the winter if you live somewhere where there is plenty of snow. It’s just one more way to enjoy our beautiful country and take pride in being American.