Number Hill - Arco

Taken during a walk with Kory on BLM land close to the house, one day last week.

The snow is again gone, and temperatures this coming week are predicted to be in the 50's and 60's...............

A look back at the town of Atomic City, with the Twin Buttes in the background...........

After walking for a long time with Kory, we loaded into the truck and drove over to Arco.

A surprisingly snow-less Arco.

LC needed to visit a dentist that was located in back of town, and close to the hospital.

Right behind the hospital is Number Hill.

The visit was strictly for a consultation so I knew that he would not be in the office too long, and while LC was doing his thing I walked a short ways with Kory up into the hills.

I had never been this close to Number Hill before, and as me and my dog slowly wandered, I found myself looking up at the hill in both wonderment and bemusement.

I don't know who came up with the bright idea of painting their graduating year onto this hill, but over the years (as one graduating class after another has followed suit and recorded their graduating year) it has become both a local icon and appreciated tourist destination.

An on-going, locally initiated and maintained, continually growing land mark at the base of the Big Lost River Valley, and in back of a tiny farming community in the Middle Of Nowhere Idaho...............

We didn't wander far - wandering into the hills adjacent to a major mountain chain anywhere in Idaho (without a firearm) is not something I wanted to do.

Wandering too far when LC's appointment should have been relatively quick was also something I did not want to do.

But there were trails here.  Lots of trails.

Many more than I realized, and as Kory and I headed back down towards the truck, I resolved to explore this area soon...............

Seen at the base of one hill.  

The same gizmos I found on top of a small butte just on the outskirts of Atomic City, that monitor and measure earth movement..............

The snow covered peak of Big Butte seen in the distance................

Twin Buttes on the way home...................

She was a genius of sadness, immersing herself in it, separating its numerous strands, appreciating its subtle nuances. She was a prism through which sadness could be divided into its infinite spectrum..........Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything Is Illuminated