Pass #3 - Pass Creek - Part 1

After dropping down off Arco Pass we drove the winding gravel road to the highway and turned left, heading deep into the Little Lost River Valley.

30 minutes later LC slowed the Suburban near the tiny community of Clyde and turned left, heading down yet one more dirt and gravel road.

The last time we were here was last winter, and after slowly driving for 20 minutes we eventually turned back, disappointed that we could go no further after hitting deep snow.

Even though we talked about it a few times LC and I had never made it back, and we were both excited on this day, knowing that we were finally going to make it up and over Pass Creek Pass.

This day was turning out to be nothing like we had planned.

LCs brother tires quickly, and after a couple of busy days of exploring Antelope Pass and the Idaho Falls Greenway I had suggested that we simply go out into the desert and circle around Cedar Butte on the day before his trip back to Minnesota.

Instead we had headed up and over Arco Pass.

And now - instead of heading home - we were continuing further with a new adventure on our second pass in one day.

How extremely cool (and extremely surprising).

But on this beautiful early fall day, here we were.

On our way to the base of Pass Creek Pass, all of us eager to see what we would find.................

We had been gradually climbing for half an hour and decided to stop briefly so Kory could wander and so I could snap a few pictures,

We were still in a world of high desert plains, but I could see the mountains up ahead of us................

I guess I am used to fall looking like this now.

Many evergreens, and hardwood trees all changing color, all bright and beautiful and all yellow.

For a long time I missed the falls back east.

After the heat and humidity of a south eastern summer, fall was always a stunning spectacle of reds, oranges, browns, yellows.

Endless color.  Electric color.  Blue skies and cooler temperatures and the wonderful array of colorful trees that the western side of the country could never hope to challenge.

I first noticed the difference when living in Juneau.

I missed the reds and oranges of fall that I was so used to.

But after living in the west for a few years now, I have found enjoyment in what we have here.

A different kind of wonderful, but wonderful none-the-less.................

If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you may be able to see the scratch marks on the tree trunks, made by...........what?...............

By this time it was mid afternoon and the sun was shining so brightly that the entire world felt as though it was glistening...............

My pup loving the hell out of her new found freedom................

I had expected a steep climb similar to the other two passes we had traveled over the past few days.

Instead, from the moment we had turned off the black top, winding, two lane highway, we had gradually been climbing non-stop.

The climb was so gradual that if you weren't paying attention, you almost missed it.

Once we hit the top of the pass (just as it had with Antelope Pass) the world instantly changed.

One moment we were in wide open and mostly treeless high desert plains, and the next moment we dropped down into a world of more rugged and tree filled mountains, creeks and streams, and yellow leafy trees.

The transition was surprising in not only how different the terrain looked, but also how quickly that transition occurred

In this whole new world we stopped often.

Every few miles.

To walk, to wander, to picture take, to allow Kory to drink.

This was a beautiful trip, and WE (LC and I) were discovering it for the first time, along with LCs brother.

It was turning into a pretty awesome day...................

When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome. Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean............Wilma Rudolph