Exploring Idaho

We stayed - again - at Mountain Home Air Force Base and did our exploring of SW Idaho from there. First stop was to go east along the Snake River on I-84 where we found the Malad Gorge. Most of southern ID is covered with several layers of volcanic debris. The lava is porous and holds water as well as channeling it underground. At Malad Gorge the water has eroded a gorge for 2 miles and 250 feet deep. The interstate runs right over a falls and exit 147 leads to a parking area where you can walk over a steel bridge to see the falls and the gorge. If you blinked on the interstate, you wouldn't even notice this deep narrow gorge.

Then we drove through Hagerman and stopped at the Fossil Visitor Center. The Park Ranger had seen Flat Stanley before and she placed him on two of the fossils for photos and then in the sand so he could find his own fossils. :) She directed us to go further south across the Snake River and look at the bluffs where 1,000 springs are falling out of the middle of the cliffs into the river! We could hear the soft roar of the rushing water and it was so prettily reflected in the river! What a treat to see and hear. Again, these springs are coming from NE Idaho through the lava layers underground.

Another day we drove north from Mountain Home, birding all the way again, but then took the 20-mile gravel road UP to the Queen of Ghost Towns - Silver City, ID. The town is at an elevation of 6200 feet, so we did have about a half-mile stretch that was icy and snow-covered. It is considered the "queen" because so many of the original houses and stores are still standing. We had coffee and a sandwich at the Idaho Hotel. It was very dark inside, but the town has no electricity. All the buildings use solar power and it was very cloudy that day!

The town closes up for the winter because the road is not plowed. About 20 people live there in the summer, but they get 10,000 visitors! This day there were dirt bikes and ATVs traveling all over the town and the surrounding mountains and hills - oh, yes, it was Saturday. We enjoyed walking around the town to see propane for heat and cooking and phone lines. Even our cell phone had great reception up there.

The photo was taken from the church porch with the 2-story school on the left and the back of the Idaho Hotel in the center. What a neat place this would be to spend the summer - easily 40 miles from a good-sized town. Pat and Bob, we saw a great-horned owl along the stream on the way up to Silver City.

Silver City was built in 1864 and was surrounded by 250 silver mines with hundreds more opened later. One mine had 70 miles of tunnels, all HAND DUG! This was the county seat with its own newspaper in 1874, telephones by 1880 and electricity in the 1890s. If you're going, you could even rent a room in the Idaho Hotel: winter (208) 863-4678; summer (208) 583-4104. Remember to fill up with gas before you start up from I-84!