Up the Lemhi Divide

 When my mom called yesterday and asked if the kids and I wanted to go on a hike with a small group of people from church I said yes without even knowing where or when or if it would be a good hike for little kids.  Yesterday was so stressful just the idea of getting away from it all for a short time was appealing.  I had no idea when we piled into Ed and Arlene Williams' minivan this morning that we'd be driving a hundred miles from home just to get to the starting point of today's hike. I'm going to try and let the pictures do the talking and only interject the necessary details. The good part about going on a hike with Ed Williams is that as a geology professor for so many years he knows EVERYTHING about everything around here.  He educated us about everything from shield volcanos to the aquafir under the snake river plain.  We stopped at Birch Creek on the way up. 

 So the hike started at Meadow Lake Campground and went up the Lemhi Divide from there.  I have no idea why they call it Meadow Lake.  As far as I could tell there was no meadow anywhere around.  But there was a lovely small lake.  In fact I was surprised at how beautiful it was up there.

 We had lunch at the campground before we started up the trail.  The campground itself is at about 9000 feet up above the ghost town of Gilmore, which in itself was something interesting to see.

 Gideon loved the fact that he was taller than me on the stump.

 And he actually took this picture.  You don't have to tell me I look like my mom.  I already know.

 Speaking of mom, Gideon took this picture too and I'm not sure what he was trying to capture.

 Mom and Parker started up the path with us but then turned around and went back very shortly.  It was Parker's nap time and since mom had foot surgery just 6 weeks ago, she decided to take it easy. Gideon was amazing though.  It was a tough trail and he hung right with the group, he must be part mountain goat.

 I got some really cute shots of Grandpa and Gideon together.

 We told Gideon this was the tree the elves bake their cookies in and it had caught on fire so they had to find a new one.  That actually backfired and he got a little scared to go into the tree. But he did with a little coaxing.

 We finally got high enough to see the lake from above.  It was stunning.

 At the summit.  10,200 feet.

It was a lot more of a workout than I had thought, and by the time we got back down the mountain it was dinner time so I ordered pizza on the way home and took the lazy way out for dinner.  I hope I get the opportunity to get back up to Meadow Lake again soon.  Definitely worth the drive and the climb.