Location Taken: Central Idaho, on the Snake River Plain
Time Taken: June 2010
There’s something utterly spectacular about these mountains lining the north side of the Snake River plain, the large flat area in central Idaho.
It’s not the size or the shape, both fairly standard, but the color. There’s no trees or anything else to obstruct your view of the way the land is shaped, creating a smooth surface, and the local grasses vary smoothly from red-brown to green. This creates an almost-shimmering gradient pattern that catches the eye in its simplistic complexity. Add it a touch of dramatic lighting from a low sun, and well, it can distract you even from the lava field you’re passing through.
Yes, lava field. You see that darker rock on both sides of the road? That’s part of a large lava flow that happened about 12,000 years ago. It came from the volcanic site called Craters of the Moon National Monument, a fantastic place to visit if you like volcanoes. This particular flow happened to cross the main road we took into the park, or to be more exact, the road crossed the flow.
But even with my joy at seeing a lava flow for the first time, these mountains still kept attracting my attention. I had never seen mountains that smooth or that particular color before. And even though the very next day I saw the much more famous Grand Tetons, these obscure hills in Idaho stick in my memory much stronger. And unlike the Grand Tetons, I want to return to these hills to see them once again.
