We drove for about three hours north-eastish to a place called Galena Summit (just north of Ketchum on your map, Mum and Dad), and picked up some other folks along the way. We rented a yurt for the night, that we could only get to by skiing or snowshoeing. Since we don't ski, we went for the shoes. It was only a short hike in - barely two k's I would say - but it was all uphill at about 2 300 metres of elevation. I found it hard work, but everyone else seemed fine, even though they were towing sleds packed with sleeping bags, food, and beverages. Not to worry, it was good exercise.
Idaho has a whole network of yurts that can be rented (if you can actually get a booking, they're booked out months in advance of winter). Generally, you get a yurt, a stove to cook on, utensils, a fireplace, somewhere to sleep, and a pit toilet. Everything else you need to bring with you. Ours had a sauna, too, but we didn't use it.
We had a lovely evening. Even went for a walk after dinner on the trails. Ate and drank more than necessary, which I think is almost a requirement on these kinds of trips, and played card games.
Here is the motley crew on Sunday morning when we were about to leave:
There wasn't a whole lot of snow around, but it was enough to snowshoe on.
And now for the highlight of the weekend.
When we got there, we saw a notice on the door warning us about a pair of foxes in the area who are very fond of stealing things from yurts - everything from food and beer to lamp oil (I imagine they use the latter at night when they're sitting around their camp fire). The people at the lodge that owns the yurts have named them Swiper (of course) and Sapphire. The notice also said they are quite happy to be photographed.
As it turns out, the fox that visited us (my guess is it was Swiper, because I think foxes are close to having babies at the moment) was more than happy to have five humans adore him. We got within a couple of metres of him, and I swear he was posing for us. He stayed for a minute or three until he realised we weren't going to be providing him with food, drinks, or lamp oil and then wandered off through the trees.
He was a bit bigger than a kelpie, and obviously much, much furrier since he still had his winter coat.
Swiper even gave us his profile to photograph:
And then he posed for a close-up:
I have to say, I've become very fond of foxes, something I never would have imagined in Australia. In their native territory they are beautiful animals. And who could resist that smile?!
