We try to take advantage of the beautiful mountains we live in and Trev and I do a backpack in the Tetons. This weekend we took off to do an overnight trip, hiking up Paintbrush Canyon to Holly Lake, camping overnight there and then hiking up and over Paintbrush Divide and down Cascade Canyon the next day.
'Tis the season for huckleberries! On our hike up we couldn't stop picking and eating and trying to keep some of them...we did end up filling a waterbottle full which we will really appreciate when we pull them out as waffle toppers on some cold winter day! Trev is the resident expert on these sweet tart berries, claiming them as one of North Idaho's own.
Six miles later with packs too heavy for just an overnight backpack (we travel in luxury), we reached Holly Lake right as the sun was going down.
We set up camp, grabbed a little glass of wine (I told you we traveled in style) and ran over to the lookout right behind us to watch the sun fading down Paintbrush canyon with Leigh Lake (the smaller and closer one) and Jackson Lake below.
Then we looked up to see the mountains ablaze in the last of the sun, so amazing.
Trev doing our dishes in the neighboring creek.
Then we woke up to fog and rain. Not what you hope for when you are sleeping in a tent and backpacking. But it looked so cool, kind of eery and mystical.
And the wildflowers were loving it. There were still abundant at this elevation (Holly Lake 9,410, which I know because I took a picture of the sign)
We huddled in the tent in the morning and read and drank tea until the rain stopped and then we decided to book it...we still had a divide to climb over and we definitely did not want to be up there with thunder and lightning. So we set off into the fog, just wait to see the views that are to come!
Trev hiking up from Holly Lake toward Paintbrush Divide.
Looking down at the cloud we just hiked out of.
Trev stoked on life being back in the mountains.
Glamour shot? Ha, sorry for the cheesy pose, but isn't it pretty?
We even ran into some snow patches up high that are still hanging on!
Almost to the top of Paintbrush Divide.
I think at this point I kind of wanted Trevor to stop following me around with the camera!
And we made it!
We had a quick snack at the top, but then seeing the dark clouds moving in quickly we knew we needed to book it out of there so we didn't get caught at the top of the Divide in thunder and lightning, scary stuff.
This is the darkness we were afraid of! Hiking as fast as we can down the other side of Paintbrush Divide into Cascade Canyon.
We didn't beat the storm, but at least we made it off the top. When the thunder and lightning started up, we dropped our packs and huddled under a large boulder with a bit of an overhang, the safest place to be in lightning (get low). It continued to rain buckets and even hail for a while before it let up (check out the dusting of snow the Grand got, right behind Trev's head) and we were able to walk out the rest of the way down the canyon, wet, cold, and tired. Still an awesome trip and makes you stoked to live where we do and have this beauty right out our door!
