I always forget how much I like Idaho, how fascinating it is. I became interested in birds driving through southern Idaho and wondering what those black, blue, and white birds were crossing the road ahead of me in such numbers. Magpies, and they were out in numbers today. Magpies are predators, feeding mainly on eggs, and this time of year they are frantically covering the countryside looking for food.
The Hagerman Valley is a typical landform around here: The Snake river, big canyons and gulches, mesas and buttes, exposed basalt and sedimentary layers, all carved by unimaginable floods from Lake Bonneville, the last of which is the Great Salt Lake in Utah. I’ve never got my head around the drama these breaks in the lake caused in the landforms of Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada. And it was only 10,000 years ago when the last great flood happened. Rounded boulders of lava, called “melons”, are scattered everywhere. Far too big, heavy and numerous to move, they are part of the landscape.
As I stood on an overlook over the Snake and tried to absorb what the catastrophic scene must have been, I remembered and felt the same fear and respect when I looked over the Mississippi Valley and tried to see the size and power of these rivers.
The Oregon Trail goes through here, as well as the Emigrant Trail. There are many places to see the tracks of the trails which I could swear were made last weekend by some four-wheelers. Gives one pause.
Nearby is the remains of the Minidoka Internment Camp to hold the Japanese during WWII. A sordid story of our country’s history, but one of many I’ve seen in my travels, heck just this year.
Moving a few miles to Nampa tomorrow.