Idaho (Patreon)

Happy New Year everyone!

I am so happy to be on patreon for 2016! You guys are seriously awesome, I am so lucky. 

I also find myself feeling lucky that I get to travel so much for my already pretty cool job, haha. 

I went to Idaho back in September, early October. It's hard to think the state is under feet of snow, when it was in the 90's in October! D: 

But, I loved the weather, I loved the different ecosystems within just hours of eachother, and all together I loved Idaho. I didn't get a ton of work, but my host was generous and took me to any park I wanted to. So I picked 3 (which was insanely hard to narrow down haha.)

I went to Bruneau Dunes State Park, Craters of the Moon National Monument, and Bald Mountain in Ketchum (not pictured, sorry.)

Of course, two of these are technical deserts. Because I go to one of the most lush states and I want desert. That's how much I love the desert haha. 

Bruneau Dunes is home to the largest sand dune in the US, surrounding a small lake, it was breathtakingly beautiful and one of the most peaceful places I have been. I picked sage, I went sand boarding, and rolled down huge hills of sand like a little kid haha. Oh, and lost my breath a dozen times going up and down HUGE sand dunes. 

Craters of the Moon National Monument has to be one of the coolest places I've ever seen. It might seem underwhelming to some, but the reason why it is a desert is bizarre. It was a volcano thousands and thousands of years ago, and it blew, created a crater, but also taking over all the surrounding landscape. The entire place is covered in hard rock, tiny crystalized black pebbles, and strange plants. It was like something out of a movie. There are also deep caves in this park, I went into a few completely dark ones, realizing my fear of being in a dark, cold, cramped space with a flashlight to help out is very real. But there was a walk through one that had started crumbling, and it was beautiful, and definitely did not freak me out as much haha. 

Idaho was really beautiful as a whole though. I also got to see Boise, the plains type area in the south of the state, and tiny mountain towns. I am super grateful for that trip. It replenished my need for nature. 

Photos by @tontinedream

Editing by me. 

Idaho. September/October 2015.