Fences VII – Spring at High Elevation

Posted on by Rebecca Wallick

My previous posts featuring rural fences were all winter scenes.

I hadn’t thought about a spring or summer rendition because I rarely see fences on the forest trails my dogs and I spend our time on, but this morning, as we finished a high-elevation mountain hike I was struck by the beauty of stacked log fencing along a creek that meanders through a meadow at the trailhead. This section of the Payette National Forest has a cattle grazing allotment; the stacked log fencing protects the creek from the cattle.

Even though it’s officially summer, spring is just arriving in Idaho’s higher altitudes. This trail starts at an elevation of 6,729 feet and climbs steadily over three miles to a Forest Service fire lookout atop Granite Mountain at 8,461 feet. In fact, there was still so much snow above 7,500 feet that we turned back (after the boys had plenty of time to play), leaving the summit and its 360-degree views for another day.

This morning the meadow was carpeted with bright, happy buttercups, tiny white springbeauties, yellow avalanche lilies and a few purple shooting stars, a beautiful collection of springtime mountain wildflowers thriving on the moisture left by the recently-melted snow.

fence, trees
fence, trees, dogs
stream, fences
wildflowers, fence, dog
Conall photobombing my framing of shooting stars with a fence.
fence, dogs, trees
fence, trees, meadow
fence, stream trees, mountain
wildflowers, fence, stream
dog, stream, fence, trees
Finn enjoying a cool down at the end of our hike.

Published by Rebecca Wallick

I delight in exploring the national forest near my Idaho home on foot, whether trail running, hiking, or xc skiing, with my two dogs by my side, taking photos of nature and wildlife. An author and freelance writer, I love observing and writing about the natural world, and dogs, and am a long-time contributing editor at Bark magazine. I used to practice law for a living. I much prefer the writing life.

11 thoughts on “Fences VII – Spring at High Elevation”

    1. It took a while for me to adjust to the altitude here, coming from sea level (Seattle). I remember a phone conversation with my father soon after moving here, telling him how I felt the altitude when running but my dogs didn’t seem to, wondering if dogs noticed changes in altitude. His reply: “Probably not since they don’t wear altimeter watches.”

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Finn was a happy boy in that creek, and I was a happy dog mom, knowing the water was washing off all the trail mud and dirt 😉

      Sounds like you need to make a trip back to Idaho one of these days, take a trip down memory lane.

      Liked by 1 person

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