Rain....

After leaving Boise we made our way over to Sun Valley/Ketchem Idaho. We had been there at the beginning of our trip and were hoping to check out more of the trails. However this time we ended up being there when they were having a number of days of rain, so we didn't get onto more trails this time. It's such a beautiful area though--I'm sure we'll end up there again at some point!

As we were driving to our next destination, Idaho Falls, we drove through The Craters of the Moon National Park. It is such an interesting place! It has fields of black rock formed by lava flows of the Great Rift fissure system. We went through around dinner time, so the info centre was closed (Luke tells me that my love of info centres makes me a nerd)...but wikipedia tells me that it's a difficult environment for plants and animals because of dry winds and the heat absorbed by the black lava (summer soil temps often exceed 66 degrees!).
The good news is the weather was still stormy, so we got some dramatic photos!

 Luke and a rainbow

Sun breaking through the clouds

The weather continued to be rainy in Idaho Falls. And it was still rainy in Driggs and Jackson WY. That was pretty disappointing because we returned to the area to get on the trails that were too snowy the first time we were there in late May. The trails are supposed to be particularly good. Luckily it's somewhat close to Sun Valley so we can make it a big missed trail trip in the future :)

There was more rain in Laramie and Cheyenne WY and the ever present Wyoming wind made it pretty cold a lot of the time. We luckily had a reprise for an afternoon--the skies were still filled with dark clouds, but it didn't rain--so we went to the Curt Gowdy State Park. I was very pleasantly surprised! It is a super beautiful area with really well marked trails (believe me, this is a big plus) and a big variety of trails with around 70km of trails to choose from. Some of the trails were super easy, except for the strong winds making it a rough go when it was a head wind. Other trails had super fun rock slabs. I didn't get to the hard stuff but Luke said there was a trail that was super challenging (which is saying something).
I saw some mule deer (one was super bouncy) but Luke saw mule deer, a jack rabbit, a golden eagle, and a rattlesnake! All of his encounters were pretty close, because the trails were twisting around big rocks so he would surprise them at the turns. The rattlesnake actually attacked his front wheel when he was coming off a tight squeeze on a bridge--he didn't have room to back up and the little guy attacked and bounced off his spoke before taking off.

Here are some photos from the area:

 View from the trail

We're now in Fort Collins CO. Luke found a photo posted by a biker of an aggressive rattlesnake on the trails around here. I will be very extra cautious around here!!!