Soldier Mountain

I hiked Soldier; it was sweet; nuff said


 

Halloween in Fairfield - 2006

Wow, Halloween is already over. Time to start thinking of all the other fun holidays to come! I thought I would share some of the pictures from our weekend if anyone was interested. There were so many good ones, that I created a web album to view them at. Click here to check them out. Thanks to Ben for having the digi-cam handy at all times! 

Stalked

Last evening I went running around 6:30 on the Military Reserve trails and ended up with a hour and a half adrenaline pumping, endorphin chugging run. Don't ask me why I decide to go running then, but I just did it. I ended up all the way over by Camels Back park and then headed back to my car which was at the Cottonwood Creek Trailhead over by Saint Lukes hospital; I estimate it was around a ten mile run. It was dark when I got back to the Reserve trails complex and I ended up scaring and being scared by a small herd of nine deer when I was coming down a series of switch backs on the Ridge Crest Trail, or maybe the deer where scared by something besides me, since they ran across my path in front of me, instead of running away like they normally do. I got to the bottom of the hill and started pounding my way back along the home stretch to the car, in the failing light I could barely see more than a few feet in front of myself, my tired legs and brain focused entirely upon getting through the last half mile with out tripping and breaking my neck; it was getting very dark out. Upon reaching my car I was happy to be finished after such a long hard run and wandered around for a minute, drinking water out of my camelbak. That is when I heard it. A rustling in the dense arboreal foliage; the sound of something large trying to move stealthily through the undergrowth. Some what unnerved but still high from endorphin/adrenaline cocktail coursing through my viens; I stood for a moment considering going and seeing what was making all the commotion. Instead I took off my backpack, got my key, opened up the car and got in. I turned the car on and flipped on the lights. A pair of green eyes shone back at me not more than 15 feet away in the woods. The eyes where very similar to a cats eyes when you shine a flashlight on them and they reflect the light back; the eyes where bright green and looked quite large, about 2 or 3 inches apart. Needless to say I was pretty freaked out; I got out of there as quick as possible. I think that the owner of those big green eyes was probably a mountain lion and it had maybe been stalking me, for how long I don't know, but even being stalked a little bit by a cougar is longer than I would like. Later I looked up some stuff about mountain lions in Boise and came up with this.
"The frequency of mountain lion reports in the vicinity of the capture area suggests that the lion had been making a pretty good living among the homes along the Boise River, likely feeding on deer, raccoons and probably domestic cats." (Idaho Fish and Game)
"Since last summer, dozens of mountain lion sightings have been reported to Fish and Game, many of them from the area between the Warm Springs Mesa subdivision and Parkcenter Boulevard on the opposite side of the Boise River. "Lions are frequent visitors to the valley, and most simply pass through on their way to other areas," (regional conservation educator Evin Oneale )
"Although the recent valley plague of pet disappearances blamed on mountain lions has, for the moment, dissipated, residents are still reporting sightings of both lions and lion tracks in the Ketchum area." By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

Sun Valley the Next Humboldt?

I was just told the other day by a friend that a local guy named Ryan Davidson is trying to gather enough community support to introduce new legislation in Sun Valley that would allow the Growth, posession, use & sale of Marijuana in city limits. Pretty crazy! I guess the City Clerk denied his petition but was later proved to be doing so illegally. The Idaho Supreme Court has ruled that if the voters want to vote on it, it is up to us and not some city clerk. Refreshing to see government working FOR us for once! Either way, here is the full article if you want to check it out.

Click here for full article