STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Autumn officially began on Saturday. And the hills north of Ketchum obliged, as aspen and hill-clinging shrubs colored them in shades of red, yellow, orange and even magenta.
The aspen between Ketchum and Baker Creek Road are positively stunning for those who fancy a Sunday drive. But don’t worry if you can’t make it today—there are still plenty of trees left to kick off their green for something more becoming fall.
And color is making a comeback along Baker Creek Road where the 2013 Beaver Creek Fire turned aspen and willow trees into charred toothpicks, as reds and yellows spill down gorges created by heavy rains in the aftermath of the fire and soft yellow-green willows plump up along the creek.
Everyone, it seemed, was out enjoying the first fall day as Ted Angle and I hiked our way up to Baker Lake. We bushwhacked up the mountain above the lake, slipping and sliding into the meadow above Apollo Creek before climbing one more hill and making our way down Norton Creek.
At Baker Lake three men had each lugged up 35 pounds worth of innertubes, flippers and waders. One man was finishing blowing his fishing tube up, as the others lounged in the middle of the lake, casting their hopes on the water.
From the ridge above Apollo Creek we looked down on four horsewomen and their long-legged dog who were enjoying a pleasant fall picnic at a picnic table an outfitter had long ago built in the middle of that rugged country.
And down along Norton Creek Trail Ted practically missed spotting a bow hunter standing alongside the trail in a snazzy looking camouflage jacket, pants and ball cap.
The hunter, who’s been hunting in the area for 11 years, remarked that this was about the first blue sky he’d seen since July, given the fires around his home in Redding, Calif.
He had stepped out of his tent in the predawn hours to the sound of an elk bugling nearby. When the elk was still there an hour later as dawn cast its first light, he bagged it.
“I only had to go 1,250 steps!” he said.
We marveled at the variety of colors we saw as we continued down the trail—from bright yellow shrubbery lining the creek to fiery red and orange leaves dancing in the breeze. But even our exhilaration was no match for a wedding party we encountered at the Norton Lake trailhead.
The wedding party, made up of 5B locals, and others from Boise and Meridian, had staged the wedding a few hours earlier at the Lower Norton Lake.
“Yup! Got married at high noon!” one jubilantly said.