Andy Rooney once said, “Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you are climbing it.” My husband and I live in eastern Nebraska where the only mountains are the ones moles create in the cornfield just down the road from our home. Although Nebraska is a beautiful state with spectacular winter sunsets and wide-open spaces, our hearts and souls belong in the western United States.
Despite our need to live in the mostly flat landscape of the Heartland for career reasons, we are avid hikers who once lived in separate areas of the West Coast—my husband in Oregon and me in Southern California. To date, we have both hiked and backpacked in California, Oregon, Montana, Utah, and Colorado.
So it is no surprise that last summer, we were called to the mountains once again to lace our hiking boots and fulfill our cravings to explore the beautiful trails that span the Sawtooth Mountains.
We only knew what we had read online. But as everyone already knows, it’s difficult to really understand what nature offers until you are standing on a trail with nothing in front of you but beauty and possibilities.
In short, we fell in love with the Sawtooth Mountains—so completely that we are returning this summer again. Although we explored many different areas based on our own research and recommendations from the locals, there wasn’t one trail that we said we wouldn’t return to again. Each trail offered new opportunities to enjoy expansive views of the beautiful Idaho landscape and take in remarkable gifts from nature like an unexpected waterfall or a clump of colorful wildflowers.
More importantly, every trail offered an opportunity for us to realize the kind of happiness that only comes with breathing in fresh air, making it to the end of a challenging hike, and knowing that our souls were connected to nature in a way that is indescribable.
When we return in just a few short months after a long, agonizing drive on I-80, we plan to lace our dusty hiking boots once again and wholeheartedly embrace all unique beauty that the Sawtooth Mountains offers.
We are so grateful for this gorgeous landscape that we now consider heaven on Earth.
(Photos by Vicky DeCoster)