Island Park/Ashton Snowshoe Adventure

 We spent an awesome day in Island Park and Ashton! We headed out to Quake Lake to see the big horn sheep that hang out in the fields through the winter. It figures that we picked a FREEZING day to go, so the sheep were all smart, and hiding in the trees. We only saw a couple from far away, so we need a 'do over' when the temps aren't -16 degrees, with a 'feels like' of -30. 😲

Get a look at those crazy temperatures! No wonder we didn't see any sheep!

I've never been to Quake Lake, and it's somewhere I'd love to go back to in the summer time though.

Next, we parked at Pond's Lodge and snowshoed along the Buffalo River. This was our first time doing this route, and it was fantastic! Such a gorgeous loop. Don't worry, the sun came up and the temperature wasn't quite as ridiculous as it was an hour before. Still frigid, but nothing dangerous.

Steph ditched work for the day to join us. 

I love frosty trees!

There were so many trumpeter swans in the river!

These ones were going single file in the only thin section of river that wasn't frozen.

This is where we crossed the river and started back on the other side. It was my favorite spot.

😍😍😍

We followed a groomed road through the trees most of the way back to the truck. 

We got back just in time for lunch at Pond's Lodge before heading to Ashton for our next snowshoe route.

Yum!

Steph had never done the Bear Gulch Rail Trail in the winter, so we had to stop there and do that one. It's one of my favorites. I love following the river from high above it. So pretty!

It was nice that the snow machines had packed down the trail. It wasn't like that last time we did this. So much easier this time.

The old train tunnel.

I love following the river!

We had to stop at 511 Main for a treat on the way home. 

This Idaho brownie was perfect after spending the day enjoying what Idaho has to offer. There is no place I'd rather live.

January Running

Lots of fun running this month! 

Women's Runs:

I love that we still meet every Monday night through the winter. We've had some cold nights, but it's always a good time!

In town canal run.

Our second Monday night run was a crowd pleaser! We ran for tacos! We did a loop around the river, stopped at Jaliscos to pick up tacos, and ran to Tap and Fill to eat them. We were treated to a full moon as well! This is one of my favorites!

The Temple was so pretty with the full moon.

Pictures don't do it justice, but the moon was amazing.

Taco stop!

Yum!

Tacos!

Our final run of the month was a cold night around the greenbelt. 

Such a good turn out for how cold it was.

IFTR Early Morning Runs:

We only had one early morning Wednesday run in January. They stopped having them for awhile, but have since started back up again. The one we did have was a touch chilly!

So cold! Everything was frozen!

We all had frosted eyelashes and hair!

Henry Canyon:

Jen, Joyce, and I decided to do our Thursday morning run down Henry Canyon Road. It's been fun showing Joyce around our winter running spots in Idaho Falls.

Henry Canyon

Ohhhh no!

Don't worry, we found plenty of live deer too!

Jen-Joyce-Tricia

Palisades:

Steph and I took a jaunt to the lower lake. So pretty and frosty. The trail was awesome for the first three miles, and then it got rutted, and was hard to even walk, let alone run. We just took our time and enjoyed the day. We saw a moose and a couple eagles. 

Steph-Tricia

I love when everything is frosty.

We were the only ones out there, so it was so quiet and peaceful.

We barely saw this moose. It was hidden pretty good.

This is when the trail got bad. It was impossible to run.

So pretty!

The sun looked cool trying to shine through the clouds.

Henry & Taylor's:

I love the kind of long runs that you start off dreading, and then they end up being great. That was this run for Mark and I. We kicked it off by seeing a mama and baby moose right at the beginning. We kept it going by seeing tons of deer, and wild turkeys. We branched off of Henry Canyon and went up Taylor Mountain road, and it looked magical. Everything was covered in frost. We continued down Taylor Creek and played with the cute horses. They love attention! We had tired legs, but the 15 miles went by way faster than we thought it would.

Two moose!

We saw so many deer on this run!

I loved the frosty canyon!

This was the prettiest tree.

Winter Wonderland!

There was frost on everything!

My favorite adventure buddy!

Taylor Creek Road was nice and plowed! 🙏

My first group of friends.

Even the horse hair on the fence was covered in frost!

My second group of friends. I loved them!

Palisades Engagement Run:

Best run ever! Eric, Steph, Mark, and I did a run up Palisades on a rather brisk morning. The feels like temp was -15 degrees when we started, and I was sick, but there was no way I was gonna miss this one! When we got to picture rock, Eric got down on one knee and proposed to Steph! Ahhhhh, I'm so stinking excited for them!

Check out that 'feel like' temp!

We saw a big herd of elk on the ridge above the trailhead.

Eric-Steph-Tricia-Mark

Look at my frosty hair!

The creek was frozen and looked so cool!

Woot! Woot! My bestie is getting married!

The waterfall was frozen solid!

Check out that rock! 😍

Henry Canyon:

After the engagement run, we needed some more miles, so we did a night run down Henry Canyon Road with some rad people. I love running in the dark! Mark, Steph, and Ashley ran, and Jen and I just walked because I was pretty sick. We were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Ashley-Tricia-Jen-Steph-Mark

I thought this tree looked so cool with the sunset behind it.

We did some other big runs in December and January that I'm blogging separate, because they were part of a series we did called the 'Bad Ideas of Winter.' I'll blog about those in February.