Palisades Creek Trail, Swan Valley, ID

Palisades Creek Trail, Swan Valley, ID (April 18, 2016)

Selfie at the bridge near the trail head.

Palisades Creek Trail is one of my all time favorite hikes. It truly is a hidden gem. A beautiful year round creek runs down this gorgeous canyon framed by towering cliffs and snow covered peaks. Wildlife sightings are almost a guarantee. Deer, moose, elk, big horn sheep, mountain goat, bear, everything is in this canyon! I have always loved destination hiking. I'm a little mission oriented that way. So, trails with some cool or interesting location that you are hiking towards appeal to me. This trail has a small lake and awesome campsite near the 4 mile mark then another much large lake and camping area at the 7 mile mark. Both lakes have repeatedly been awesome fishing for me and one can almost count on a fresh trout dinner if they chose to.

One of the joys of the outdoors is sharing it with your family. My youngest, Alice, loves to be outside. Her vocabulary is still growing so she just calls it, "side" but often enough you can hear her little feet patting around the house and a tiny voice saying, "side..side..side?" She loves to collect dandelions, sticks, and rocks than throw them in the creek or the house...

Like a BOSS! Alice is cruising up the trail with grandma.

My mom is one of the best hikers I know. She on numerous occasions has on a whim drug the rest of us out on 10+ mile hikes and then power shopped at Walmart immediately afterwards as though her feet were impervious to pain and blisters. It really is quite amazing. Growing up we backpacked a lot and we would frequently cross paths with guided adventure groups out on multi day backpacking trips. It was always (and still is) comical for me to watch the expressions on young athletic 20 somethings faces when my mom cruises past them on the trail, normally with several small kids, and acts like its totally no big deal to walk a 4 mile/hour pace with a 35 lbs pack over rugged terrain for hours. I guess sometimes college kids need a pride check! 

A little rest and a baba after an intense one mile sprint!

Now I'm the parent and I'm dragging little ones out into the woods to do the same things my parents taught me as a kid. It pretty cool really! And my mom still kicks butt on the trail! She cruised with me and Alice on this little hike up Palisades Creek Trail. Love you Mom! Life is good!

-Adventure on!