Workers in town were up at 6:30am cleaning streets and doing garden work. The sounds of grass blowers woke me up. I stopped in the old historic district for coffee in the one coffeeshop I could find, then sat there for almost two hours while sipping coffee and updating my journal (enough for notes at least). The shop manager was very concerned that I liked his coffee so that I would come back again. I assured him I would.
The Greenbelt was quiet when I got back to it on the northern terminus near the Idaho State Science area, but the dogs were only interested in drinking some water. The sprinklers had all gone off and were watering the grass, and neither dog wanted to get wet (but Minnie was quite happy jumping into the river to retrieve sticks!) We only managed .5 miles as a leg stretcher, and then we were off on US26 going east. I had planned on hiking the Palisades Creek trail. This hike came up as the most popular hike in the Idaho Falls area. Write-ups also warned readerst that this could potentially be a crowded hike as well. With dark clouds lingering above, I took my chance.
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I stopped at the ranger station for more information on the trail. One worker gave me a colored print-out of the trail. The man behind the counter, a retired sheriffs deputy from southern California but born and raised in Ajo, Arizona, asked me how the situation in southern ARizona now is in regards to the border crossers and drug smugglers. That got us into a long but civil conversation about the politics and ecological situation along the border. He fielded a few phone calls and eventually I departed, as time was of essence for this 16-mile hike.
The clouds only got darker...
More later
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