We awaken somewhat suddenly to riotous noises coming from the adjacent hotel room - a man shouting angrily, kids screaming as they’re running around and a female voice somewhere in the middle of it all. Things calm down eventually, but when we leave our room to check out we’re confronted by five or six police officers interviewing the woman about how she hurt her face. It’s a shocking way to start our day and a stark reminder of how easy it is to forget the realities of life when you’re on a journey like this and we’re a bit stunned as we eat our breakfast - my companion made a call to his family as I stared blankly at two televisions in the breakfast room, one showing an evangelical preacher asking for money from his congregation and the other blaring home shopping products.
Ironically, we drive away from the hotel into a beautiful day - bright sun and blue skies - and into the landscape of empty, rolling hills that are becoming increasingly snow covered. In the summer, these must be vast fields of wheat, but given the time of year they have become a patchwork of soft yellows, browns and white that are penned in by the distant ridges of the mountains that we’re heading towards.
We cross into Idaho and drive to a trailhead so we can start today’s activity - the Moose Marbles trail. Snowshoes on, it involves a brisk walk up an icy road before joining a snow covered trail that leads up into the hills through a sparse forest. The going is fairly easy to begin with, if a bit winding, but before too long we’re heading off the more well-walked part of the route and into knee high snow (again). The trail becomes harder to read, so we navigate via GPS and keep pushing through the terrain - progress slows and legs begin to ache, but we make our way up to an overlook that gives a good view of the surrounding landscapes. We start our descent, but it quickly becomes clear that we’re not going to make it back before the sun goes down - luckily we’re equipped with head torches and some extra layers, as the temperature and light start to drop, but the route back includes a slightly ‘off-piste’ moment (and a snowy creek crossing) but we eventually make it back to the car after just under five hours.
We are a little chilly and very hungry as we make our way into Moscow, a small town on the very edge of west Idaho that is twinned with nearby Pullman in Washington State. Both are major university towns, so there’s lots of rivalry and a noticeably younger crowd as we drive through the streets. We head out for some dinner and end up at quite an upmarket restaurant called Lodgepole, which turns out to be genuinely amazing - the food is the equal of many of the restaurants we’d usually visit in London and we have a great meal that feels well-earned - local cheese & cured meats, an outstanding filet mignon and an eggnog crème brûlée, for those wondering.
As we leave, we ask the restaurant manager - Michael - if there’s any places for drinks likely to be open, and he points us towards the Corner Club - it turns out to be an overly-bright but packed bar filled with students, as there’s a key NFL game on that will decide the end of the season, and we have a couple of beers whilst soaking up the increasingly raucous atmosphere. It’s actually a really cool way to spend an hour or so, as there are competent factions in the bar and lots of trash-talking between the fans. Game over, we head to another of Michael’s recommendations called John’s Alley which seems to be the polar opposite of the previous place - dark, homely and a little less packed. We put some tunes on the jukebox and notice another patron from the Lodgepole in the corner - eventually she spots us and introduces herself as Jackie, and she’s actually Michael’s partner. Michael himself eventually walks in and we spend the evening with them and their friends, discussing their plans to move to Canada, life in Moscow and even a little bit of politics (Moscow is a Democratic bastion in an otherwise entirely Republican state).
It’s a really lovely end to a great day, although the real fun begins tomorrow as we head up towards our first national park - Glacier.