It was finally time to begin the long drive back home but we had a few more places we wanted to visit on the return. Our first set of stops was in eastern Washington. I had heard of the Palouse before and we decided to drive the long way through this region. I’m certain that taking a guided photography tour of this region will result in hitting all the right places at the right time but we had just a few hours so it was pretty much whatever we happened to see.

The next two days involved a long, serpentine drive across western Idaho ending up in Stanley. We hiked to Bridal Veil Falls but they were a dud. Very little water was in the stream and the falls were a fair distance from the trail.

By late afternoon, the Pioneer Fire was roaring and spewing ash and smoke across the area. We’ve had to cancel plans because of fires and smoke in Idaho before and we chose to cut short our plans again.

Fortunately, the smoke dispersed overnight and we had a very nice sunrise over the Sawtooth Mountains.

After leaving the Sawtooth Mountains, we drove…and drove…and finally made a stop at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

And, then, it was over. We were back home after three weeks of traveling across the west.