A Vision of Blue

Lolo Pass, ID

The assignment was to head out to Lolo Pass on the Montana/Idaho border to document our first annual half-marathon and 5K fun run. The race is the brain-child of our Manager at the Visitor Center who often runs the forest service roads around the pass. She at times would admire the view of the Bitteroots and think that here would be a beautiful place to run a race. So she made it happen and NWIA flew me out to cover the event.

The day of the race was beautiful and hot; the racers were excited to get moving. And soon the musket was fired and they were off. The winner of the 5K crossed the finish line just 20 minutes after he started. Then the wait was on for the rest of the racers to return. I decided to walk to Packer Meadow just a mile up the road and with the promise of Camas filling the meadow.

I was rewarded with a sea of blue as the flowers covered the vast meadow. I was there to photograph runners, which I did, but kept getting distracted by the flowers that surrounded me. The Camas kept calling me further into the meadow and I found it hard to resist. The only thing that chased me off the meadow was the sun beating down. I eventually had to take refuge in my air-conditioned car, but will forever have visions of blue in the mountains of Idaho.