Payette Lake, Idaho
Surrounded by mountains and fed by tumbling rivers, Payette Lake, in central Idaho, has attracted an influx of luxury vacation homes and yet, the remote location serves to shield it from destruction by those of us who would love it to death. My husband’s family has held a foothold on its shore for seventy years and it remains their heart home no matter where he and his three siblings, their eleven grandchildren and a growing number of great grandchildren pursue their careers. Once a logging town, the town of McCall now depends on a limited flow of seasonal tourists who enjoy dramatic views from where it sits along the lake’s edge. Year round residents willingly trade urban paychecks for bird song, granite boulders, clear deep water, ponderosa pine, and yes, snowy, deep silence and truly dark nights. The rhythm of life flows by like the white water rafters in the warmest months and freezes like the ice on the lake during the long winters. Visitors all try to force their vacation timetable on the wilderness, but nature is indomitable and we are the ones who gratefully bend.
