Astra Tucker and Austin Urlacher hope to cast a spell with their enchanting short-term rental

By Kialan Manandic

The sights and sounds of the forest are straight out of a storybook. The birds, the bees, the mountains, the trees, and all the rivers and lakes come together in a childhood dream.

Many people call this place home. Others only stay for a short visit, but their time here is unforgettable, like all the fairytales they grew up with.

“When we came here for the first time, we fell in love with the town—all the parks, the downtown, the water, and everything, it’s beautiful,” says Astra Tucker. “It sounds kind of corny to say, but [the town] did feel like a fairytale to us. When you look outside, you see families of deer and all kinds of birds, and the locals are so friendly here. I haven't been to a place that's quite like McCall.”

The Payette Avalanche Center depends on community support and two crucial employees to provide three forecasts every week of the ski season

By Kailan Manandic

Snowflakes have a long way to go before they hit the ground. Each one begins as a single ice crystal rooted on a speck of dust thousands of feet in the air; a newborn flake could spin around for hours, slowly gathering quintillions of water molecules.

The resulting snowflakes can fall into eight general shapes depending on temperature and humidity, but every individual flake is unique by the time it hits the ground. Each one is a natural work of art that drifts on the wind until it melts or shatters.

Snowflakes in McCall have had a shorter trip than most when they hit the ground. As they softly crunch beneath the boots of Kevin Studley and George Halcom, each one is a reminder of the task at hand.

The snowmobiling community funds vital trail infrastructure throughout Valley County, supporting motorized recreation across the region

By Kailan Manandic

Every skier’s dream is to have a brand-new slope all to themselves. Every snowboarder loves the rush of carving their own route through a pristine blanket of pure powder. Every snowmobiler feels alive as they climb a backcountry ridge and lean into the unknown.

In some ways, this is what life is all about. Everyone moves forward through time searching for a path—a guiding line to take them where they need to go.

Sometimes it’s a well-worn trail, waterlogged after years of use. Other times it’s like gliding across a field of snow with no idea of where you’ll end up—a new adventure every 10 feet.

But no matter how far you wander, there are always a few breadcrumbs to lead you back home. Valley County alone has an interconnected network of snowmobile trails spanning from Burgdorf to Crouch and Lick Creek Point to Burnt Log Road.

More than 700 miles of trails support endless recreation for locals and offer world-class adventures to visitors from across the nation.

“It's just a different type of riding. It's a lot of mountains at every level; the beginner level, moderate level, to the experienced level,” says Larry Laxson, director of the Valley Country Recreation Department. “What I hear from the guys who come in from out of state, it's always, ‘oh you guys got the best trails in the world.’”

The Ponderosa Center aims to fulfill a programming need and create a landmark indoor gathering space

BY Kailan Manandic

Driving into McCall, it’s easy to get a beautiful glimpse of Payette Lake just before the left turn onto East Lake Street.

Down near the shoreline to the right sits Legacy Park, the perfect perch to sit and ponder with a pristine view—one of the best the West Central Mountains has to offer. The park is something of a centerpiece for the town at the intersection of the retail district, the northeast neighborhoods, and the nature that binds it all together.

But there’s still a missing piece. Just behind Legacy Park, a little further inland, the sound of music dances on the wind, and everything clicks into place.

“It has been a very thoughtful project,” says Hayley Johnson, administrative development director of the Ponderosa Center. “We’re piecing it together based on what the community needs, thinking about things like what people would like to see in a gathering place in the middle of winter.”

By Rodney J. Auth

The moon shone down on Preston Tubach, his girlfriend, Sierra Bergmann, his friend, Dave Miller, and his other friend, Dan Curin, as they checked their packs one last time in the parking lot. It was nearing 5 a.m. and they had a big day ahead of them; if all went well, the crew would ski tour 27 miles—one mile for every year of Tubach’s life—carving a semi-circle from Brundage to his dad’s home in New Meadows and celebrating his birthday by doing something “really hard.”

As it turned out, this tour qualified.