As previously noted, my friends and I have been hiking every week around various locales in our wonderful North Idaho homeland. This week's hike was super, extra special because I got to do a bit of property, house, and yurt exploration as well.
Through a series of you know who you know by association and stuff circumstances, I found myself up on top of a bluff above the Pack River during a balmy 97 degree day this past Wednesday. Yes, balmy, after 114 Fahrenheit, 97 really doesn't feel all that horrid.
Anyway, my friend had us meet her at the Hill House so we could have a look around. Due to privacy reasons, I am not going to go into great detail about the particulars of the place or how we ended up there, but let's just say the location was a former yurt bed and breakfast, and it was delightfully quirky in a rural, artistic sorta way.
Even with the cursed wildfire smoke, you could see for miles up and down the Pack River Valley. One thing I adored about the Hill House, besides its views, was the builder of the place plunked it right into the rock bluff without disturbing very much of the landscape. Granite boulders, lichens, and shrubs adorned the place; not a bit of cultivated yard was in sight!
The house itself was three stories tall and of the post and beam variety, but it was the decorative extras that made my internal squiggle personality squee. I mean, just look at this wallpaper:
As soon as my eyes alighted on the psychedelic embroidered wallpaper of gloriousness, my brain burst into a loop of Jefferson Airplane songs and I wished for bellbottoms to be adorning my form. What really made it a fun experience, is the house had the bones of the whole cabin in the woods type of construction, yet it had Swinging London circa 1968 decorative touches. Big pine log post and beams were resplendently in one's vision everywhere you looked, not to mention that every window had a panoramic view of our rustic North Idaho woodland forest landscape, so the psychedelic wall paper made my day.
The house also had a deck perched upon its side that was at least 30 feet off the ground. After touring the house I promptly plopped my form into a deck chair in order to enjoy the breeze before touring the rest of the property's delights.
Through a driveway that wove in between the jutting rocks on the peak we walked, only to arrive at a large shop that held the kitchen and bathrooms, yes plural, there were three of them, for the bed and breakfast yurts. It was while strolling through the garage to the kitchen that I spied this sublime piece of art:
Jefferson Airplane got louder, I started wishing for a black light and bead curtains.....
After glancing at the kitchen and a common room that held a fireplace and one of the greatest coat hangers I've ever beheld, we moved on to the yurts.
There were three of the little round structures, and let me tell ya, the decor in them was out of this world quirky. Red, white, and what in the world did you do? Lush satin curtains abounded, as did hand painted chairs.
My sensory meter just hit its floral couch threshold when I walked around the corner of a yurt and spied an honest to goodness, functioning two holer!
It was a thing of rustic beauty! There were lace curtains and a guardian gargoyle statue! You could poo not only with a view, but share it with a partner! How freaking magnificent!
But it just kept getting better, the trail away from the yurts led to an amphitheater of all things. I especially appreciated the stadium seats made from plastic yard chairs with sawed off legs. I mean, the ingenuity on display staggered me at times at Hill House. All joking aside, can you imagine getting married or renewing your vows and such with that view in the background? It was pretty fantastic.
As we walked toward the road that was our hike for the day, I became aware of my psychedelic themed soundtrack sliding away and my brain spilling into enjoy the qualia of the wilderness mode. There truly is nothing quite like hiking a few thousand feet up the side of a mountain after exploring a quirky and infinitely creative space in the middle of the mountain woods.
What a very cool place! That wallpaper is gorgeous! Too bad it didn't continue as a B & B.
I pet the wallpaper quite a bit, that embroidered texture ensnared me lol, it ran up a huge wall behind a split log staircase to the upper floor, it was just glorious and so unexpected lol!
One of my dreams has been to run a quirky B&B in the woods, that place checked all the boxes, you’re right about it being unfortunate it’s still not going.
Oh deary me!
😆 Yessss!!!
Drat, the pictures aren't loading today! I'll have to come back to this one later, for sure.
Oooh, pictures are loading today! I love that wallpaper, and the two-holer is a thing of beauty.