Looking for Southern Idaho. Not too much snow!!! (Boise, Idaho Falls: how much, live in)

[1flower]

Hi All,

We have just retired. Yay...... We live in Northern Idaho, between Coeur d'alene and Sand Point. Would like to move to some beautiful country with lake/rivers, etc. We have horses, like to trail ride, but we're not really winter sports people. That's why we're looking for less snow, more outdoors gardening too.
Kind of like outside of Boise, Emmett perhaps, for it's agriculture, close proximity to big town without being right in it. But it looks like flat country.

I love the looks of the Mackay, Redfish, Henry's, Island Park, but haven't been there. Saw a PBS special about the bird refuge areas and fishing and love it! The mountains are spectacular. I know it's probably too much winter.

Is there somewhere you can come up with that gets snow that doesn't stay on the ground for 6 months :-)

Thank you

[IdaD]

Well I'm not sure if I totally understand your question. If you're asking about the general area around Island Park and Mackay, or especially Redfish (if you're referring to the Stanley area), you'll find the winters range from quite a bit to far harsher than what you're used to up between CDA and Sandpoint.

But if you're asking about Emmett, you'll get reasonable winters that can get cold but generally without too much snow and the snow usually won't stick around for long. It's in a valley so it's somewhat flat I suppose, but you're surrounded by mountains and if you head north up toward Sweet and Ola you'll get into the mountains very rapidly - pretty country up that way. Your access into Boise, Eagle and Meridian for shopping, restaurants, and airport access isn't bad. Well the airport access is a little dicey because it's on the other side of town, but still you can be there in under 45 minutes. There should also be reasonably priced horse properties since it's still pretty rural.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by 1flower

Hi All,

We have just retired. Yay...... We live in Northern Idaho, between Coeur d'alene and Sand Point. Would like to move to some beautiful country with lake/rivers, etc. We have horses, like to trail ride, but we're not really winter sports people. That's why we're looking for less snow, more outdoors gardening too.
Kind of like outside of Boise, Emmett perhaps, for it's agriculture, close proximity to big town without being right in it. But it looks like flat country.

I love the looks of the Mackay, Redfish, Henry's, Island Park, but haven't been there. Saw a PBS special about the bird refuge areas and fishing and love it! The mountains are spectacular. I know it's probably too much winter.

Is there somewhere you can come up with that gets snow that doesn't stay on the ground for 6 months :-)

Thank you

Island Park is very high, so it gets major snow that comes early and stays late. Henry's Lake is the same, as it's part of Island Park. It's also cooler up there in the summers as well.

But once a person comes down off the high caldera into the upper Snake River valley, the winters become over a much shorter at the be inning and end, and are not nearly as cold, although Idaho is Idaho. If it's 10 below in the I.P., it's zero in the valley.

The same is true with the entire Sawtooth area. Redfish closes down for the winters, and it's cold in Mackay as well, because Mackay is high.

Idaho Falls is the most centrally located for this region, and it's also closest to the west side of the Tetons than I.P. or Mackay. There are a lot of trail riding areas in the Targhee on this side up there by Driggs, Victor and Tetonia.

But the entire south end of the state tends to be just as wintry as the north and at least a few degrees colder. How much snow we get in the valley really depends on the year; for the last decade, the years of 2 feet on the ground have been relatively rare. Most years, it has been 6 inches or less for most of the winter, with several melts.

Lots of folks keep horses here and ride them year round on the country roads and fields. There are also a bunch of stables.