STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Can you imagine what it would be like to open your umbrella on a snowy day and find that the sun is shining out from inside and flowers are springing from the frozen ground?
Now, jump ahead to spring where the magical umbrella provides snow for snow angels and sledding across the green grass.
This is the world that Boise author Scott E. Franson has created in his magical book “Un-Brella. And you can enjoy it as you ski, walk or bike the Wood River Trail through Monday, Feb. 27.
“Un-Brella” was chosen by the Blaine County Recreation District, Hailey Public Library and The Community Library to be the focus of this winter’s StoryWalk.
The wordless book has been posted page by page along the bikepath in two places and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. You can see it between Fox Acres Road and Woodside Boulevard in Hailey and between 6th Street and Wood River Drive in Ketchum.
This is the third year the three organizations have collaborated on the StoryWalk. The StoryWalk Project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vt., who developed it in collaboration with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library.
Some communities, such as Crested Butte, Colo., have established permanent StoryWalks along recreational paths.
DON’T FORGET THE WOOD RIVER TRAIL CHALLENGE
Tackling the StoryWalk is another way to chalk up your miles—or kilometers—as part of the BCRD’s Wood River Trail Challenge. Ski, walk, snowshoe or snow bike all 32 kilometers of the trail from Hulen Meadows in Ketchum to Gannett Road in Bellevue and you can enter yourself in a chance to win a BCRD Nordic season pass.
Sign up at bit.ly/WRTrailChallenge.