In 2017, my brother-in-law and I wanted an adventure to witness the total solar eclipse over the continental US from the path of totality. It just so happened to be crossing over prime fishing country in a part of the world we’d both wanted to visit: The Salmon-Challis National Forest near Stanley, Idaho. This is not a day hike.

From the Boise airport, we charted a Cessna Turbo Stationair 6 to take us into the backcountry using old National Forest Service backcountry landing strips. We planned to meet our pilot several days later at a destination about 30 miles from where we started. Our plan was to hike, fish, explore, and photograph our way to liberation. For once, the plan went according to plan. These are the surviving photos.