New Meadows sits low in its own mountain valley, ringed by the Payette National Forest, and that bowl shape means the cold settles here harder than almost anywhere else in Idaho - some of the state's coldest nights on record have come out of this exact stretch of ground. Freelon Property Services, LLC works that cold directly, clearing driveways and lots while the Little Salmon River runs open and steaming a few hundred yards away, too fast in most stretches to freeze over even in January. Just up the highway, the steam off Zim's Hot Springs rises visible for a mile on the coldest mornings, a strange, warm landmark in a valley that otherwise reads as pure winter from November clear through into spring. The crew here isn't chasing a quick dusting - a storm off the Payette can leave two feet on a driveway by morning, and clearing it means real equipment, not a shovel and good intentions. By the time the log trucks start rolling through town past the old depot grounds, the driveways this crew reached are already down to gravel, holding their own small patch of order against a valley that's mostly still buried.