Day thirteen, Friday, August 25th
Lava Hotsprings to the headwaters of the Salmon River!
For the second time we made the run up to Pocatello. This time we stopped at a really nice Mavericks for breakfast. They had killer breakfast burritos
Then we had to do some slabbing up the interstate to get to US 26, US 20, and then head NW out to Arco. Not much to look at except for mountains in the distance and dirt. There were the occasional fields of dark green crops, potatoes perhaps? Still, boring!! At Arco we stopped for gas and drinks. It was a bit warm. While stopped we saw some adventure bikes passing by, some Beemers, a few Triumphs, and some KTMs. We've been a bit surprised at the lack of bikes we've seen. Maybe we are just off the beaten path now that everyone seems focused on the BDR routes
We headed North out of Arco up Hwy 93 until we reached Trail Creek Road. This runs SW across the mountains to Ketchum, the Aspen of Idaho. It starts out nice and paved until it reaches the bottom of the mountains and then starts to climb. It was still pretty wide and well maintained, but there were some serious pot holes and crazy washboard as it started getting a bit steeper. Sarah was still a bit stressed about going off the pavement, but she didn't protest. I let Daniel take the lead and then I followed her, letting her set whatever pace she liked. She was nervous, but she was doing what she was supposed to be doing, and doing it well. I coached a little here and there, but mostly tried to leave her alone and let her work it all out in her head. Her confidence was coming back, but slowly. At the summit, I stopped and visited with a local that was bicycling...
He told me the Western descent was kind of steep with some exposure to edges with long drops, but it was not rough. People actually managed to drag RVs up it!! So we decided to head down. It was only 4 miles to pavement and going back meant several hours of extra riding. Again, Daniel led and I followed Sarah. She did great, even when she had to go wide around some of those exposed corners because of oncoming bicyclists and other vehicles, and it was NOT a wide road! Fortunately, the twisty stuff doesn't last too long and then just became a long mostly straight run down out of the valley until we hit pavement.
Ketchum was a pricey place, much like Aspen, Colorado. It was jam packed with super expensive vehicles and people. We managed to dodge the clueless pedestrians and drivers to get to a grocery store so we could stock up before heading out of town to get to our planned campground. The grocery store was like a Whole Foods on steroids. However, we were able to get food at reasonable prices. We headed North out of town on ID 75 and it ran up over the mountains. It was a super nice ride with fantastic views. I did have to pass Sarah and chase down Daniel once to remind him to keep the pace sane. He tried telling me he wasn't going that fast but I mentioned that I knew exactly how fast he had been going because I had been right on his tail for a bit
We eventually reached the far side of the pass and turned down a dirt road that led back into the woods quite a way. It was a nice easy road and Sarah liked it.
About four miles back we reached a very nice campground, Chemeketan CG. It was ALL reserved. There was a good bit of dispersed camping available in the area though. We spoke with some people in the campground and they told us to come back if we could not find a spot and they'd let us stay with them, which I thought was odd because it wasn't like they had much space for three tents?! Anyway, we found a sweet spot just outside the official campground but within easy walking distance of the nicest vault toilet I think I have ever seen in my life! Later in the evening Sarah and I went for a walk and we stopped to visit with the same people. This was when I found out that if you reserve ONE site in the campground, you are basically reserving the ENTIRE campground!? That might explain why the rate was like $125 per night... Strangest thing I have ever heard though. Basically, 3/4 of the sites were empty. I think this was why the person we talked to said we could come back, to use some of the sites they were not using. Had I realized that, we could have had really nice sites with a picnic table and very nice grills right next to the vault toilet, which was virtually odorless. Oh well, our site was still really cool, right next to a stream with a waterfall. The woman we were speaking with was from Boise, ID. She guessed we were from Texas based on our accents and the fact that Sarah said, "Yes Mam and No Mam," when addressing her. I didn't realize basic manners were a Texan thing. Daniel and Sarah eventually went exploring over near the river and apparently climbed pretty far up the side of the mountain on the far side of the river. They were gone quite a while. I sat in my chair with my beer and played around with my drone, trying to get some panoramic videos and images. I am still learning though. We also saw quite a bit of wild life later in the evening, but no bears, much to the relief of the kids
Daniel quickly got a nice fire going. There was a TON of dead wood on the ground. No wonder the forest fires out here are so bad! We thought it might rain, but then the sky cleared and we got to see a LOT of stars and satellites. Even with a half moon, we could easily see without flashlights. We enjoyed an evening just hanging out around the fire until it got real low and then we went to bed. I think it got down in the low 50s or possibly the high 40s. It was nice! At least Daniel and I thought it was nice. I was toasty. Sarah got cold, even with multiple hand warmers, and she hates being cold!
Just before the dirt starts on Trail Creek Road
I just thought the stripes made by the plants was kind of cool, erosion induced I suspect. RV for scale!
Running up the valley on gravel before the climb starts
Washboards are already starting here and just get worse the higher we get
This is after the summit, just looking down the valley.
ID 75 heading North out of Ketchum
Getting close to the summit on ID 75
Our campsite
The little waterfall that lulled us to sleep
This was literally everywhere, and dry as a bone!
My tent is going behind those trees - No dead branches in the area above the tent
The fried chicken from the grocery store in Ketchum was actually quite good
Fried chicken might not have been the best choice when trying to minimize food smells in bear country. We all washed up and burned the remains.
The view from my front porch
Daniel wasted no time with getting firewood and busting out the saw
I supervised
Daniel's bike and tent
If only all the roads were this nice, Sarah would be in heaven! Daniel would be bored
By FAR the nicest vault toilet ever. Has to be brand spanking new. It is all concrete formed to look like logs and then painted/stained. Super clean inside, zero odor, and like 20 roles of TP.
Daniel wanted his Gatorade cold, and it got very cold!
Sarah's bike and tent
I got the drone out to do some aerial photos
Looking North, you can see the road down in the valley in the distance. The highway is back at the base of the mountain at the end of the valley,
Looking back to the Southeast
Our campsite
The people in the actual campground had the 4-5 sites back in the corner, the entire rest of the campground was empty yet still "reserved"
The marshy area to the left is the head waters of the Salmon River and it flows North out of the valley
Needless to say, the kids came back to camp with wet shoes after crossing this to get to the base of the mountain they climbed
There was actually another camping area about halfway back to the highway and on the river. It was full of RVs and two stroke dirt bikes.
Hard to see because of the shade, but most of the trees on the West side of the river are burned from a large fire a year or two back.
Looking South back up into the headwaters, our site is out of frame lower left. The edge of the actual campground is in those trees lower left.
It turned into a beautiful evening and eventually the cloud cover moved out, revealing tons of stars! Up in those mountains is where the two strokers were riding.
Looking North again
A dark view of the slope that the kids climbed somehow. It was loose and rocky. Daniel has a video of him sliding down the gravel on one foot.
Needless to say, we had a sweet fire all evening!
Sarah and I explored back behind our site. This road went up higher than we wanted to hike as it was actually starting to get dark even though it doesn't look like it in the pic. It was also getting progressively rougher and steeper. We were talking about lines for climbing and descending as we walked up and then down it