Up at seven this morning, hoping to get on the road to the Sawtooth mountains by eight. Didn't quite make it but I was on the road by 845.
The plan for the day: arrive at Stanley Lake at noon, visit Redfish Lake, and set out for Ketchum by four to catch dinner, and then head back to Arco, arriving no later than seven, certainly before dark. A 280-mile loop around the Salmon and Sawtooth mountains.
The trip was actually in at least five different legs. Fortunately, the weather was just splendid fir the entire trip. The first leg was the trip from Arco to the entrance to the Salmon mountains. To say that this trip was extraordinary would be an understatement. I do not have the vocabulary to be able to describe the magnificent views along the way. Wide open grazing fields on both sides of the highway framed by high snow covered mountains all the way. For the future, I came across a wonderful campsite overlooking the McKay reservoir on the way. Go Google it.
The next leg of the trip was the 55 mile drive through the Salmon River valley to Stanley lake. Before we set out on this leg we took a break for Donner on the side of the road which she appreciated. He especially appreciated my first aid for an ear problem he somehow developed, which i cured for him. Again, I simply do not know how to describe in correct words what I encountered on this drive. Absolutely extraordinary. You would be better off searching the Internet for someone who has more descriptive words than I do to describe vividly such stunning nature. Campsites all along this route.
The next leg of the trip was Stanley lake followed by Redfish Lake. I had originally planned to camp at Stanley lake, but decided to make this 280 mile loop trip a day trip from Arco, and in many respects I'm glad I did. Again, I have no words describe what I saw at Stanley lake and Redfish Lake, but let me just say this. If you have ever visited or seen pictures of Lake Louise at Banff Canada, these lakes and mountains rival that in terms of what it does to your soul. I could not take my eyes off of those mountains and the lakes resting before them. What a sight to behold.
I drove to my would be camp on Stanley lake, the inlet Camp, just to see what I would have encountered had I decided to stay there. To get there, you have to go down a rather rough dirt road and then you come to what looks like a river of about 100 feet wide and about 2 feet deep that you have to cross. While the Defender could have done it, since I had no intentions of camping there, I was not going to take the chance of losing a couple of hours if I had to winch myself out of that morass. So, I turned the Defender around, with some difficulty on the muddy, narrow road at that point, and spent the next 45 minutes just gazing at the Sawtooth peaks peering down on the silent, calm turquoise lake, where I met a delightful couple, Chris and Kinder, and they're lovely daughter Dylan, who mistook Donner for a bear. Or maybe she mistook me for a bear. Whatever.
After an hour each at Stanley lake and Redfish Lake we moved down towards Ketchum. Like the previous three legs of this trip, this next leg was quite different in terms of the way nature presented itself. In this case the scene was ranch upon ranch upon ranch receding back about a mile on each side of the highway and framed by mountains, many snow covered. By the looks of those ranches, I'm sure the guys who run them deserve to wear their cowboy hats, boots, and leather belt buckles, and greet every new stranger with a courteous, Howdy, whether they mean it or not.
After the ranches came to an abrupt conclusion, we entered an entirely new setting, the high mountains, all draped in snow. At one point we ascended it to almost 9000 feet. Thank goodness we didn't select a day where the weather was not as beautiful as it was today, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this now.
A few miles down the road we stopped off in Hemingway's old town, Ketchum, and Garmin expertly directed us to the nearest store where I could buy groceries, Atkinsons market. I parked the Defender right in front of the market, went inside and found a store that would rival any Whole Foods I have visited. It was actually a pleasure to shop in there. To reward Donner for his patient participation in today's journey, he got for dinner a pound and a half a roast beef, while I had a simple Asian salad. We both eat our meals in the quaint little park across the street from the market, and then got on our way to Arco, but not without a near incident. As it turns out, unfamiliar as I was with the city drivers, traffic patterns, and things like that, I was nearly sideswiped by a pick up truck when I crossover an intersection. Fortunately nothing happened and I moved on.
Nothing happened to me, however, but that cannot be said about some hapless woman who worked in Arco on her way home to Halley tonight. About 15 miles from Ketchum I looked ahead and noticed some vehicle blocking the highway. As I approached the vehicle, it was clear that there has just been a head-on accident on the highway, about two minutes before I arrived at the scene. I parked the Defender and ran over to the mess, where a woman was still trapped in her vehicle and being aided by several men we were trying to extricate her from the vehicle. When they were able to get her out 15 minutes later, I realized that her leg was in bad shape, so I ran to the defender to get my first aid bag real turned it over to a woman who said that she had some first aid experience. After seeing the two vehicles involved in the accident, i am shocked both drivers were not killed. A lucky day for them, really.
Concerned about my own situation not wanting to drive in the dark, and realizing there was nothing more I could do now, after the emergency responders arrived, I drove on the remaining 60 miles to my camp at Arco, arriving precisely at 7:32, when dusk turned to dark.
After I got back to the camp, I ran into my next-door neighbor Rick who's dog Striker Donner had befriended in the morning, and we got them together once again. Rick, a cigar aficionado, offered me one of his cigars, and we sat outside my cabin and chatted about travels, careers, dogs, and other such things for an hour.
My plans for tomorrow are still uncertain, do I head south, do I head west, or do I head east? I will say this, though, that my three nights here reenergized me and let me catch a second wind. The only thing I do know is that north is not an option any longer, not so much because of the cold, although I will admit that that is part of it, but because most of the camps up north are closed already.
That's it for tonight.
Ed, from Arco Idaho. Donner is sound asleep so he is not signing off on this message, although he did have a good dog day, haven't met at least for dogs all day, including Tommy and Joseph in Ketchum, whose photo appears believe this posting.
