Category: Idaho / Wyoming 2021

Monday, September 26, 2021

So we‘re off to Idaho and Wyoming on Monday, with our trusted sidekicks Tom and Emily C. Yes, we‘re flying into the teeth of the pandemic, fortified with boosters and test kits!

Stay tuned…

Tuesday, September 27, 2021

Since there is just one flight a day from Denver to Sun Valley, we had to take an early flight from Newark…up at 4:45, in the car at 5:15. We made the gate in plenty of time, settled into our seats, started the takeoff acceleration….and rolled to a stop. The brand new plane had a fault signal from the main landing gear. Maintenance turned out to be something that could be deferred…but we still took off 2 1/2 hours late and missed our flight from Denver.

Not all was lost, though. We dealt with an exceptionally nice customer service agent, who got us vouchers for a resort hotel near the airport. Everyone we met was exceptionally pleasant and helpful—agent, United staff who pushed my brother-in-law‘s wheelchair, Uber driver, hotel staff—so why do I live among the barbarians in the East? Don‘t ask.

The hotel, the Gaylord Rockies, was enormous, weird, and comfortable. The largest hotel in Colorado with 1600 (!) rooms, it had five pools and a kind of amusement park under an atrium.

We had a drink by the pool, took a siesta, and had a surprisingly good dinner at the hotel‘s Italian joint.

A good example of making the best of it!

Wednesday, September 28, 2021

Everything went like clockwork on day 2, and we were soon winging it over the western mountains.

On arriving at the airport (the Friedman Memorial in Hailey, about 20 minutes south of Ketchum / Sun Valley). I was told at the Avis counter that we‘d been given an upgrade…to a Ford Expedition Max. I guess they were out of Teslas. This baby is 18 1/2 feet long and weighs a svelte 5700 pounds. When I went to get the car from its parking place, it looked like the Expedition was all they rented in Sun Valley! Here‘s our boat with its first mate.

While we were driving up and getting settled, our dear friends Pravan and Rory W., who had driven from Seatlle to see us, were following Hal F.‘s advice and hiking in Adams Gulch…the picture they sent was a foretaste of what we would find.

We were staying in a lovely residence thanks to the exceptional generosity of our friends Sandy T. And Hal F. It is hard to imagine a better HQ in Sun Valley.

We had hoped to do some outdoor dining, but the weather didn‘t cooperate. The days are gorgeous, with bright sunlight and piercingly blue skies…I had forgotten what a western sky looks like. But dinner time would be chilly…eating in the high forties probably wasn‘t in the cards. Rory and Pravan came over at 5:30 for a glass of wine and we ordered takeout from a great place called Cookbook.

Wonderful first day in Sun Valley!

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

The land here is stunningly beautiful. Sun Valley itself is mostly made up of sharp glaciated peaks covered with sagebrush and very few trees; the golden brown of the hillsides is accentuated with the deep yellow of turning aspens. The day dawned chilly and a bit dim, but by the time we set out at 9:30, it had brightened considerably. The trip north along Idaho 75 is extraordinary: the Wood River Valley is broad and flat, with ranches close to Ketchum and public lands further north. The mountains rise on either side virtually without foothills. After 25 miles, the road rises into dense pine forests. Sun Valley is at 6000 feet, but our destination, the Galena Summit, sits at 8700. From the summit, there are stunning views across a huge valley to the Sawtooth Range.

With brilliant weather and memorable views, the whole crew was just happy to be in this incredible place.

Strangely enough, friends of Rory and Pravan from Seattle pulled into the turnout while we were there, and we chatted with them for a bit. Then on to the Galena Lodge, a lodge at the center of a vast cross country network; the lodge is open only in winter, but provides a good jumping off spot for the lower trail to Titus Lake. T and E, no doubt inspired by the surroundings, make it a good mile up the trail before turning back. We all returned to the cars, with Sue accompanying T and E back into town, while R, P, and I drove back up to another trailhead for a shorter but steeper walk to the lake.

The walk consists of a lot of up and down: you contour and then cross three ridges before descending into the Titus Creek watershed. There are wonderful views to the range—the Boulder Mountains—across the valley as you walk.

After a little less then two miles the trail descends into a cleft, with Titus Lake directly below.

We ate lunch above the crystal clear, emerald green water before retracing our steps. We had had the lake to ourselves; we had seen only a half dozen hikers coming in, plus two on the way out.

We returned to town just in time for me to jump in the car and pick up Sue, Em, and Tom, who had taken a walk along a street near the Sun Valley resort, and bitten off a bit more than their legs could chew.

Rory cooked King salmon on our little grill; we washed it down with a nice Chablis and finished with delicious locally made fruit pie.

What a day!

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Slow day; although my knee hadn’t acted up at all over the many miles in Iceland, it swelled up and got quite sore after yesterday’s walk. So discretion was the order of the day. Rory and Pravan did a walk recommended by Hal F. on a high ridge above Taylor Canyon while we took a walk along the Woods River Trail, a paved multi-use path that runs for almost 30 miles from Ketchum to Hailey. The section we walked was lovely, though not always as close to the river as we would have liked.

And yes, the sky really is that blue.

We bailed out at one of the ski lodges called River Run at the foot of Bald Mountain; I tailed it back for the car and picked up the crew…and we all headed for lunch. The weather was glorious: mid-fifties, but with the extraordinarily bright sun and the high altitude, it felt like it was in the seventies. Sue had read that the restaurant at the Sun Valley Club had a nice terrace, and she had that just right!

We dropped Emily at home for a swim while we met Rory and Pravan for our first tour of town. Ketchum has a surprisingly lively arts scene (with a museum and community theater) and many galleries. Sue and Pravan found a store called Maison et cadeaux run by a lovely French woman; Sue was enchanted by some of the things for the grandkids and left with her purse a good bit lighter.

The day was young, and Rory made the excellent suggestion that we retrace their steps at the beginning of the hike to Adams Gulch. The late afternoon light was memorable.

The trail isn’t more than a mile and a half from town, and there were more mountain bikers than hikers.

By late afternoon it was in the low sixties, and we ate on the terrace at a wonderful restaurant, Rickshaw, that features dishes from across Southeast Asia (and has the good sense not to include Burmese cuisine). All the food is meant for sharing, and we had a great international feast.

After coffee at home, we drove up to Rory and Pravan’s airbnb condo (which was very nice) on the back side of Dollar Mountain and did some star gazing. It has been a very long time since I saw the firmaments ablaze like this. Rory had a great little app called Nite Sky which not only helped us identify constellations and planets, but even the international space station as it moved across the sky.

Wonderful day!

Friday, October 1, 2021

Cloudy day here in Ketchum: two or three wisps of cloud in the bright blue sky.

Tom and Emily were headed for the Botanic Garden, while Pravan, Sue, Rory, and I piled in their Honda for the trip north to Chocolate Gulch.

What a trail! It offers incredible variety, with a barren, rocky landscape up top, lots of stands of pine and aspen, flowing water, and incredible views.

This is the start of the trail, just above The Valley of the Wood River.

The trail gains around 900 feet, but over the first mile and a half: a very gradual, comfortable ascent. As you rise, views open up to the Boulder range across the valley : the high peaks her rise to almost 12,000 feet.

Here’s a better view of the three highest peaks (Ryan Peak 11,713 ft.; Glassford Peak 11,601 ft.; Easley Peak 11,108 ft).

As you come out at the top of the ridge separating the two watersheds through which we’ll be walking, Pravan clambered up for a view.

We met some very nice local women with a great dog, and chatted for a bit. They were nice enough to snap our group of walkers.

After a bit more climbing as you contour around the spine of the ridge, views of the Pioneer Mountains, Idaho’s second highest range, open up.

The shapely pyramid in the distance is Mount Hyndman, 12,009 feet.

After descending a bit you reach a high point overlooking Chocolate Gulch itself.

The view down to the Wood River Valley isn’t bad either.

Pravan had packed a hiker’s lunch as only she can, and we relaxed and enjoyed the views before descending into the Gulch itself.

Much of the walk down was through cool stands of pine and aspen.

The last mile plus is along a rolling trail above the Wood River, easy and lovely going.

After getting cleaned up and putting our feet up, Rory and Pravan came over for a glass of wine before dinner. The temperatures hovered in the low 60’s, and we ate outside on a nice terrace at an Italian place called Rominna’s. The food was surprisingly good and the evening really lovely. Tom and Em treated us all for bringing them to Sun Valley…so I guess you could say that they treated us for having friends like Hal and Sandy!

Saturday, October 2, 2021

We bid a fond farewell to the staff in Sun Valley and lit out for the country. As Idaho 75 meets US 20, the land to the south flattens and opens out; we rode east underneath a huge escarpment. After around 90 minutes we started to see massive black basalt lava flows; we were in Craters of the Moon National Preserve. We weren’t sure that we were going to stop…after all, we’d seen seemingly every sort of lava in Iceland. But there are truly unusual formations at Craters of the moon, and we’re very glad we took the time to do the loop drive.

This is a cinder cone, all that remains of an extinct volcano. The aspens contract nicely with the basaltic lava, no?

And this is the crater of a spatter cone, a little volcano that nonetheless spewed out some considerable amount of lava.

After a quick lunch in Idaho Falls, we turned north toward West Yellowstone. Our landscaper, Greg B., had urged us to detour along the Mesa River Byway and view the upper and lower falls. It was a worthwhile detour! The lower falls is perhaps a bit more aesthetic.

But the upper falls is bigger and much louder!

We were eager to see some of Yellowstone, so decided to head straight into the park through the West Entrance. The first ten miles along the Madison River is exquisite…and a prime spot for viewing wildlife. We saw our first bison and elk here—including a huge elk buck with a big rack. The Madison is supposed to be one of the great trout steams, and we saw lots of fishermen.

At Madison Junction, we joined the Great Loop Road that circles most of the park. A quick left brought us to the Firehole Canyon Drive, which leads into a narrow gorge formed as the Firehold River flows between two enormous lava flows. The otherwise placid river becomes a torrent here.

The scenic drive ends as it passes a swimming hole in the river; the water is warm, but putting your head underwater isn’t recommended: too many microbes and bacteria from the geothermal areas!

Back on the Grand Loop Road, we entered the Lower Geyser Basin.

First stop here was a small geyser area called Fountain Paint Pot. Here it is as we approached: not all the steam is produced by geysers: thermal pools, fumaroles (steam vents), and the mud pot all contribute their share.

The main attraction is a large mud pot: CO2 and hydrogen sulfide bubbles combine with bacteria to form acids that break down the tephra (volcanic deposits) and create a more or less violent bubbling at the surface.

The basin also includes some really lovely thermal springs and, lower down, a collection of small geysers around one large one, Fountain Geyser, that sends its spout up to 100 feet in the air.

This is Silex Spring, notable for the clarity of its water.

Although we missed the big one, Clepsydra Geyser goes off pretty regularly, and we saw one eruption of about 40 feet.

It was getting late, but tried one more site here in the lower basin: Firehole Lake Drive takes you past a number of geysers and pools. The main attraction here is Great Fountain Geyser, one of the four highest-spouting geysers in the world; it was quiet when we visited, but the size of its basin gives a good idea of the violence with which it erupts.

We had entered the park in the late afternoon, and it didn’t seem too crowded, especially for a weekend. We were always able to get a spot in the parking lots, and we were on the busiest road in the park, the section between Madison Junction and Old Faithful.

The drive home took us quite a bit longer than we’d anticipated. It was near dusk, which meant that the critters were coming to the water. We encountered a long, snaking line of cars as we headed for the west entrance along the Madison River. When it was our turn, we saw what the fuss was about: a small herd of Elk and a few Bison.

Back in West Yellowstone, we checked into our overpriced but decent motel and headed out in search of a bite. Ever since Greg B. had said that he had walked into a restaurant in Idaho and said “I don’t need a menu: I want trout and a baked potato,” Sue had been determined to find fresh trout. We found it, after a long wait, at the misnamed “Serenity Bistro.” Run by a young Romanian woman, the tiny, packed place was short staffed and pretty chaotic. But the food was good: Sue got her trout and, since the chef was Thai, I had Penang Chicken.

West Yellowstone is actually hilarious: a sprawl of cheap and cheaper motels centered on a ramshackle version of a town in the “Old West.” And it was clearly Montana: only the tourists wore masks. But we were grateful not to get harassed for our face coverings!

Monday, October 4, 2021

We packed and hit the trail early, headed for the northern reaches of the park.

We made a couple of stops along the way; Gibbon Falls can be seen from an incredible lookout built out over the valley.

Sue and Emily took in the mud pots at Artists’ Paint Pots, a steep climb above the valley.

Because the road between Canyon Village and Tower / Roosevelt was closed (and had been closed at least since early summer, when our friends the Kittos visited), we had to retrace our steps, driving to Madison Junction, the Norris Geyser Basin, and finally Canyon Village to reach the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. I had seen mostly photos of the waterfalls and really didn’t expect much of a canyon. And while it isn’t the Grand Canyon, its 1000 foot depth and lovely rhyolite walls make for quite a sight.

We weren’t able to get a view close to the falls; here are the lower falls in the distance.

We ate a picnic lunch at Inspiration Point; a large raven was eager to join us!

We knew we were running out of time, and didn’t stop for several things we had hoped to see: Norris Geyser Basin and Mammoth Hot Springs…although we did see the overflow from Mammoth from the road!

The northern reaches of the park are a series of spectacular valleys, and none more beautiful than the Lamar Valley, home to some of the park’s biggest bison herds…and to bears, wolves, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn antelope.

We passed back through Mammoth Village, with its lovely hotel, historic fort, and grazing elk on our way to Bozeman.

Bozeman proved to be a pleasant small city. Our hotel was…interesting. The RSVP was a 50’s motel remodeled as 21st century hip. As I got out of the car, a woman emerged from a hotel room and said “You’re going to love the flowered robes”…as indeed we did.

We snagged an outdoor table at Blackbird, reputed to be the best restaurant in Montana and had a very nice meal. A nice end to a great trip!

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

We got up early and arrived at a virtually empty Bozeman / Yellowstone International Airport. All went well until the plane pulled back from the gate. About 20 feet. And it came to a stop. A woman who had bulled her way onto the plane ahead of us decided that she didn’t feel well enough to fly. By the time we pulled back to the gate, found a medic, had her checked out, and watched as you walked off the plane, we were having visions of another night in Denver.

But the pilot made up half the lost 40 minutes, a chair was waiting for Tom at the Denver gate, and we made our flight home with time to spare. Back in Princeton, we grabbed a couple of pizzas from Conte’s and then waved goodbye as Emily and Tom headed home.