Cratered

Day 7: Blowout Campground, Idaho
Distance traveled: 411.5 km
Cumulative distance traveled: 2718 km
Maximum speed: 122 kph
Moving average: 84 kph
Temperature range: 13.8 - 24.6 degrees C

Last night, after Nan had gone to bed and I was working on this project, I was listening to the sounds

Ready for departure this morning. 

of branches breaking in the bush not far from our tent sight. We were right on the river, and rivers are often the corridors for animals to move about the terrain or up and down valleys. After our prior encounter, it was a little disconcerting hearing such noises. We had put our food and other smelly stuff up a tree so it is not like there was anything close to us to attract a bear, so if a bear did move through our tent sight, chances are that it would ignore us and we wouldn't notice. Still, I was concerned about Nan hearing the noises because if she did, she would not sleep a wink. I shone the flashlight into the bush but didn't see any yellow eyes glaring back, sizing me up for an evening snack so eventually, I resolved that I would just go to bed and try not listen to the noises. In fact, the tent was a little closer to the river, so really, all that could be heard from inside was the sound of the water. And the moth caught under the fly.

This morning when we were talking to the campground host, he told us that there had not been any bears around since July and the one they did have had been terrorizing four campgrounds and was eventually caught and moved. What I had heard was a moose apparently, as there was a beaver dam close to where we were located and some moose had been hanging there as well. This was a relief, though I was disappointed that the camp host hadn't been around the night before to answer any bear-related questions and put my mind at ease.

Scenes from Ketchum.

When we got on the road, within minutes we passed through Ketchum, in the heart of the famous ski destination Sun Valley. Ketchum is a lot like Whistler, only smaller - everything is high end, especially the real estate. Homes around the area are palatial mansions and looked like they were worth millions of dollars. U.S. dollars.  The nearby airport had many small jets parked and since they didn't have corporate logos, I can only assume they were private jets. I guess that explains why it cost $43 for dinner from the deli counter last night.

We didn't stop because it was too soon, so we ended up in Arco for brunch. Arco doesn't have a whole lot to offer but we did see a place called Pickle's Place. We pulled in and immediately smelled the char broiler, which enticed us. They were smokin' busy and we heard about how they had yet to recover from the eclipse crowd, making for their busiest summer ever. Not a bad problem, in my mind, but they were running around like the proverbial chickens. A quick glance at the menu revealed the Eclipse Burger, a cheeseburger with an egg on it. Only fifteen minutes before Nan had been commenting that she was in the mood for eggs, so she got here wish, though I don't think that this is what she was imagining. It was a great burger and the side salad was pretty fresh, for out in the sticks. Arco is, after all, in the middle of nowhere. I think the local industry is the nuclear waste deposit a few miles up the road, which is probably the cause for the name as well as their first burger on the menu, the Atomic Burger.

The Eclipse Burger, though an egg sunny side up would have been more appropriate.

Arco is situated at the base of a small mountain and as a backdrop, scores of creative high school youth had painted their class year on the mountain as a notice to the world that they had graduated in some particular year. This was no ordinary graffiti however. These were numbers the size of, well, something big. They rivaled the "Hollywood" sign in Hollywood. Those kids must have been taking their lives in their hands hauling big ladders up the side of the mountain. We could see the number from several miles away before it was possible to identify what they ever were.

From Arco, we passed by and through Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (though I did not see any jam). We did a ride around the park, but because it was threatening rain the entire time, we stayed on the bike and kept moving. Also, there was very little parking because the park was over flowing with people. At the park entrance, we were told that the usual traffic was 200 - 300 cars per day but they were getting 2,000 since the eclipse.

Craters of the Moon is 750,000 acres of lava.

It was very reminiscent of Maui to us

Craters is the location of a large rift of deep fissures in the earth's crust across the Snake River Plain. Active volcanism beginning 15,000 years ago spewed lava in the plain, though it was not from a single volcano but from the fissures located therein. There were many cinder cones that we could see, some rising well above the plain, sitting isolated as a testament to the former activity of the area. The most recent volcanism had occurred only 2,000 years and and THEY SAY that more activity is likely. I'll try to not be there for it.

Cinder cones dot the landscape 

Some are even functional

We landed in a stunning camp spot for the night. We are about fifteen km from the village of Alpine, which is in Wyoming and despite having to pass this campground to get to Alpine, we opted to get groceries then turn around and come back to camp here. We have a gorgeous view of the reservoir below and a clean, tidy campground with nice, flat tent pads, permanent metal picnic tables and get this: food storage lockers. No worries about bears tonight. There are Saskatoon bushes all over that are completely laden with berries though sadly, they are passed their prime and on their way to noble rot. Tonight's host is Ken, who spends his summers camp hosting and his winters in Arizona. We heard how he had moved to Old Mexico but his pacemaker doesn't work on Mexican cell towers, that he used to be a bouncer in Kansas City, he rides a Harley, is 75 and that the camper in the next stall is 'Nam vet that flew helicopters there and has a lot of stories. He delivered the firewood for tonight, probably because it was so heavy with moisture that he didn't think anybody could carry it. I'm guessing Ken has a few stories of his own.

The grizzled vet. Of something.

View from our tent sight.

We saw an old sign in Idaho Falls: "Warning to tourists, don't laugh at the natives"

Setting up the charging station for the computer for the last leg of today's ride.