An 11 mile hike

Okay

We were talking to the homeowner of the current sit and asked, "What is a good hike for sea-level folks who have O.L.D.?"  - "Well Prairie Creek Lake or Miner Lake would be nice - and if you are up for it you can do the loop" (basically do both). The trail was rated intermediate to difficult.  SURE, what the heck, let's do it!

So we set off and the first part, just over 2 miles, was relatively flat, and took about an hour. We then headed up to Miner Lake, a bit steep in sections, but in another hour+ we were there, just under 2 miles.  Nice.....  and after 4 miles+ we were feeling comfortable. We decided to do the loop, it would be mostly level or down!. Another 2 miles, in an hour to Prairie Lake, then 2 miles back to the intersection and another 2+ miles back to the car. We completed the loop in 6 hours with all the "stop and enjoy time". It was considered difficult, but we thought is was just about intermediate, even given the length.

Now rather than sticking 30+ photos in this post, we tried to create a slideshow in iPhoto and save it as small as possible (mobile size on the selection panel), and make the whole thing easier to view.

But making a slideshow proved  a bit more work that anticipated -- mostly trying to get it to play nicely on a PC. Here it is (see instructions for playing below)

11 miles; Miner and Prairie


Quick Summary

• Streams and crossings
• At the beach
• Lots of flowers
• Arrival at Miner Lake, with many pix of the lake in the cirque
• A funky sofa that someone assembled at the campsite
• Clear water pictures 
• Walk over to Prairie Lake
• Pictures of trout, and 
• Bugs that trout eat. 
• More streams
• Odd leaf coloring
• Monkeyflowers (mimulus)
• The way out. 

After showers, we set off for what proved to be an excellent dinner at CK's in Hailey ID: dinner

Rating for the day: between Excellent and Outstanding (maybe verging on Exceptional)



Not even sure if this thing works. But, If you know how to make these things work better, or at all,  let me know.

Instructions:

For Windows users: if it asks to save or open, try to open in Windows Media Player. It may take several minutes (up to 5, depending upon your internet speed) to download and start playing. If that doesn’t work, try again with “save”. Once the file is downloaded (it’s a .mp4 file), double-click to play. If that doesn’t work, I don’t know what to tell you!

For Mac uses: it should just play (of course!)

For iPads: you’re on your own!

If you are trying to play it without downloading, and it keeps stopping and starting it could mean that your internet connection isn’t fast enough to “stream” it. In that case, download the file and save it on your computer, then play it from your computer.

Good luck!

So, what do you see when you are down a dirt road?

With all the chances of getting a flat -- why the heck drive in the "treacherous" backcountry?

Well for some interesting country.... and possibly some trout!

Feeling a little flat!

The hazard of driving on dirt roads is the chance of getting a flat. Readers may recall that that happened last year when we were about 20 miles out.

Well, here we are again, about 6 miles out a dirt road and the low tire pressure guage comes on. Hop out and see the rear driver-side tire half inflated. After last year, I bought Fix-a-Flat spray-to-fix can, so used that to re-inflate the tire a bit.  Then headed back to where we are staying.  The tire worked okay to get me there.

So, after pulling into the driveway, I see something very odd, not only is that tire flat  .... the driver front tire is also flat!! Yes, TWO flat tires! The front tire must have happened just up the street since is was really flat-flat - could not hold air.

Pulled out my trusty Suburban jack and got to work ... not unlike the spare tire holder (see last years blog for the rant on that:  last year's tire story), the #$^%$^% jack is also a POS! It wouldn't jack up high enough. So, after a frustrating 60 minutes, called AAA.  The guy got the tire off and the spare on.

I have a puncture repair kit also and put a plug in the hole on the rear tire... well that didn't do the job. ... but luckily the place where we are staying has a compressor... just enough to fill the tire and get to Les Schwab, the tire store.

I was planning on replacing the rear tires, and the front (new last year) tire was not repairable.....

So, right now the Suburban has 4 brand new shiny 10 ply tires -- the kind that "everybody uses out here" (TEN-ply vs the standard 4-ply). It is also outfitted with 2 Fix-a-Flat cans, and a new, hefty 6-Ton hydraulic bottle jack. Furthermore, I sprung for new brakes and shocks, and an oil change. All in all, a very expensive afternoon.

Sheesh, other than armor, I hope that this upgrade will see us through.

But the story gets more interesting. I went to a local gas station to fill up the leaky tire with air, and ran into a woman whom I had asked directions of earlier in the day. She was also using the air... why? ... because she got a flat tire on the same dirt road, just after I did. I helped her with fixing her tire (using the tire repair kit), etc... and she responded by asking me if I would like to join her for some fishing in some private water on the Silver Creek.... not a bad deal.

BUT WAIT --- ---  as they say in the those ads.... there is even MORE!!!

The day after buying 4 new tires, I set off for yet more backcountry dirt roads, somewhat confident that I am now protected against rocks, what with new 10 ply tires ... really tough!

So Trail Creek road is, shall we say, not up to perfect standards. But I make it over the pass and continue on a large assortment of rather "good" dirt roads..... HOWEVER, the return trip was "adventurous"

I heard this weird noise... clack, clack, clack, clack

YUP --- GOT ANOTHER FLAT !! Yeeha, Wahoo, Damn Right, Sheesh, WTF!

So now I am sitting on the side of the road, just at the paved part. EVERYONE going by, and there are lot, asks "do you need help" - two guys just stopped and say "OMG you have a Suburban, you WILL need help!" (see rant from last year's blog)

It was a great place to have a flat....  the deal is, that if you are out in the back country, it is all about support for all.

That is a BRAND NEW tire

This time the culprit was this, this thing is 8" long and it is INSIDE my tire!!!!!  NO snarky remarks!

So I see this thing sticking to the tire, but all I see is the "fat part" (not the long thin thing). So I start to pull it out of the tire. You can imagine my surprise as I get 1" out.. sheesh.... then 2" - wow, then 3" what? then 4, "come on" .. the long part is almost 8" long and by the time I pull it out I am gob-smacked. WTF, I mean really.... WTF!

Now, with the help of Patty (or Paddy) the fishing guide and his client ( who stopped to help), the tire is changed out ... thanking God each time that last year, we "fixed" the @#$#%@$ suburban spare tire problem.  The new bottle jack worked as advertised (6 ton) so it lifted the suburban well. Each time someone drove by, the comment was "Need Help?" - - this must happen regularly, and true supporters know the issue!  Thank you true and honest human beings!

Then what?
Took the truck back to Les Schwab, the place that I bought the tires (the day before) and they replaced the tire for free.. "road hazard" warranty ... thank you Les Schwab!!!

Maybe I should have paid more attention to this sign.

So the GOOD NEWS is that I had NO flats today! Yah.

Arco -- Atomic City

Arco Idaho is midway between Idaho Falls and Bellevue (where we are housesitting). It sits in the middle of nowhere. On the east, it's close to the Idaho National Lab (of atomic energy fame) and to the west, a huge lava field, approximately 35miles square, called Craters of the Moon National Park.

I guess there is no reason to debate why Idaho National Lab is out in the middle of nowhere, itself about 35-40 miles from any inhabitable area. Arco, I guess, originated as a ranch town, or a stop along the way on some cross country journey, or just maybe because some early travelers reached the nearly impassable lava field and just stopped.

Anyway, ARCO is visually proud of two things: its relationship with the birth of atomic energy and Number Hill,  the spot where each year's high school graduating class is encouraged to make it known to the world that they were indeed, the class of XXXX. The tradition originated with the class of 1920. Coming up on 100 years!

Hope you can read this - this is the tradition. I wonder what happens in 2020? The Hawkbill tower is in the back -- see previous blog post Hawbill on that.

One look from the west

Another look more northerly. It's bit hard to see but the image includes the stuff above and shows more numbers well to the left and right. I think you can select and enlarge the image here. The kids are running out of "the best spots". Only the class of 2000 cheated and added all numbers (more or less in the middle of the upper image).

This oil must be very powerful stuff!

Kind of like 4th of July, but with WAY better fireworks (ha)

Home is...

--- Sun Valley...  for the next two weeks, well Bellevue actually - about 20 minutes south of Ketchum/Sun Valley and the ski area.

We've been here in the past; once to Ski (years ago) and about 5 years ago, when we did a home exchange.... and an unusual one. The folks wanted to borrow our car while in New England and they exchanged their home in Ketchum for a week for the car. We thought that was a sweet deal!

This time we are here to take good care of Hailey Rose, an 18yr old cat, who is a delightful, yet rather skinny lady. She mostly sleeps during the day and wakens us with here meowing somewhere between 5:30 - 7:00 - she wants food! We don't need an alarm clock!

This is the house that we are currently calling home with its view of the lower valley.

Is it paRk or PaHk?

I just don't know what to think about this sign ... It just seemed unusual

Daisy Mania

We approached the Henry's Fork and the access was through a field of daisies.

I had fun shooting pictures -- probably way too many. But they were so bright and sunny, like avid and anxious students in class tying to get the teacher's attention.

Anyway. Here is a (probably too large) study of Daisies.

I hope you find one you like.

USS Hawkbill

OK

So we are out in the desert.

There is nothing here.... EXCEPT ... INEL ... Idaho Nuclear Energy Labs. Now INL.

INEL is where they tested all the early stuff in nuclear engineering... It is in the middle of NOWHERE! Totally in the middle of nowhere!

It is also the place where they educated all the nuclear submarine engineers and captains.

As a tribute to the people at INEL, the Navy decided to honor the commitment of local people by placing the tower of a nuke sub in Arco, the nearest town. Arco was the first place in the US powered by nuke energy. No one glows there.

It is quite unusual to see a submarine in the middle of the desert. Do you thing the rest of it is under the ground?

Longest...

Island Park is in the "south-northeast" corner of Idaho - almost on Montana, real close to Yellowstone

It has a claim to fame - not the fact that it get to 50F below zero, or that not a lot of people live there. Gee I wonder why?

Here it is. ................ Longest Main Street in America -- actually about 30 Miles long. It is the only paved road in the area, and is mostly just a drive-by on the way to Yellowstone. But everyone has to be special!

Trailer Hatch

In Fly Fishing it's all about the "hatch".

A hatch occurs when all of a sudden a gazillion bugs begin to show up on the water.

There are other hatches as well: the "tuber hatch" occurs when a bunch of (most often) young people begin to float down the river in inner tubes.

Then there is the "trailer hatch". That's when all of a sudden the parking lot is full of cars with boat trailers. What has happened is that all the guides have entered the river about 6-8 miles upstream and the shuttle people move their cars so that when that take out, their car is in the right spot.

What a trailer hatch looks like. Notice that they are all trucks! You never see a car in a trailer hatch.

Henry's Fork

We stayed in Island Park, Idaho, Riverside Campground for a few days after leaving Jackson, Wyoming. Having been there a number of times and blogging about it in the past, I don't have much more to offer, other than that the Henry's Fork is beautiful, but the fishing is hard.

At the campground, we made a reservation in May I think. Alicia has made a note about which sites are the best, and we referred to that to obtain A12 - private and on the river with a yard of wildflowers.

Settled in, we can now focus on the thing we came for -- a bit of standing in the river and trying to coax a fish with a fake bug.  Henry's Fork can be rather wide, cold, and full of fish. But the fish are hard to catch.

One section of the Henry's Fork ...

With not much happening at Henry's Fork, we drove to the Madison River in Montana, to a place known as "Between the Lakes" - so-called because this section of river was "created" after an earthquake dammed up the river: Quake Lake

So, Alicia goes out and catches the "big one" - 18" rainbow trout.

What???

I would NEVER call my ranch the "Flying A".

Hey, you are a Flying A!

How about you?

So if this is mustard, where is the mayonnaise?

Yup, Mustard.

We kept looking for Mayonnaise and Ketchup.

The Guardians

Sometimes, people just have too much money.

I was driving down a dirt road, about 15 minutes, and came across these guys.

I call them "The Guardians", because they protect the property way in the back. BIG property!

Guess some people just need to be guarded by something other a security system.

They do look scary, don't they?

How to "Glamp"

"Glamping" ... GLamorous CAMPING

Inflate the queen-size Aerobed using the rechargeable portable charger ...

Add insulation ... sleeping on an Aerobed in the cold is like sleeping on an unheated waterbed ... closed cell foam pads under the LL Bean flannel sleeping bag ...

Jersey sheets feel so good ...

Down comforter and pillows ...

Fleece blankets for when it gets cold ...

Down sleeping bags for when it gets REALLY cold ...

Pure Luxury!