2020-17
IDAHO
Campground:
Riverside park Campground. Forest Service. Has both electric and no
hookup sites. $11 senior rate with electric. $17 regular rate.
First come first service, no reservations accepted. Approx 50 miles
east of Twin Falls ID. Electric sites are non-shade sites. Below
the dam.
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| Riverside park Campground. Forest Service. |
Campground: Twin
Falls City Park. $$. Actually it was self pay, but they had no
camphost and the pay station had no forms to fill out. Appeared
folks were staying overnight without paying. So basically freen
no-hookup sites.
Campground: East
Fork, BLM campsite. Nice little park. $5 senior rate, $10 regular.
Water available and restrooms. Along Salmon River. Picnic table
with Ramada cover. About a dozen sites.
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| East Fork, BLM campsite. |
Distance Traveled:
112 miles
Alpine Wy, border of
Idaho
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| The Taco Bus, Alpine Wy |
Leaving Pinedale Wy
became easy after their Mountain Man weekend festivities, which I
experienced only from a distance. Actually attempted to watch the
parade, but with 99% of the public not wearing masks, I couldn’t
handle it and easily decided for my safety to vacate. I would expect
their will be numerous cases of Covid within the following week or
so.
RV note: during the
pandemic, mail will be be delivered on a much slower pace, so be
aware and plan in advance when having mail forwarded. I ended up
leaving Pinedale, without my mail as it still hadn’t arrived. It
will of course be returned to sender eventually and I’ll have to
have it re-mailed later.
The drive along hwy
189 and 26/89 was really enjoyable. Lots of looming mountain ranges,
the Snake river and Palisades Reservoir. One of the prettiest lakes
I’ve ever seen. Along hwy 26, bordering the Reservoir are some of
the best free as well as established national forest campgrounds
you’d ever want to stay at. I ended up on the west end, below the
imposing earthen dam at Riverside Park only because they have
electric and I thought it would be nice to treat myself for a couple
of days. And at only $11 a night it is quite a deal for we seniors.
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| Palisades Dam discharge |
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| Palisades reservoir lake, lots of camping opportunities |
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| checking out dispersed camping areas |
Along the way,
stopping numerous times to drink in the scenery and take a few
pictures, I had to back track a bit to get some shots of mountain
goats as they grazed along the roadway. Unfazed by the traffic going
past them. Below me on my left hand side is the relatively mild
whitewater portion of the Snake River, where I watched the many rafts
floating down river. Noticed a couple of the rafts were actually
safety patrols, ready to help anyone in need.
Distance Traveled:
Twin Falls, Idaho
Quick stop overnight
to pick up meds and food supplies.
Distance Traveled;
MacKay Idaho
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| Mackay Idaho |
Overnight stop
again, free city park available for 2 nights, then pay. Nice little
history museum. Small town. Well irrigated farm land in this area.
One of the disappointments for this years travel season has been the
inability of stopping at BLM or National Forest visitor centers, as
they are all closed to the public. They do usually have a phone
number a person can call. But I’ve noticed the phone is rarely
answered and I have to leave a message and wait for a return call.
So needless to say, I’m not getting any local insight as to areas
for camping etc. And I’m relying more and more on my favorite
phone and tablet apps for assistance.
Distance Traveled:
Challis Idaho, hwy
93,
hwy 75, Salmon River
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| Bonanza Ghost Town, only about 3 buildings standing |
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| excellent dirt road leading to ghost towns |
The weather station
indicates it’s going to get into the 90’s for the next couple of
days or week, so I’m heading a bit further north and into the
mountainous country. With a few overnight stops along the way unless
I come across a perfect campground.
While checking out
my maps, it appears I should be able to get to a couple of ghost
towns along my northerly route. So after leaving MacKay Idaho,
heading north on 93 to Challis and then west on hwy 75, about a two
hour drive, I should make it to Bonanza and Custer ghost towns as
well as the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge machine. The gold dredge machine
is quite impressive as it would go up stream, dredging the river for
gold. Operating 24 hours a day with a three man crew. As I drove
deeper into the valley surrounded by awesome mountain ranges on
either side, the old river bottom was literally piled high along the
former river banks with rock and rubble for the mining efforts.
Challis was the largest of the ghost towns to visit, maintained by
the BLM and Forest service.
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| Salmon River |
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| ghost town exploring, dirt roads |
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| exploring Custer Ghost Town |
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| the best and biggest home, still standing |
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| the school/museum |
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| originally a store and home |
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| water wheel used to produce electricity |
I was able to enjoy
most all of it safely without many tourists around until just before
leaving the area around noontime. When it seemed the floodgates had
been opened and a swarm of kids and adults swooped in. None wearing
protective gear, it being mainly outdoors. Still, I felt better
heading on out.
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| Placer gold dredging along the river |
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| Bonanza Ghost town, not much left standing |
Always interesting
to read the history displays from this mining era. By the way,
mining is still going on throughout the area, on a more limited basis
of course.
- A note found under
the schoolhouse, where one of the girls had written about some of the
other girls causing trouble and how she was ready to knock some sense
into a couple of them if they acted up with her.
- The building of the
Custer mill and transporting the 10ft diameter fly wheel in two
sections. Each one, harnessed between six mules. A storm came up,
lighting struck one of the wheels and killed all six mules. They
rushed back to town, acquired six more mules and were able to
transport the two wheels without further incident.
- The miners working
many long hours each day. And could often be seen climbing back down
the hillside into town after dark. Their lanterns flickering along
the hillside.
So many stories that
make history come alive.
I was thinking how
hwy 75 heading west into the Sawtooth national Recreation area was
such a pleasant drive as it followed the Salmon River through the
dramatic mountain ranges on either side of the hwy. Now keep in mind
this is a winding two lane road. There are numerous pull-outs along
the way for viewing the river and scenery. It’ wasn’t until I
returned on hwy 75 heading east, after touring the ghost towns that I
realized with me now driving along the river side of the road, with
no guard rails for miles on end, that the drive wasn’t all that
pleasant after all. No shoulder, and seeing parts of the asphalt
road crumbling off the edge. Now I had the excitement of being only
a few feet from major drop offs towards the Salmon river below. With
numerous white water rafters floating on by. Fishermen along the
banks below me (though this is not the time of year to be catching
salmon as the waters getting too warm), and stunning campsites along
the rivers edge, I quickly slowed my driving down to a safer speed
as I wound my way back along 75. Enjoying the scenery as much as
possible.
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Taking a break along the Salmon River
many pull-off areas, road heading east has major drop offs, ekk. |
Next part of the
Journey.
Well that’s a good
one. As I really have just about come to the end of my furthest
destination for the summer. It appears I’ll head a bit into
Montana, circle around through Wyoming and head into Colorado.
More Photos:
