S.V. is 3-1/2 hours from McCammon. About two hours spent driving at highway speeds and the rest idling along at a snail's pace while completing the trip to "the land of the beautiful people." I guess the folks with that much money don't like to stress their lexus and beamers to much. Lots of old Mercedes clunking around with even older looking people behind the wheel. While Virginia had some areas of "old money," these folks are just old - with money.
The SunValley Lodge is a nice place and has a distinctly upscale look, very similar to the Colonial Williamsburg area. While the lodge, inn and its environs are not a particularly sizable piece of real estate they are situated in a manicured valley between the town of Ketchum and the mountain wilderness. There are lots of homes, mansions really, that are tucked away in the hills. I was informed that some very famous stars and VIP's have homes here. Whoop-te-do. Big Deal. Unless Abraham Lincoln walks in the room I'm not likely to be impressed. But that's just me.
Skiing is the big business of Sun Valley. Apparently the rest of the year there are conferences and other stuff they sell the place on, but it is the winter sport season that they depend on. There are slopes directly behind the lodge and there is a very nice skating rink nested immediately behind the building. In the photograph above, the conical peak in the background is the slope that the lodge actually operates, with at least two chair lifts. They are currently making snow since yesterday, as the temps at night are dropping into the twenties. This mountain looks like it would be perfect for the beginner to intermediate skier. However, there are other slopes available for the more advanced skiers. Check out this mountain below:
Photographed from about 4 miles away, this appears to be about two thousand feet of runs, which actually radiate down all sides of the mountain. I saw at least 4 lifts that leave several different locations, each of which must be driven to, and lots of parking available. Some of the lots are huge and some are free. No wonder this place has a great ski reputation. What I didn't take pictures of was the town of Ketchum. Still very upscale, it is a shopper's paradise of small boutiques and shops. Be prepared for the women in your party to want to stop and shop, and be prepared for the sticker shock of the grossly inflated tourist district prices. Ketchum is small but packs quite a lot into its footprint. Equally troubling to me is the price of fuel here. A full dollar or more than an hour south of here. Fill up on the way in!
Since I find no fascination in shops or skiing, I took a trip out the back end of Ketchum to explore.
There are real mountains in these parts! After a short chat with a ranger at the visitor center I proceded up the highway into the Sawtooth Range. I was very interested in how my body would respond to the elevation after having been here 7 weeks. Galena Pass was only 30 miles up the road and is listed as over 8000 feet, so that was my destination. After a few stops to search the mountain sides for goats I started up the slow incline. At the top I found this marker:
Feeling smug and secure with my new-found toleration altitude I thought I'd go over the top to the observation point a half mile down. MISTAKE! I felt the rapid heart beat begin about a minute after I left the summit, so I turned around and high tailed it back over the top and began a rapid descent to lower altitude. At about 500 feet below the top the symptoms disappeared so I stopped at another overlook and began documenting my slow trip back to Ketchum and Sun Valley.
Usually jet contrails make a disaster of nature scenics but this time it actually helps! Pay no attention to the seagull shaped blob in the sky - that's dust on my sensor and it remains throughout all of these pictures. Above? Looking into the forest road that ascends into Spring Valley.
It is strange to see highway signs that talk about "the old history of the west," when I'm used to seeing dates in VA that go all the way back to 1600's. But the gold rush and associated pioneer trails are still fascinating to explore. Here's a sign about the town of Galena that is (gone) just below the summit.
So today we leave to take a leisurely drive home. We'll probably go around the northern route through Arco and Craters of the Moon, which may draw us back in for a few moments. We never did get any decent pictures of the place when we attended the star party. When we get home it will be back to work on the house. First, firewood delivery, then a trip to Lowe's to pick up our roofing underlayment. So be sure to tune into the next segment of the blog:
Glad to Be Home or Swamped by the Frozen Plumbing...
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