Idaho

29 July

With dodgy internet we managed to skype the kids and publish a blog last night. After an “all you can eat” pancake breakfast, $2.50US, at the camp (pancakes and peanut butter is well worth a try!) we headed west out of Idaho Falls and immediately into a barren wasteland. A bit of a surprise as the other side of the city was nice farming country. Part of this area is a research area for peaceful use of nuclear energy.

After about 75 miles we left this area and into farming again (lots of potatoes). We camped at a National Monument called Craters of the Moon. It is a volcanic lava area and we are camped in the middle of the lava flows. In the afternoon we biked the 7 mile loop road past the various formations with several stops to walk the various tracks etc.

There are some lava tubes which we explored. We had encountered lava tubes before in the Australian outback. These are formed when the top crust of the lava hardens, the lava below retreats and leaving long tubes. Several of these required some scrabbling and a torch.

30 July

We left the Crater of the Moon and drove up Sun Valley, thru some nice ski towns, and into the Sawtooth Mountains. We found a camp site on the side of Baker Creek (free) where we nosed down a narrow track to a great area. As the creek was handy we decided to wash “Ernie” with a few buckets of water. When filling the buckets I realised that I had nearly stood on a snake. There were several snakes swimming in the river. I suspect they were harmless. For the first time we lit a camp fire with some wood that had

been left behind. It was a great fire with no smoke!

31 July

We carried on up the valley and over a pass into the next valley where we stopped to confirm a booking at a camp in Wendover for Speed Week at Bonneville. We have been chasing this booking for some time as there are no other alternatives if we wanted to see Bonneville Salt Flats. We will have at least one day there watching the record breaking speed attempts. We are now in the Boise Forest at another free site overlooking the Payette River.

A very peaceful spot! The Boise and Sawtooth Forests are really beautiful! There are wildfires in this area and we have the odd helicopter flying supplies into the firemen.

1 August

We enjoyed this spot again and both had haircuts before heading down the valley and onto the Payette River Scenic Byway where we

found a camp at Hot Springs. In the afternoon we found the Hot Spring on the banks on the river. We spent about an hour in the pool and were joined, a couple of times, by people rafting down the river. We even dipped (briefly) into the freezing river to cool off before back into the hot pool.

2 August

We followed the Payette River and valley until we climbed a hill and dropped into Boise. This is the state capital of Idaho with a population of 200,000. Our RV Park is on the edge of a green belt which had a great 12 mile return cycleway into the centre of Boise. Along the cycleway we passed flash houses, a swimming lake and a weir with a standing wave where kayakers and surfies were surfing. What a great cycleway extending out to both sides of the city. I hope CHCH can get its act together and produce something as good. We parked our bikes and walked around CBD. Every state capital seems to have a capitol building which is a copy of the White House.

Before cycling home we had a wine at a sidewalk café. We managed to skype Ron and Linley as it is Ron’s 70th birthday celebration tonight. Their children and grandchildren are over from Aussie for it. Sorry we can not be there!

3 August

Put Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation area into our GPS. We drove thru the area for 18 miles and never found the visitors centre or any indication of anything in the area. Eventually we came to the Snake River Canyon and descended into it to a dam and some dry camping areas. This is the same Snake River we camped beside about 2 weeks ago.

The river is well named as it snakes from Yellowstone N.P. and over most of Idaho. The hydroelectric dam is one of the oldest in the USA. We have a nice camp site (free) on the top side of the dam. There a few power boats and jet skis racing past. In the afternoon we biked in each direction as far as we could. The only down side is that where are lots of small annoying flies. Our fly spray is useless. (note to self: don’t buy cheap fly spray!)

4 August

We had to follow a longish route to cross the Snake River and towards our next camp.

This is rural Idaho with many farms and a variety of crops. We camped at Bruneau Dunes State Park. The dunes are a bit ho-hum but one is the single highest dune in the US. We spent the afternoon in the shade as it is now hot again. In the cool of the evening we walked to the dunes which looked a bit better in the evening light.

5 August

Watched a family of badgers walk passed our camp at breakfast. There was a mother and 2 babies. A lot bigger than we had imagined. We topped up with petrol at the town of Bruneau ($4.40US!!!!) to get us thru to Elko the next major town about 150 miles away along a very isolated road. We stopped at Wild Horse Reservoir on the Owyhee River for the night in a state park.

Val was stung by what we think could have been a Hornet. Judging by the facial expressions, the language and the fuss, it must have hurt like hell. It was still painful when we went to bed. We are now in Nevada and back on Pacific Time.

6 August

Val’s sting seems to have settled down. We continued on to the major town of Elko where we intersected the I 80. While we were dumping at Wild Horse we spoke to a couple who said we should not miss the Ruby Mountains south of Elko. We had debated the night before whether to go there and had decided to carry on to the Wendover area. They changed our minds so we headed

south about 25 miles into the Ruby Mountains up the Lamoille Canyon. This was a good decision as the canyon and mountains are spectacular. We are camped at Thomas Canyon and have decided to stay here 2 nights and go straight to our booked RV Park at Wendover from here.

7 August

We had a lazy start to the day and at around 11:00am we set off for a 4 mile hike up the Thomas Canyon. The trail was uphill all the way affording great views of the canyons and the surrounding mountains. The main mountain in this area is over 13,000ft. The trail stopped at the end of the canyon with a small water fall. We were told to look out for names carved into the aspen trees by the Basque shepherds who had been brought out from Spain to herd sheep in the high meadows of the canyon. We found 2 names dating from 1880 and 1902. In the evening we visited a couple from Lake Tahoe, Carole and Sid whom we had met on the trail earlier in the day and they were keen to share information on the Lake Tahoe area and especially skiing which Nicola and Gary wanted us to explore the possibilities of. We had an enjoyable evening with Carole and Sid.

8 August

Back down the Lamoille Canyon and to Elko where we shopped. Onto the I 80 for a boring 110 mile drive to Wendover. It is quite a surprise to come over the hill and below in the foreground is the town with miles of pure white salt flats beyond. The town is right on the Nevada/Utah border and seems to be mostly huge casinos. We will explore it tomorrow. We warmed up for Bonneville Speed Week by watching “The Fastest Indian.” There are quite a few competitors here at the camp which has hiked its prices for the week!