Day 11 of my 22′ Rocky Mountain tour. A day of pleasant, welcome, surprises.
Coffee complete, I loaded up the bike and set out around 7:30am. Temps were a balmy high 70’s, with 90’s in the forecast in the afternoon. I had miles to slam and all day to do it!
The ride north out of Utah was slowly changing scenery into newer, different mountains. Towards Twin Falls I was SHOCKED when farmland suddenly turned into the Snake River Valley!
It was assuredly a canyon, and a very good one at that. I didn’t tell it about the other canyon I had seen earlier in the week for fear of making the Snake River jelly.
The further north I got, the more excited and curious people were about the motorcycle with Texas plates. In Idaho. In Summer.
The reason I had luckily seen this great vista instead of headed further north, was that I need a food resupply before venturing into the Sawtooth Range in Idaho. Twin Falls Walmart it is.
Usually my camp diet on the road was this:
- Breakfast: Coffee freshly ground in the aeropress, boiled up with a Jetboil. Oatmeal, and any fresh fruit I had. If I had supplied recently, I’d fry some bakery bread or brioche on my skillet, and make a fried Spam sandwich. SPAM IS LEGIT!
- Lunch: Snacks all day, creating what felt like 3-4 lunches! Jerky, tuna, crackers, nuts, trail mix, granola bars, fresh fruit, and any hard cheeses I had picked up recently. I like parmesan nuggets.
- Dinner: A dehydrated mountain house, with a bag of quick cook rice or ramen added in, and another package of tuna or chicken in a bag on top. This made quite a filling ~1,000 calorie meal with all the fixin’s.
If I knew I was headed to camp soon, I’d get a fresh sandwich or salad, or any other freshly made ready to eat item from the deli and have it at my next meal. I never ate horribly on the road, but fresh cooked food is always appreciated and in shorter supply than desired.
I headed into Sun Valley and boy oh boy did the scenery start to slap.
OK we are back in motorcycling nirvana. Clean pavement, minimal traffic, long full sighted sweepers, mountain air, cool weather, ahhh. What a great trip.
I was a LIIIIITTLE leery of what the clouds were doing today, but luckily it was the first time that storms held off and great weather stayed.
I was quickly discovering that the Sawtooth Range and Sun Valley were one of the best places I have ever ridden a bike. Maybe I was full, maybe the weather was cool for the first time, but it was just an utterly fantastic day of riding. Even the towns were fun to ride through.
Once in the Sawtooth Range itself, I started hunting for a campground. My final destination was Altura Lake, but I’d keep my eyes peeled for anything that looked good. That’s when I happened on THIS!
My plan was that if I did not find a campsite at Altura Lake, I would head back to this airport and show them my Glider Pilot License. They’d take pity on the fact that I never used an engine and grant me a shady spot under their wing to pitch my tent. Fortunately for me, Altura Lake fully delivered and granted me a $12 beach front campsite.
I had some more snacks for dinner, did some gear cleaning and organizing, and set up a full comfortable camp. With everything taken care of and hours left in the day, I decided Tequila, a swim, and a good book would fit the bill.
Throughout this trip I had spent a lot of time with friends and family, but this was my first campsite alone. I quickly learned that a nice campsite alone is quite a good place to be, and there is no loneliness in this type of solitude. The yearning to share such an incredible experience with someone is replaced with the quiet thankfulness that at least you get to experience it for yourself.
Busy campsites or touristy destinations sometimes felt lonely, and some times I would leave these areas to find my campsite, wondering if I’d feel worse when I got there because I’d be totally alone. But that wasn’t the case. A good campsite is a great campsite.
I also found a mountain bike to hit the trails with, but I thought better of it and would leave it for the next camper. It had some sophisticated wheel work done to it.
I had my earlier mentioned Mountain House dinner with all the fixin’s, and went for a hike around the lake and campground. Flowers, creeks, fish, the wind, it was all going Full Send.
Exhausted at 8:30pm, and with another hour and half of sunlight left, I tucked myself in to get an early bedtime and early rise. Missoula was on the schedule tomorrow.
