On Independence Day, we got up early and went to BCRD so that we could finish the float that Holly's camp kids were building for the Hailey parade. Then, Holly herded her kids along as they biked along with the float. I did the same for Mountain Rides, with Bridger in the bike trailer behind me. After the parade, we went downtown for the bike race and festivities. Food, bikes, and fun. Then, went to a barbecue. Then, there was the July 4th rodeo with friends from church, then fireworks. Bridger was a champ; he snoozed for a bit during the parade but other than that he was up from before seven till after 11:00, and was delirious by the end but still happy. We also saw a moose, and almost got run over by Ashton Kutcher in his Land Rover D90. This made Kelsey's day, as she has been hoping to see him. She never even dared to hope that he might almost kill us :)
Holly and I took the last week off work; Kelsey leaves next weekend and we wanted to get out and do some things with her before she left to go back to Iowa.
Friday right after work we headed out to Railroad Ridge, an old mining road off the East Fork of the Salmon River that goes up through the tundra over 10,000 ft. AMAZING 300+ degree panoramas. Chilly night in the tent, but totally awesome.
Moonlight in the high, clear air.
Then, Saturday, we came home via Custer, the old preserved mining town up the Yankee Fork of the Salmon. Huge dredge that moved tons upon tons of rock and dirt in search of precious metals. It was Custer Days, and we realized as we arrived that it wasn't "wander around Custer on your own" time, but rather, "be led around in groups by a tour guide" day. We decided that while it's cool, we weren't interested in spending an hour or two on a tour of the town. When we got back home, we got cleaned up and headed right back out for a barbecue, volleyball, and horseshoes birthday party. Great fun!
We've been looking into moving out of our little duplex cabin, and found a sweet little house in Hailey with a nice fenced backyard for Bridger and Peyton. We will now have a third bedroom for any friends or family that would like to come visit us (hint, hint). There's scarcely a surface in that place that we are not putting new paint on; we have been very busy with it this past week.
Tuesday, we went to Galena Lodge, biked the Harriman Trail, I rode a trail called Curly's that was 1500+ feet of glorious, rocky, rooty descent, and then we came home and looked at paint samples.
Wednesday, we hiked the Pioneer Cabin Trail. We got a bit of a late start, and had to turn around before we got to the cabin. Hiked 6 of the 8 miles, and climbed 2500 of the 3500 vertical feet. SUPER steep; having Bridger on my back was very difficult.
Pixels from the hike:
Thursday was spent painting at the new place. Long day, 7a-1a.
Friday, we headed for the hills again. Left mid morning, went up over Trail Creek to a place called Wildhorse Canyon. Squeezed the Cruiser under a tree that an avalanche had put across the trail with literally 1/4" to spare. We would have been literally up a creek if it shifted or settled significantly while we were out there. Fun, rocky, chunky trail with water crossings, beautiful views, and an awesome stream running next to it as it climbed through forests, meadows, and rock.
Wildhorse Creek:
Pretty sweet campsite: Spot for a hammock, mountain meadow filled with wildflowers on one side and a beautiful stream flowing on the other.
Between wriggling our way under, around, and over all the avalanche debris, and the rough, rocky trail, it was funny to see the reactions of folks on motos and ATVs when they saw us come around a corner in a full sized rig. This was one of the milder sections of the trail:
Kelsey took a photo here too, and joked that it was a better view than the mountain photo for the "landscape" setting on her camera:
This little cascade was at the top of the trail. There was a bridge across at one point, but all that was left were two stringers that were rotting away. I wouldn't even walk across now, much less drive a vehicle across. Would love to drop a couple trees across at some point and see what's further up the trail!
Came back Saturday evening for what we're calling Salipalooza. Our worship leader, Levi Sali, has a very musically gifted family and they all came to town for the weekend. We got together at the church and had a few hours of the most awesome worship and praise that I've ever been a part of. Then went and painted for a few more hours. We now have the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and cabinets painted. All different colors. We have some trim, three bedrooms, a hallway, a couple closets, and one ceiling left.
Whew! What a full, fun, productive week!
