Ketchum, Idaho

On my full day in Ketchum, I decided the Idaho thing to do was to hike up Bald Mountain, which was said to have spectacular views. The mountain is 9150 feet/2789 meters tall, but I'd only be scaling about 3000 feet in about 2.5 hours. Even so, I'm no hiker and my fitness isn't what it used to be.

So encouraged by the fact that I'd get a free ride down the chairlift and the gondala if I climb to the top, I set off in my not-so-purpose runners with a litre of water and a annoyingly heavy SLR. The first part of the hike was pretty easy, it was in the shade of thick foliage so the heat wasn't such a problem. As I progressed, the trail moved into open areas. But overall the trail was pretty straight forward. I chatted to a bunch of people along the way, including an aspiring actor and a 20 year old guy from Brazil over here on exchange.

How am I going to overcome this obstacle?!

Trail overlooking Ketchum

Trail overlooking some mountain

Snow makers

View from Bald Mountain

View from summit

View of Ketchum from Bald Mountain

Once I reached the top, I took a few photos then caught the chairlift down to the restaurant, where I had a quick lunch. After catching the gondala back down I chilled in my room for a bit and headed out to Ketchum for dinner.

This time I went to a bar called "Grumpy's" (sign said: "We're sorry we're open"). Burger was good, if a little less gourmet than Lefty's. Talked to the owner (who I'm guessing the bar is named after), but he seemed like a pretty amiable chap. He'd been through Australia a number of times, and was one of the few Americans I've met that picked up on the accent straight away. I also talked to a fellow biker who was a Budweiser salesman, he was very interested in what beers we drink back home (as I tell everyone, VB down south, XXXX up north and Carlton Draft all around the place. What do they drink out west? Emu? Ah doesn't matter, they'll be their own country one day anyway). Point is, he never heard of any of them.


So after one beer I headed back to Lefty's, as they were playing the Olympics. Talked to a guy named Scott who was a successful potographer in the area. He'd come from California (definitely had that look about him), and he decided he liked the mountains more than the beaches. Me and him then went to the local dive bar (can't remember the name), where I had this horrible beer in a green can. Good thing it was cheap!

Scott introduced me to an Australian that hash been living in Ketchum and working as a chef for over 15 years. He still had an accent thicker than mine. He sure did say cunt a lot. Pretty cool dude, we commiserated over Australia's terrible standings this Olympics and discussed how you have to definitely "tone down" the language over here.

Played a few games of pool with a bunch of other people, and for some reason (maybe alcohol - the solution to and the cause of all the world's problems) I did pretty well. After that, it was time to head home, had a long ride to Blackfoot tomorrow.

Stanley to Ketchum

Urgh, iPad blogging is a pain in the butt (first world problems).

Ketchum was not the fondest of topics in Stanley. Everytime it came up in conversation with one of the locals, they were always pretty derogatory of it. I think it may be due to the sort of money that is in Sun Valley. Apparently Schwarzenegger, Demi Moore and Bill Gates have properties there and only a few weeks ago Mark Zukerburg was out on the town buying everyone drinks. It left me a bit worried that I might have booked too much time there (2 nights).

Random photo of my bike to breakup the wall of text

The ride between Stanley and Ketchum was fantastic. The route went over huge mountain passes with really spectacular views. I only wish I had attached my Go Pro, I was just sick of dicking around with it at that point. A lot of cyclists though, or more to the point, a lot of cyclists that liked being in the middle of the road. After about an hour and a half I hit Ketchum. Ketchum is a small, very quaint skiing town. During the summer there is lots of hiking and mountain biking. And the bar scene is quite lively.

After checking in, I headed to the Starbucks for air conditioning and free WiFi. After speaking to the info guy (who apparently works inside the Starbucks), I had some ideas on what I could do the next day. Also, as an Australian he seemed to feel the need to point point out all the good bars in town. Hey, I'm not complaining, guy is just being pragmatic.

So that night I walked into town to a bar called "Lefty's", which had been lauded for its great burgers. They seem to do a lot of burgers here in the US, how about that? Well the burgers were fantastic. I got to talking to a fellow motorcyclist, Mark. Mark was a big KTM and Ducati fan, and had travelled around the works on bikes. He had been all through the US, south America, Kazakhstan and Russia (I think). He even cycled through New Zealand and Australia when he was younger. He had a fair bit of advice to give around what websites to use etc.

Mark was really keen on showing me a bit of the local area. He offered to take me on a drive up through the mountain passes. We'd been talking for a while, and even though the "Deliverance" banjo song was playing in my head, I went with my gut on him being a pretty straight-shooting dude (sorry to Mark if he ends up reading this). If I'm not going to trust anyone, or take any risks, then what the fuck am I doing here? This whole trip is a massive risk any way you think of it.

So I hop in his massive truck and we head out to some of the areas I can't see due to the conditions of the road (I ain't doing no dirt riding!). And the views are spectacular, if a little scary. Some of these roads winded up the side of mountains with hundreds of feet drop offs with no barrier. Oh and the road was dirt. Oh and there were other cars coming the other way. But it was cool, Mark seemed to know the roads. Once we hit a certain pass, we headed back to Ketchum.

Mark dropped me back to a bar called "Whiskey's", but the live music there was kind of crap, and I had enough to drink, so I just walked home.