Day 21 – June 9 The Sawtooth Mountains Up Close and Personal

Not sure what I was going to do today, I slept in a little till 9 a.m. After a leisurely rising, I thought I’d swing into Stanley and grab a Diet Coke, find out where to shower, and maybe use the WiFi before hiking. But when I got to town, I realized there was no Diet Coke on fountain to be found, so it was time to improvise

Feeling a real lack of direction on what to do or when to do it, I decided I would head south to visit Sun Valley – surely they would have a Diet Coke somewhere, and I could do a little sight-seeing.  I wasn’t  quite ready to hike, and not really knowing where to hike, I decided to think about it while I was driving. I did stop in the ranger station, but they were closed because it was Sunday.

As I drove toward Sun Valley, I passed a little store and thought I’d check it for Diet Coke. Sure enough they had it, and it turned out they had showers for sale too. While I was paying for the pop and the shower, I asked the cashier if he knew of any hikes. He asked how long and I gave my usual answer – five to 10 miles. He suggested a hike just a few miles up the road – a 10-mile round trip hike to Hell Roaring Lake. He explained it had a bit of a rise in elevation at the beginning, but for the most part it was a pretty level, laid back hike. After the exertion necessary for the hikes down in Utah’s canyon country, this sounded mighty fine.

So I went back to Stanley, changed clothes and sent my obligatory text to the support system about where I’d be hiking and for how long, and made my way to the trailhead. The shower could wait.

After packing a quick lunch, I headed out for Hell Roaring Lake. It was a beautiful hike. It felt good to be in a forest instead of on rock and dry, sandy, rocky ground. Parts of the trail were rocky where the mountain had fallen down on itself, but it was, as promised, a fairly easy hike.

The payoff, at the end of the first five miles, was a pristine mountain lake, running off into the river that ran along much of the trail. The lake was framed with the Sawtooth peaks – aptly named for the jagged ridge that runs across the tops of them. I sat for a while, ate my lunch, and simply admired the view. A few people came by both on foot and on horseback, but the tranquility of the moment remained.

 

Once I returned to the car, I returned to the little store to shower. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being really clean when you only bathe every few days. Watching the water run brown into the drain is a very satisfying feeling, knowing that dirt is no longer caked on my legs and feet.

I put on a pretty blouse (only the second time I’ve dressed in other than camp or trail clothes on the trip) and drove down to see Sun Valley. There wasn’t much to see but a lot of posh restaurants – none of which I wanted to spend my money in – and snowless ski slopes. There were some amazingly, or maybe obscenely, large and luxurious mansions behind fences, and there was a stable with barns nicer than most people’s houses.

After filling with gas and picking up a few groceries, I returned to my primitive, free campsite, cooked a hamburger over the open flames, and finished a good book.