Day 45 Sun Valley, ID -> Stanley, ID

Sunday 4 Sept. 2011 The 3'rd day of the 7'th week. Day 42 on the road.  

     

Today we continued north, deeper into the Sawtooth Mountain Range of Idaho after leaving Sun Valley.  As you can see from the profile it was basically one climb up to Galena Pass then a long downhill to Stanley.

This part of the state has big temperature extremes this time of year.  It was a COLD 37 degrees when we left Ketchum.  As soon as that sun cleared the peaks it warmed to 80 in no time.

We came upon the birth place of the Salmon River just past the summit at Galena. This river flows more than 420 miles in Idaho before tying into the Snake River and heading to the Pacific. The salmon that come to these head waters to spawn travel over 900 miles upstream against the current and over 10 dams. You realize what an amazing feat of nature this is when you look at the stream it happens in. 

Once off the summit the river crossed the road a few times.  We stopped to look into the crystal clear waters to see if we could spot any fish. It did not take long to see the huge trout and salmon in the shallow water,  We saw one bright red salmon go down river and many, what we think were trout, lingering behind cover.  Some of the fish we estimated to be at least 24 inches long were in water so shallow the top portion of their bodies were out of the water.

All around us were towering mountains with the jagged peaks that give them their name.  Idaho is truly a beautiful state and a place we would all like to come back to.

63  Miles

3220 Feet of Climbing 

Temperature 39-80 degrees