Salmon, Idaho

July 10, 2022

Upon moving to our next campsite in Salmon, Idaho, we decided to take a less adventurous northern route which did not involve a sketchy gravel mountain pass. Although the northern route was longer (and probably less spectacular), we figured it would be more relaxing (at least for Rick--Julie always finds the drive relaxing because she is the designated passenger).   

Not sure why the sign is plastered with stickers. At first glance we thought they were bullet holes.

Despite not taking the exciting sketchy gravel pass, the drive was still scenic, and it took us through some plenty dramatic mountain scenery (especially as we entered Idaho) as it dropped us into the Salmon River Valley.  

The Salmon River

Our campsite was right outside the town of Salmon where we found a free gravel parking lot next to the river where dispersed camping was allowed.

Not too shabby for a free campsite

For a basic gravel parking lot, it turned out to be a pretty decent spot with a nice view of the mountains, neighboring cows, and the confluence of the Lemhi and Salmon rivers. And, did we mention it was free?

View from our deck

Being close to Salmon allowed us to explore town several times, visit a local bakery for a tasty ciabatta loaf (to make sandwiches), and visit the many town parks. Plus, we had cell coverage, which is something you tend to take for granted until you don't have it.

One of the town parks

Salmon claims to be the birth place of Sacajawea, and there is a cultural center devoted to her, situated along the Lemhi river. The center has a 1.6 mile walking trail which was pretty nice. 

Grounds of the Sacajawea Cultural Center

We took a nice 8 mile ride around town and really liked that we could just cross the busy road and get directly into neighborhood and stay on side streets pretty much the whole time.

A ride up to the edge of town didn't take very long

Salmon has a pretty eclectic neighborhood that doesn't appear to have many (or any) building codes/zoning. We saw all kinds of different properties from well-kept homes with manicured gardens (lots of veggie gardens in particular), homes that looked to be junkyards, multi-structure compounds, a house that had a horse corral in its small front yard, a llama farm, and every sort of RV--living and dead.  All this within the confines of a town of about 3000. Everyone we encountered were super friendly, so it appears like the people must get along well enough.

Another of our rides (16 miles) took us into the foothills just northeast of town. It was interesting and we got pretty high up, but it was a bit desolate.

A sign with nothing to say

Another day, we rode through the countryside on a pleasant road that followed the Lemhi river out from town (22.25 miles).

We were accosted by some very assertive ducks the moment we sat down for a snack.

One evening we heard a bunch of mooing, and we discovered that the cows were planning an attack right outside our deck. We mooed back, and they retreated 😉.

Broken thing of the week: 

 On Sunday we glanced at the refrigerator temperature and noticed that it said 19° F - whoa - that ain't right!  Doing a quick check inside verified that a whole lot of stuff was frozen - so the thermometer was not completely wrong.  Turns out, a leftover bin was placed at the back of the fridge last night and seemed to be covering a vent.  Once we moved stuff around it seemed to have sorted itself out.  The interesting part we have been learning about residential refrigerators is that they seem to have been designed for normal houses which have heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer (go figure).  We have found that our fridge varies in temperature quite a bit depending upon the weather outside, so we have to fiddle with the controls (less cooling in cooler weather and more cooling in hotter weather) to keep it at an appropriate temperature. 

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