Thelma: Day #4– Sun Valley, Idaho

Erin_Hiking• Number of miles driven: 164

• Amount of money spent:  $214.10 ($120.00 motel, $37.50 gas, $32.34 dinner, $11.99 breakfast, $4.35 coffee, $13.27 sundry items)

• Best pic: Hiking in Sun Valley 

• Song of the Day: Elton John’s Tiny Dancer

• Audio Book:  Globalization – What’s in it for us?, a Chantauqua Institute Lecture by Fareed Zakaria

• Number of times I almost drove off the road: 0 – yay! (although it was my shortest day driving.)

• Nighttime abode: Ketchum, Idaho

• Special purchase:  $20 ticket for a gondola ride to the top of Bald Mountain

I didn’t intend to go on a hike today because the weather report noted a high chance of thunderstorms. I still pressed on for Sun Valley in hopes of beating the storm. And I did! Sun Valley was true to its name.

I was pulling into Ketchum and I saw the gondolas to my left creeping up the mountain. I pulled in, hopped on and enjoyed the fabulous, panoramic views from the chair lifts.

The sun was still holding strong so I decided to take one of the trails down the mountain. A chair-lift guy said it would take about 1.5 hours. It took me almost 3…I got a little lost. I looked at the map before heading down and I thought I’d be OK if I kept making right turns, but one of the trails led me in a circle (which would actually make sense if I kept making right turns…)

But no worries! I knew which side of the mountain I was on the whole time. Besides, I figured could always just follow the gondola down the hill if I had to.

That said, I did pause long enough to take my knife out of my bag and put it in my pocket. You never know when bears or rattlers might be about. In fact, I’m not sure which I’d be most scared of encountering on an empty mountainside, 2-leg, 4-leg or no-leg critters…

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Read the next post in this series: Thelma: Day #5 – Idaho-Montana Border

Read the first post in this series: Thelma without Louise: An American Adventure

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 9th, 2010 and is filed under North America.

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