Sunday, August 9, 2009

Chamberlain Basin

This last weekend Ty and I headed up north of Ketchum for a backpacking trip in the White Cloud Mountains. We’re planning to hike Castle Peak, but unfortunately we weren’t able to make it. By the time we got to the trail it was nearly 7:30 and since we drove the car, we weren’t able to cross the river and had to hike an additional 3 miles to the trail head. We stayed the night on a beautiful plateau at nearly 9000 feet. It was the quietest place both Ty and I think we’ve ever been. It was almost eerie, it was so quite.

The next morning we slept in a bit, cooked breakfast and headed off for Chamberlain Basin, at the base of Castle Peak. It was beautiful the whole hike. I have never seen so many Syringas before in my life!! They were gorgeous!! Well at least I thought they were Syringas. I even told Ty I was sure that they were, but apparently I was wrong. They are called White Mariposa Lilies. Take a look. I love lilies!!



After a good strenuous 3 hours we made it the top of the ridge overlooking the basin. All I can say is wow!







Since we didn’t have time to hike Castle Peak, we headed off to the mountain on the left of us and after reaching the top at 10,450 feet, dubbed it Mount Sleight. (I’m still trying to talk Ty into getting it officially named that, but he’s not very receptive! :)



The dogs loved the snow. They were eating it and rolling all around in it. Quite funny!



After that we headed down into the Basin to take a dip. The water was a beautiful blue-green Caribbean color, but anyone who has ever been to a mountain lake knows better than to think it's even close to warm. Hahaha! The dogs jumped in right away and Ty tested the temperature, but I told him not to tell me, or I’d chicken out. : ) And of course it was freezing, but refreshing. We only got in up to our neck and quickly got back out and drip-dried in the sun.



The rest of the trail back was downhill. And man was it steep. Ty kept saying “I don’t remember it being that steep!?” Oh boy, I remembered. : )

Before we left we filled up our bottle one last time with ice cold water. Mmmm.

We ate dinner at a place I’ve had my eye on for a while in Ketchum. It’s called Papa Hemi’s Hideaway, as in Ernest Hemingway. The kitchen is in the cabin that he penned one of his novels. It’s across the street from the condo we stay at when we go to Sun Valley and it was delicious! I had a really good salad with Grilled Halloumi Cheese! It’s all outside with little wooden picnic tables, shade umbrellas, paper lanterns and a fireplace. It was really relaxing! Too bad we still had to drive home and it was already 9:30 pm!

The weather was beautiful, we got a great workout, and even some water to play in, with a relaxing dinner afterward! Quite a successful trip if you ask me!

3 comments:

  1. I love reading your blog! It looks like you guys are always looking for the next big adventure! I think it's awesome that you guys have so much fun in the outdoors!

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  2. How fun! I can't believe there was snow for the doggies to play in! :)

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  3. You are not kidding me! There is no way that POOP and SCOOP (alias for scrach and sniff) were quiet.

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