The Last Summer on the Road, Part 3

It was time to move on down highway 93, and our next stop down the river was Challis, another small town central to historic sites that we were eager to visit.  Challis lies near the intersection with highway 75, the route to Stanley and the Sawtooth Valley.  At the intersection is The Land of the Yankee Fork State Park, an attractive park-like setting with a visitor center.  Here, we learned about the ghost towns of Bayhorse and Custer, and picked up a map with directions up into the mountains to visit them.

 

 

Our first stop was Bayhorse, a town founded around 1880 to support three area gold mines.  By 1896 it had a population of 600 and sported a school house, jail, miner's union hall, post office and  baseball team.  But by 1903 the mines had mostly been depleted and by 1910 it had become a ghost town.

Bayhorse Town Center

 

This is an exceptionally preserved and restored town site.  Well marked trails lead you to the individual buildings where interpretive signs had pictures taken during the town's active days.  The mill, the town centerpiece and largest of the buildings, looks as if it was operating just yesterday.  

After touring the town, we drove up a dirt road to Bayhorse Lake for a picnic lunch.  The views from there were spectacular:

The next day we visited Custer, a town similar in history to Bayhorse but not as well restored.  Driving the dirt road up to the town site, the road followed large piles of tailings left by a gold dredge, partially restored and opened as a visitor center.  It’s always hard to understand how such a huge machine could operate on what was only a large stream. 
Custer was once a thriving town of 300 and the mines were highly productive – by 1892 the mines produced the equivalent of over $387 million in today’s dollars.  Today, only a few scattered buildings remain.  The old school has been restored as the visitor center, and surprisingly was open and staffed by a delightful older resident of the area.  She pointed out the graves in the rear of the building that marked where three children were killed during a snow avalanche in 1890.  Other snow slides in the area prevented their burial in the cemetery and so they were buried here.

Custer School

 

On the lighter side, we came across this sign:

 

It’s hard to imagine how people could journey so far through the mountains, so far from any other town, and build these communities.  All the things we take for granted today didn’t exist then – medical services, grocery stores, phone/internet/TV….often a reliable fresh water source, sewer systems, or ability to stay clean.  And yet they built homes, raised families, and when the mines closed, moved to yet another frontier town.

 On another day we made the trip up to the Sawtooth Valley and the town of Stanley.  At an elevation of 6300’, Stanley and the surrounding area are one of the coldest places in the country, with winter temperatures recorded as low as -50 degrees and 50 days of below zero temperatures.  With only a little over 120 year-round residents, the town seems much larger during the summer.  There are a number of restaurants, plus outdoor shops with canoe and kayak rentals, and of course the usual souvenir stores. 

Sawtooth Valley

 We visited Redfish Lake and the Sawtooth fish hatchery where millions of salmon and trout are raised to be released throughout Idaho.  Sockeye Salmon, which in the 1800s populated the lake by the thousands, almost disappeared due to dams constructed along the Snake River.  In 1992, only one Sockeye was able to make the 900-mile journey to the lake, and became known as “Lonesome Larry”.  Due to the salmon restoration program here, recent numbers have averaged 200 per year, still an amazing feat considering the distance and number of fish ladders involved.

 The valley eventually ends near Arco, where on past visits we’ve visited the Craters of the Moon National Monument, an area of lava flows covering five counties.  It’s an appropriate name – not exactly an attractive area, just miles of treeless black rock with an occasional lava dome.  It’s easy to see why astronauts would train here for the moon landing.  

 

Arco has an interesting tradition.  Each high school class, provided that the entire class graduates (usually 12-14 students), paints their class year on the mountain overlooking town.  The students are helped by town adults, who lower them down the mountain on ropes.  The tradition dates all the way back to 1920!

 

 Next Stop, Ely and the Great Basin National Park