I was walking the dog a week or so in my ‘hood here in beautiful Park City and stopped to visit one of my neighbors who is the builder of these cool off road trailers called Escapod Escapod-Trailers
When I told Chris I was going up to central Idaho to go fishing and see the total solar eclipse. He graciously offered to let me use one of his trailers for the week, which I accepted. That was the impetus to write my first trip report.
I apologize for the lousy photos, but you can blame Apple for that.
We decided to head out last Saturday AM for Copper Basin which is an area between Ketchum and Mackay on the East Fork of the Big Lost River. As usual, rather than getting out at 6:00 AM, we finally got going around 9:00, loaded up with 15 extra gallons of gas, a fully packed fridge, a case of wine and all the usual accoutrements for 5 days in the boonies. We were still hoping to beat the rush north but were worried after the hoopla about how crowded it was going to be.
Luckily, as we headed north on I-80 to I-84 to I-15, the traffic was no busier than a usual Saturday AM. Blazing north, the Escapod towed much like our rafting gear trailer- almost like it wasn’t there.
We gassed up in Blackfoot and headed across the lava rock desert towards Arco and north to Mackay. We stopped for lunch at a nice little park in Mackay, Idaho .
After that it was north again to the turnoff to Copper Basin. We drove past a large gathering- the Mackay Eclipse Festival or something like that. It looked great- in the meadows beside the Big Lost River and the landing area for the hang glider flights off of Borah Peak. Borah Peak is the highest point in Idaho and was the location of the 1983 earthquake at 6.9 that actually caused the top to rise 1 foot and the Lost River Valley to drop 8 feet!
We headed east on Trail Creek Road, past the town of Chilly. There was only a single sign referencing Cilly- “Chilly Cemetery”. A few miles later, we hit the gravel road and aired down. The roads at this point were in really good shape- none of the washboard we’d run into later!
Just before the turn off to Copper Basin, we came across an airstrip beside the road with a couple of twin engine planes and a bunch of cars parked- not a good sign for the crowds we were hoping to avoid. At the turn off itself, we saw a pop up tent with a table and people sitting like that were waiting for other to come by- again not a good sign.
We turned off and went south on FR 135 into Copper Basin. When we stopped at the junction of FR 135 and 136 to let the dog out, there must have been 6-8 cars taking the Copper Basin Road. We decided to take the Wildhorse Creek Road instead of the Copper Basin road- big mistake! We drove the entire way down to the campground at the end of the road and saw a vehicle pulled off at virtually every single site. We turned around and were discussing what we should do, assuming that the Copper Basin area would be ever worse. As luck would have it we ran into a Forest Service truck and stopped them to get some info. The guys told us that there were, surprisingly, not nearly as many people in Copper Basin as Wildhorse Creek so we turned right and into Copper Basin.
We had been into this area before on our way back from Stanley and were surprised to see about 4 brand new homes built inside a huge fenced area along the East Fork of the Big Lost River- It must have been some sort of inholding in the Salmon-Challis National Forest that someone figured out how to develop.
As we drove south, we saw a few cars, but nothing like Wildhorse Creek. We finally turned off at an unmarked road heading toward the river. SCORE! A great campsite right along the river with a view of Big Black Dome to the west and Porphyry Peak to the north. We set up camp and I grabbed my fly rod and fished with Mac the dog while Candace poured a nice glass of rose and got her book out.
Fishing was great, catching was terrible so I joined Candace for a glass of wine and relaxed. Shortly thereafter, I started preparing salmon to cook on our firepan that we use on river trips. We use it almost exclusively now to both cook our dinners and have cave man TV after dark. We start the charcoal briquettes, cook dinner and then put some wood on the charcoal to start our camp fire.
Off to bed in the queen sized bed in the Escapod. Read one page before turning off the lights and lights out!
More to come.
When I told Chris I was going up to central Idaho to go fishing and see the total solar eclipse. He graciously offered to let me use one of his trailers for the week, which I accepted. That was the impetus to write my first trip report.
I apologize for the lousy photos, but you can blame Apple for that.
We decided to head out last Saturday AM for Copper Basin which is an area between Ketchum and Mackay on the East Fork of the Big Lost River. As usual, rather than getting out at 6:00 AM, we finally got going around 9:00, loaded up with 15 extra gallons of gas, a fully packed fridge, a case of wine and all the usual accoutrements for 5 days in the boonies. We were still hoping to beat the rush north but were worried after the hoopla about how crowded it was going to be.
Luckily, as we headed north on I-80 to I-84 to I-15, the traffic was no busier than a usual Saturday AM. Blazing north, the Escapod towed much like our rafting gear trailer- almost like it wasn’t there.
We gassed up in Blackfoot and headed across the lava rock desert towards Arco and north to Mackay. We stopped for lunch at a nice little park in Mackay, Idaho .
After that it was north again to the turnoff to Copper Basin. We drove past a large gathering- the Mackay Eclipse Festival or something like that. It looked great- in the meadows beside the Big Lost River and the landing area for the hang glider flights off of Borah Peak. Borah Peak is the highest point in Idaho and was the location of the 1983 earthquake at 6.9 that actually caused the top to rise 1 foot and the Lost River Valley to drop 8 feet!
We headed east on Trail Creek Road, past the town of Chilly. There was only a single sign referencing Cilly- “Chilly Cemetery”. A few miles later, we hit the gravel road and aired down. The roads at this point were in really good shape- none of the washboard we’d run into later!
Just before the turn off to Copper Basin, we came across an airstrip beside the road with a couple of twin engine planes and a bunch of cars parked- not a good sign for the crowds we were hoping to avoid. At the turn off itself, we saw a pop up tent with a table and people sitting like that were waiting for other to come by- again not a good sign.
We turned off and went south on FR 135 into Copper Basin. When we stopped at the junction of FR 135 and 136 to let the dog out, there must have been 6-8 cars taking the Copper Basin Road. We decided to take the Wildhorse Creek Road instead of the Copper Basin road- big mistake! We drove the entire way down to the campground at the end of the road and saw a vehicle pulled off at virtually every single site. We turned around and were discussing what we should do, assuming that the Copper Basin area would be ever worse. As luck would have it we ran into a Forest Service truck and stopped them to get some info. The guys told us that there were, surprisingly, not nearly as many people in Copper Basin as Wildhorse Creek so we turned right and into Copper Basin.
We had been into this area before on our way back from Stanley and were surprised to see about 4 brand new homes built inside a huge fenced area along the East Fork of the Big Lost River- It must have been some sort of inholding in the Salmon-Challis National Forest that someone figured out how to develop.
As we drove south, we saw a few cars, but nothing like Wildhorse Creek. We finally turned off at an unmarked road heading toward the river. SCORE! A great campsite right along the river with a view of Big Black Dome to the west and Porphyry Peak to the north. We set up camp and I grabbed my fly rod and fished with Mac the dog while Candace poured a nice glass of rose and got her book out.
Fishing was great, catching was terrible so I joined Candace for a glass of wine and relaxed. Shortly thereafter, I started preparing salmon to cook on our firepan that we use on river trips. We use it almost exclusively now to both cook our dinners and have cave man TV after dark. We start the charcoal briquettes, cook dinner and then put some wood on the charcoal to start our camp fire.
Off to bed in the queen sized bed in the Escapod. Read one page before turning off the lights and lights out!
More to come.
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