Left my drink bottle and cap in the car overnight – bottle was frozen and my rather worn old cap had gone rigid. Followed my route of two and a bit weeks ago up the Snake. Road was basically dry – except where they’d left the occasional 10cm deep patch of ice – not fun to hit at 90 kph if you didn’t see it coming. Spectacular drive getting toward Jackson, temperature gradually dropping till it was more than 20C below at the Transit Centre. Minor panic when I thought I’d dropped the card out of my camera – either in the snow or in the rubbish tip that is the floor of the passenger seat. But of course it was still in my notebook from yesterdays transfer.
Was about to start walking to the bus stop when a guy asked if I wanted a lift – 3 people in the car and you can park for free. Probably should have taken a better look at the size of his (very small 2 door) car before trying to cram myself into the rear seat. By the time I was at the top of the Gondola it was going on 10.30. Having coffee and pastry I was having trouble getting myself fired up and I never really got into it. This is a spectacular location and a fun town, but it’s never going to make my list of favourite hills. It just gets too much traffic, and fresh snow gets tracked out and packed down way too quickly. Some of the groomers had a nice relatively soft surface but a lot of it was pretty firm. And I didn’t see much off track that appealed. Thankfully it was STILL trying to snow and the summit was under cloud most of the time so I was spared the choice of whether to queue up for the tram. During the 2 days at Targhee the snow was soft I never once heard the classic scraping sound of a snowboarder behind me. Boy did I hear them today!
But an ordinary days skiing is still pretty good – particularly when it’s included for ‘free’ in your already bought ticket. By 1 I’d had enough to justify the visit, and after a more traditional trip back to the car – via the bus – headed into town for coffee before hitting the road. One final spectacular drive down the Snake valley then it was off onto new ground. All good until I started heading west back toward Idaho. Pretty soon I was looking back on this mornings road clearing with nostalgia. They’d obviously just done one pass with the plows, and I think sometime the blade had not been all that near the road. I reckon it would have been better driving surface if they’d done no plowing at all. Not fun.
Then once through the thriving metropolis of Henry (at least 2 buildings) a new plow driver must have taken over and the going got significantly better. When turned onto US30 it was like a super highway. When finally got to Lava Hot Springs there was no way I wasn’t going to have a nice long soak to justify coming through this way. Have had a number of visits here but first time in daylight. Great watching the sun getting ready to set through the clouds of steam.
Much refreshed, it was only a short drive to the interstate, then 130kph all the way to Ogden. Last long drive for the trip done.