Darby MT > Bellevue ID, 450km

What a pearler of a day!!  The heavy rains went before us and cooled the temps to “just perfect”.  We followed the Salmon River Scenic Byway, and it was a stunner the whole way.  The landscape changed – yellow tussock, cliffs of sheer jagged rock,  mountains of rocky shale, pretty valleys alongside the Salmon River – all stunning.  I kept coming around corners and saying “Oh Charlie, would you look at that”.    A fabulous ride – the 93 from Darby then on to the 75 at Challis.

Yesterday a deer jumped out, hit a car and smashed its front window, (occupants were fine) so we were being extra careful where the trees came right up to the road.  Saw a few deer but they were happily eating, not leaping.

Narrow twisty roads are great fun on a bike, but the problem is there is nowhere to pull off to take a photo – of well, will just have to enjoy the ride.  We did take some video footage but the lense caught a bug!

We wound our way up and over a pass to be welcomed into Idaho.

Here is an old homestead.

A roadworker rapelling down a steep bank above the road, cutting down a tree and loosening off rocks.

The Salmon River- we followed it through the valleys.

Up over the second pass looking back into the valley we had just ridden through.

As always, its so difficult for me to get it into a photo – I love natural beauty, you may have noticed.

After all day with little traffic, we arrived at Ketchum which is a ski resort town but absolutely crowded with people and vehicles even in summer.  We crawled along the streets from traffic light to traffic light – where did all these people come from?  Didn’t stop there, just kept on going.

We pulled into our motel and met Glenn and Brenda from Australia riding a v-Strom.  They leave their bike in Seattle with a friend and come over every year with a couple of other guys (all retired) to ride.  When they get back to Oz next week they are then in preparation for a ride in SA 7 weeks after that.   They love it.