When we mapped out our route from the time we returned from Alaska in mid-August through the end of September, we figured we would be driving through Idaho for just about an hour up at the skinny part of the state as that would connect us from North Cascades NP in Washington to Glacier NP in Montana – both parks being up along the Canadian border. But as the fires out here in the west continued to rage on, we found ourselves re-routing to try to get away from them and the toxic smoke they were producing.
We looked at the map and decided that Ketchum, Idaho, would be a good destination as that looked “south enough” from the fires and hopefully “away enough” from the smoke. Then after a few days, smoke and fire permitting, we could re-route back north through Missoula, Montana, and up into Glacier National Park where we had reservations from August 30-September 8. This re-route had us driving south and east nearly 750 miles over two days which is a lot of RV driving (we have found that 250 miles a day is comfortable) and staying in Walmart parking lots for those two nights in order to keep moving.
So on August 24th we pulled into a great little campground at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains just outside Ketchum where we found clean air, blue skies, and lots to enjoy in this great little town right next to the resort ski area of Sun Valley.
While in the area, we also visited three more national park units — Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, Minidoka National Historical Site, and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, and these will be the subject of my next post.
