A Golden Weekend Exploring our Idahome

Josh and I heard about Railroad Ridge Road last year when we were soaking in some hot springs down by Stanley; another couple who was soaking by us had just driven to it and told us all about it. Railroad Ridge is the highest road in Idaho that you can drive to with a full-size vehicle, reaching an elevation of 10,433 feet. It's accessed from the East Fork of the Salmon River in Custer County. We couldn't believe neither of us had heard of it before then, especially considering it's not that far from Salmon--we both instantly knew we wanted to go.

 

We've made numerous plans to go since then, but plans always got changed. We were finally able to make it happen this past October. It was an amazing weekend and ended up being our favorite camping trip of the year. We took our toyhauler camp trailer (our last venture in it before we sold it), and loaded it up with Edward's large 2-seater 4-wheeler and Josh's dirt bike and left on Friday afternoon of October 7 after Josh finished work. 

It took us a little over 2 hours to drive from home to where we set up camp at the Boulder Chain Lakes trailhead in an overflow camping area below the Livingston Mine. It wasn't too crowded, thankfully. We ate dinner and watched the sun set and the moon rise before heading to bed. 

On Saturday morning, we slept in and packed our backpacks for the day ride up Railroad Ridge Road. We took the 4-wheeler for the drive, because we didn't know of the shape of the road, and thought it would be easier to traverse it in a 4-wheeler than the truck. We started out after 11am. It was absolutely beautiful weather, the aspen trees were golden yellow, and the traffic on the road wasn't too congested, so it was a very delightful ride. 

The road ends on the flat ridge on the right side of the photo.

Mountains for Miles!

These giant, freakish-looking "Mormon Crickets"
were all over the top of the mountain where 
the road ended. They really creeped me out!

There was a nearby peak that Josh decided to hike up while we were there. I chose to stay by the 4-wheeler instead.

Can you spot him on the trail?

Now he's the narrow fleck at the top right.

A view of the valley of where we'd just driven from.

Another Mountainous Panorama from the point he hiked to.

My view of the peak, waiting for him to return.

His view of my spot down below!

After his hike, we started the drive back down Railroad Ridge Road, stopping occasionally to check out different views. There were some hunting camps we passed along the way, and a few Jeeps out for a drive, but ultimately, it was a pretty quiet and peaceful drive! I loved soaking in the sun on the drive and taking in all the sights!

When we got back to where the Railroad Ridge Road began, we toured the nearby Livingston Mine before we returned back to our campsite. There was a man who lived there who took us on a tour of a lot of the buildings, including the mine, which was fascinating. The guy was quite the character, and the way he's decorated the surroundings is evident of his colorful personality!

The whole field above the old townsite was full of rock cairns.

We made dinner that evening and ate in the trailer. We read, played games, and Josh consulted maps for his excursion the next day to the White Clouds Wilderness. The next morning, he took off on his motorcycle on the Boulder Chain Lakes trail. I opted to stay behind (once again) and read a book at our campsite. He took his motorcycle as far as it would go on the trail, and then he took off on foot to hike around the lakes. He absolutely loved it! He came back SO happy from all the breathtaking beauty he beheld. There were SO many lakes he saw in such a short amount of time, and being in such pristine nature was very gratifying for him. It was the first time he'd gone hiking in the White Clouds, and now he wants to go again!

He'd left at 8:30 that morning, and he returned at 1:30--he was much quicker than we both anticipated. He'd covered around 20 miles roundtrip and had seen over a dozen lakes in that time! We packed up the trailer, hooked it up to the truck, and headed back down the 5 miles to the intersection of Big Boulder Creek Road and East Fork Road. We stopped there, and unloaded the 4-wheeler from the trailer once again. We wanted to go to the East Bowery Hot Springs again (we went there last summer once). The drive down East Fork Road was SO pretty, but unfortunately, the private property before the hot springs had gated the road with a padlock, so we weren't able to reach the hot springs. We drove back to the truck and trailer, loaded up the 4-wheeler again, and headed home. We got home after 7:00 that night. It had been a truly beautiful, magical, and rejuvenating camping weekend in our Idahome!

Even though we weren't able to reach the 
hot springs, the drive was still so enjoyable!

We met some hunters who used pack goats!