Sept 6th: Stanley to Hailey 122km 866m

Morning Frost

Getting up this morning was hard. 
I’d seen the frost on all of the cars outside and was not keen to make an early start to a 50km climb over the 2661m Galena summit. Still, it had to be done and at least the sun was up in a cloudless sky so there was hope that the temperature would rise to double figures. With some thicker clothes on we set off just before 10 and climbed steadily for 40km to the Smiley Creek Lodge where we were able to warm up with a soup for lunch before tackling the last 10km and 450m climb to the pass. The climb up rewarded us with tremendous views across the source of the Salmon River and way, way down the valley that we had ridden up.         

Salmon River near source

The ride down from the summit to Hailey was 70km with 1000m drop so we were looking forward to an easy afternoon but unfortunately, as the day warmed, a southerly wind developed so after the initial steep descent we had to pedal quite hard to get down the rest. It was with some relief that we arrived in Ketchum (famous as the town where Ernest Hemmingway committed suicide) and were able to take a late afternoon break.  We finished our break with a passion fruit double scoop ice cream cone before tackling that last 20km to Hailey.

Salmon River Valley

Ketchum ice cream