Day 2 - Emigrant Springs, OR, to Sun Valley, ID

After a short walk around the mountain top campground with the dogs, we hit the road by 9 am. The day before, it appeared that we would have 90 miles range left in the truck gas tank after arriving at Emigrant Spring. Gremlins or wildlife must have stolen some fuel overnight because, in the light of day, our instruments told us we only had 40 miles range left. Luckily, the gas station was only 18 miles away.

The scenic drive through the Snake River canyons brought us past signs commemorating the Van Ornum Battle. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/utter-van-ornum-massacre-idaho/ Having never heard of this story, we learned via Google that the Van Ornum wagon train was the most tragic emigration story since the Donner Party. The group endured a weeks long battle with Shoshone and Bannock Indians, who killed or captured 29 of 44 emigrants over the course of this extended battle.

Angie's route planning and research took us to an excellent public dump station in the town of Hailey, ID, where we were able to prepare the trailer for a couple of nights of dry camping at a primitive campground outside Ketchum, near Sun Valley. This stop gave us a chance to make a couple more rookie mistakes:
- Hank initially filled the fresh water tanks from a standard garden hose meant for washing the outside of the trailer.
- Then, while back on the road shortly later, Hank noticed in his rear view mirror that he had neglected to close the door of the compartment where the holding tank hose was stored. Luckily the flex hose didn't fall out on the roadway!
A third mistake wasn't discovered until we arrived at our campsite. Hank had left a kitchen cabinet door open and contents were strewed inside the trailer! Luckily, nothing was broken.

The campground Angie had chosen in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area had rave reviews. Unfortunately, we discovered that the road to the campground was still closed for the season due to snow. Hank had to back the trailer up about 100 yards in order to make a 90-degree turn into a driveway off the one-lane dirt road. He discovered how difficult it is to back-up in a straight line over an extended distance.
 
We found an alternate campground just a quarter-mile away - a lovely primitive site near a river and shielded from the quiet two-lane road. We had it all to ourselves! But only one spot was sufficiently clear of snow to look appealing. It took quite some maneuvering to get our trailer backed in, though, due to snow cover up to 8 inches deep, a narrow road bordered sporadically by large rocks and a low hanging tree branch. There were times Hank feared we may have to get towed out of trouble, which would have been problemmatic given that there was no cell phone coverage. But we made it! Angie repeatedly marvelled at our accomplishment. Good teamwork! We stayed calm, communicated well and brainstormed next steps together.

We were initially thrilled to be able to let our dogs run through the campground free of the leash, but multiple posted warnings of black bear activity in the area gave us pause. We armed ourselves with bear spray and kept the dogs on leash after that. 

Temperatures were forecast to drop below freezing and our heater initially was blowing only cold air. In our first night of dry camping, we had to learn how to configure the heater to operate without AC power. The manual was little help. It suggested that we were either out of gas or the regulator had failed. We had no internet or cellular access, so Google was not available to rescue us. Hank removed the access hatch and discovered a switch that needed to be set to allow operation on propane only. We enjoyed a peaceful and warm night!

Today was the first day off from driving. We enjoyed exploring Sun Valley Resort and the town of Ketchum. The dogs were happy to stretch their legs, too. Ketchum seems to be a mix of wealthy skiers/2nd home owners and blue-collar locals. We arrived in "Slack" season, between winter and summer sports, so things were pretty quiet. It was so nice to sleep in, have a restaurant meal and hang out with Internet access!
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It's back on the road tomorrow for another six-hour drive to Park City, UT.