Day 5: Four-ish miles Before Dollarhide Summit To Galena Lodge

We got an early start in the morning and were rewarded with lots of shade, cooler temperatures, good road conditions, and rested legs.  Having pedaled so easy the day before, we zoomed up the rest of the summit like Olympians.  Okay, maybe not like Olympians, but we felt great after having such a cruddy climb the day before.  The road conditions were amazing on the other side and we zoomed down the other side.

It's a good summit when I have enough energy for a summit headstand.

I was zooming along blissfully down, I just had to stop to snap this perfect moment of Ryan biking through this meadow of yellow wildflowers.  The air up here was crisp and fragrant with the wildflowers at their peak.  This picture doesn't even begin to capture how amazing this part of the descent was.

It was an easy pedal from here into Ketchum, the largest town on our route.  We planned to spend half a day here to get supplies, hit up the bike shop for some things Ryan needed, hit up the microbrewery, and otherwise relax a bit after four days of remote dirt roads.  Our first order of business was a burger and beer.  With the help of Yelp, we found the locals' favorite Grumpy's, the best kind of dive joint. 

Not far from Ketchum, we passed by some more road side hot springs, but the promise of civilization squashed any desire to stop and soak.

Bike-friendly Ketchum does bike lanes right...

The Schooner is 32 oz of sweet sweet beer at Grumpy's.  They have a good selection of craft beers and really solid burgers.  That's about all they serve.  The owner was there this particular day manning the grill, and his witty banter and gregarious personality filled up the whole place.

Afterwards, we meandered across the street the to bike shop so Ryan could grab a few powerlinks in case his aging chain broke again as well as a mini bike tool, since his tool didn't make it into his panniers.  Then it was off to the grocery store.  After having spent days perusing the limited shelves of tiny general stores, I was overwhelmed by the selection here.  Ketchum also caters to a large influx of tourists, so the shelves were jammed full of all the fancy things.  We might have gone a bit overboard here stocking up for the next leg of our trip.  It was still blazing hot out when we finished, so we filled our waters in the restrooms at the grocery store, and then headed over to the Sawtooth Brewery, the only craft brewery on our route..



Downtown Ketchum reminds me what early tourist town Bend must have felt like before the population ballooned to its current 90,000 people.  I could almost maybe live here.

 

Tasting tray to fuel the evening ride... my favorite was a lemongrass ginger wit!  The knowledgable bartender said he was glad to hear it since he grated all the ginger for that batch by hand.

We were finally ready to get on the road to start the climb up the Galena summit around 4 pm, but it was still pretty darn hot out.  After biking just a few miles out of town, we stopped by the ranger station for a bathroom break, a shade break, and to top off water.  I wandered inside to take advantage of the air conditioning and ended up chatting with one of the rangers.  He told me that they let bike tourists park there all the time and that he always recommends that people take the road instead of the trail up to the Galena summit.  Take his recommendation with a grain of salt.  The road up to the Galena summit is very well traveled by cars and trailers and extremely exposed.  I could tell that Ryan, who at heart is a road tourist, wanted some time on the pavement.  I, however, am not a fan of riding on highways, and prefer the road less traveled.  We came to a compromise, we would ride the road for a bit, then flip to the trail, and decide if we would prefer to flip back to the road a bit later should the trail be too gnarly.


A more detailed map of this area is available for free at the ranger station.

After the road, this doubletrack was the stuff my dirt road dreams are made of, if a bit gravelly.

First views of the Sawtooths.

Shade and snack spot off the dirt track.

Bici-glamour shot.

Even though I was loving the dirt track, I could tell Ryan was struggling a bit mentally with it.  After a while, it had cooled down enough and traffic had slowed down enough that I was willing to compromise and hit the pavement again.  Even though it was not my ideal situation, Ryan had been a trooper so far and complained very little, despite the fact his traditional road touring setup made the dirt a lot harder to handle.

We had to stop here, of course.

We were promised mountain goats, but none were to be seen.  So sad.  I relished the shade instead and mourned my lack of goat viewing.

As the sun went down, the riding conditions on the road improved.  There was barely any traffic and shade *finally* started appearing in patches.  Our goal was to make it to the Galena Lodge at least to get as much of the climbing out of the way as possible.  At long last, we pulled in after 9 pm to the Galena Lodge.  Although it was closed, we were able to chat with one of the employees who pointed us to a great little camping spot in the meadow next to the stream behind the lodge and also hook us up with water. 

Perfect little campsite behind Galena Lodge.

  

A few travel notes for bike tourists:

• Ketchum is the biggest town on this route and has 3 bike shops and all the amenities that you could want.  It would make a great rest day spot for folks needing a break.

• If you are a dirt road lover like myself, stick to the trail from the ranger station to Galena Lodge.  It offers solitude, shade, and the same amazing views.  If you need to make up a bit of time on your route, this is a great place to do it.  The shoulder is wide, so even though there is a lot of traffic, it's a safe enough road.

• The Galena Lodge is only open from 9 am - 4 pm, but there are usually employees around after and they are more than willing to provide access to water.  The meadow behind the lodge is a great camping spot, with some small campfire spots, and you can use the port-a-potties behind the lodge as well.  This was our highest elevation camping site at over 7000 feet and it got pretty cold... cold enough to wear my hat and gloves!  We got frost overnight so be prepared for all types of weather even in the summer.

• The employee who we spoke with at the Galena Lodge said that the Old Toll road from the Galena Lodge to the summit often has fallen trees over the trail which results in hike-a-bike over them.  He had just cleared them the day before for a mountain bike race, but be prepared for that possibility most other times of the year.  He also said he never took the route down the other side of the summit, so there's a high likelihood of fallen trees on that side, too.