First and foremost, my sincerest apologies for the delayed follow up blog post. It’s been a wild couple of weeks here in the valley as everyone scrambles to recover from the recent series of festivities and those of us without workplace A/C are finding refuge in the surrounding waters during this relentless heat spell. Is Sun Valley always this hot?! Rewind with me, if you will, 10 days back to July 4, 2014: For weeks I’d been hearing about how ‘hard’ Sun Valley goes on the day of America’s independence. “Just wait for the Fourth”, people kept saying. So after experiencing the 4th of July madness firsthand, I’m here to tell the tale.
Views from a hike following the 4th of July detox…
Waking up early on the Fourth, we figured we’d start the day off right with homemade breakfast. So my roommate Teddy & I saddled up our bikes and braved the whopping 1 minute & 57 second ride from our house up to the grocery store. Yeah, the commutes are pretty brutal here. As we rolled up to Atkinson’s Grocery, I couldn’t help but notice all of the people who were skillfully balancing cases of beer on their handlebars as they set off for their various destinations. Sure this might be a common sight in a college town amongst college-aged kids, but this scene of beer-balancing locals offered a range from 21 through probably around 68… Seeing this circus of activity first thing in the morning, I then knew things were fixing to get weird in Sun Valley.
Trying my hand at the Sun Valley signature beer-bike balance
Right after annihilating two or three breakfast sandwiches each, we piled in the car and set out on what I now refer to as the ‘Tour De Swimming Holes’. From slacklining 20-some feet above an icy cold river, to diving boards off of cliff sides, we definitely hit some rad spots that I never would have found on my own.
Say what you will, but there’s nothing quite like a cold PBR on the river!
Of course a patriotic day calls for patriotic beer, and there’s not much that’s more American than a timeless red, white, and blue can of PBR! Not sure if I mentioned this, but it was an absolute scorcher. With temperatures hovering around 100*F, the frigid waters of Trail Creek were an ideal safe haven for a pale Washingtonian like myself as I tried not to get fried.
Attempting to slackline over the river at a secret swimming hole
Slacklining across this canyon would have been a brilliant idea if it weren’t for a lack of solid anchoring locations. We gave it a shot anyways but shortly after the pictured attempt, the line ripped a roughly 500lb slab of rock away from the cliffside… No harm, no foul though!
Swim lyfe Shaka!
Sun Valley local, Duncan Fuller, givin’er off the cliff mounted divingboard!
After spending the majority of the day cruising all over the valley, getting slow-cooked by the relentless Idaho sun and casually dehydrating ourselves with carbonated beverages, we reconvened in Ketchum before jumping on our bikes and cruising the trail down to Hailey for the annual rodeo.
Swimming was one of the only means of staying cool underneath the hot Idaho sun.
Although I was bummed to find out that I missed the cutoff to ride a bull, the rodeo experience was still quite wild and it was pretty entertaining to watch other people get brutally thrashed and tossed around by the massive animals.
Thankful that I wasn’t this guy…
Following the rodeo chaos in Hailey, people flooded the bike path like zombies, slurring words and scrambling for spots to watch the fireworks show finale.
The sun setting on what was an incredible 4th of July!
At the end of the night and with a 10 mile trek back to Ketchum, I was so thankful to learn that it’s apparently legal to ride in the back of a pickup truck and even more thankful to actually catch a lift in one! Oh the things you can get away with in Idaho… Stay tuned, (“The PHGB Intern”) Asa