Last night’s camp site was again back up deer creek rd, this time I snatched the site downhill from the road right on bank of creek. Babbling brook sound, no batteries required. drive down was slightly downhill. Examination b4 going down told me that even if it rained during the night I would be able to drive back up. During the night the climb steepened and the rain stayed away. in daylight I reestablished the slope of the climb. Daylight it was as i remembered rather than what i conjured.

Drove the 15 mins of dirt rd & pavement back to Main st in Hailey. Made dr appointment, 40 min wait. Emily said my chest was solid, perhaps some soft tissue might be torn which will heal in time, meantime let pain be my guide. I told her the difference between young and older riders is that the younger ones experience a pain and they quit, older guys start hurt and ride that way. If I can keep spinning, I’m on. I made the decision to ride again. Growler results are forthcoming.

Stopped back @ Sun Summit South bike shop and asked about riding. Chip, the owner remembered my previous visit by saying I worked for Boeing. Good memory and my impression I made? He steered me to a new trail right out of town just opened on BLM land, all machine cut. I recounted my knowledge on Turner. Chip said he knows Dave as they used to competitively mogul ski. My Spot Turner carves maybe like dave skied.

I passed a rider riding to TH. He visited me @ the TH. i asked if i could ride w/ him and his buddy, Scott. i was welcomed. The trail was nicely done twisting around & among the uprooted sage. Tread was root free.

My hip hurts again and ignored slight chest pain.

Back into town for a shower @ a health club and a beer @ brew pub. Wore my jacket & hat. There was an empty seat on the bend of the bar right inside the door. A guy was sitting to the left. I asked if the chair was open, he said yes but distanced himself on his chair. He freaked on my look. It works. He is a glass artist that shows @ the likes of the Inland Craft warnings in Spokane, the artist are professionals. I learned the reason behind no parting lines @ the bottle neck on old bottles versus parting lines on newer bottles. One pint and dashed back out to camp on Democrat gulch rd.

Rick reported in. After my shower I was looking his number up when he called. he told me of Thunder mtn ride that I am to do near Panguitch, UT. We will probably rendezvous in LaVerkin, UT where I was last spring.

High country above 8,000 on North slope probably has snow cover here in Sun Valley. Plan tomorrow is to drive the 300 miles to Park City, UT and ride Sunday the Mid Mountain trail, another IMBA epic. Forecast is for 40% rain, a good driving day. Need to leave before snow maybe Monday.

Ketchum up, no that is ID Ketchum.

Sunday I drove past the hot spring resort and camped @ Chief Joseph Pass right near lost trail pass where years prior Lewis & Clark had a wonderful time in the Bitterroots. Camped @ 7241′ for elevation conditioning.

In Darby I looked up an old family friend, John Huffman. He and his wife Vicki have a new house right on the riverbank of the Bitterroot and John is all about fly fishing. i tagged along for his catch & release session ofn the river at his house. I learned more things about fly fishing.

Then I drove to pass. My rib cage hurts worse from my fall and my GI track isn’t right. My plan was to stay @ pass and if Monday i didn’t feel better that i would drive back down and go to hamilton, MT as a larger town and seek medical advice. Plan was implemented. I found a clinic. I submitted my morning growler for examination of giardia and my sore ribs. No giardia, unfortunately that is all that was checked for. Ribs: the NP heard “gurgling” in my left lung. She ordered a chest X-Ray which came back negative for pneumonia per the radiologist. She put me on 3 days of antibiotics which i have finished. My chest still hurts.

I returned over Lost trail pas and down the Salmon in ID. Beautiful rugged country. Hwy hugs shore of river. Camped at a BLM river access point.

Tues. I drove further down river. I stopped at Challis RS and learned about hot springs along the way. I picked Slate Creek hot springs back up off the river. Rough road driving back up. Hiked up creek and found steam wafting into the sky and a tub enclosure that was empty. What the heck? A dry tub? Hot h2o poured out of ground thru a 4″ pipe and it appeared that each party filled the tub and drained it after use. I saw a concrete block building further up canyon and I thought that maybe that is where the soaking spring was. I hiked up to check it out. It turned out to be  abandoned and that was used during the mining operation there. I ended up hiking around looking @ mine operation.

I returned to the spring and figured out the plumbing process and started filling the tub. Outside temp is in low 30s. I filled the tub w/ hot h2o and when it got to knee deep I checked the temp out. way too hot. I changed pipes and plumbed in cold h2o and dropped the temp to non scalding. I laid out and noticed that my chest pain disappeared immediately! No breathing pain. I started my stop watch to control my soak time and got out @ 10 mins. Too long a soak @ a high temp just leaches energy out. I had about a 300 yd downstream hike over a treacherous trail bypass to the van. If I were too cooked I might have fallen off the trail. The painfree lasted for several minutes post soak.

On my way back down i encountered 2 hunters heading up. During the conversation the woman mentioned she had a bottle of wine that she was going to enjoy during her soak but she forgot the corkscrew. I told her how to open the wine w/o an opener by using hydraulic pressure formed when the bottom of the bottle is gently rapped against a tree. I wacked the bottle a few times but chickened out for fear of breaking the bottle. And I also had a corkscrew on my Swiss Army knife in my van another 200 yards down the trail. She used the screw and carried her wine up for her soak.

I decided I wanted to stay here overnight and get another soak the next morning. Cold night: temp was 26 degs when I headed back up. I took a cooking thermometer up w/ me to learn the facts. water directly out of pipe was 140 degrees. Now I know why it was too hot last night. I switched pipes and lowered it to 120. The wood bench was white w/ frost. I stripped to my Speedo in 26 degrees and carefully negotiated the frozen boards and lower myself into knee deep water. I made 15 mins with a few beads of sweat on my brow. Again my chest pain disappeared. I rinsed off w/ cold water that didn’t appear to be too cold, dried off, and got dressed. 26 degrees buck naked steaming.

My chest pain concens me; I felt the source was damaged either rib or connective tissue. I drove into Ketchum, ID to the Visitor center and searched Chiropractors in the phone book. Picked one down in Hailley and drove down. Dr X-rayed and found no cracked rib that he could see. He made several adjustments that were painful. But last night I was able to sleep on my stomach w/ little discomfort indiacting to me that his adjustment worked.

Today I found another clinic in Hailey and made an appointment for tomorrow for chest recovery strategy and another growler study more in depth. Something unwelcomed is living in my gut or something is acting up in my body.

Today I wandered shops and streets in Hailey & Ketchum. I visited a bike shop in Hailey that i visited years ago when i was down here w/ my AMP B4 bike. the shop owner was the same but neither of us recognized each other but the experience of me rebuilding my shock was remembered. He also had an AMP bike.

ketchum is home of Sun Valley ski area. The area base is right in town and the summit is visible from town. There is a good white color from the top down for a short ways. Not enough to ski. Temp in town is in comfortable 60’s.

I could be riding here below the snow level but I am resting my chest.

Buddy Rick is on his way to Cedar City, UT. I might just skip riding here in the cold and head to southern UT for warmth.

Dan, the chiro who worked on my hip in Spokane told me that active release will work on my ribs. the nearest practitioner is Boise, ID. Out of my way, will seek someone in maybe Salt Lake.

Today I visited a heritage museum in Ketchum where the director added to my knowledge about Indians & the local settlement. I am a sponge for my selected knowledge input.

The hot spring terribly tarnished my bracelet. I stopped @ a jewelry store for a polish. The woman worked on it for awhile but the deep tarnish remains. Reminder to self: remove bracelet before soaking.

Leaving to find another FS access camp spot for tonight.

Oh, at Challis RS I learned that on the forest there are 3 manned lookouts and that last summer they had hard time filling the lookouts. Note to self: Apply for lookout job in Jan for region 4. I could work a lookout. Lookouts aren’t “sequestered” all summer like old days when a pack train packed them in and packed them out @ end of summer. Some can be driven to and the workweek is like 10 days on & 4 off.

I really left Spokane! Drove onto I-90 East bound for Missoula, MT. Pretty day for a drive.

Made rattlesnake rec area to a packed parking lot. Found a spot. Geared up & pedaled away. On first baby chain ring climb a new squeak kicked in. Made big climb and stopped to fix the source. Found the crank was loose or the bottom bracket. I tightened up the crank bolts but things were still loose. Decided to return to van and use the crank tightening tool. I snugged the crank down w/ the tool but it was still loose. I was concerned if I really reefed on the crank tightening that the crack would rub against the bottom bracket shell. packed up & drove to bike shop in town for advice. I didn’t finesse my encounter w/ a shop sales person. he tightened the crank arm tighter than I did and the looseness went away. he said the threads bottom out before the crank will  rub against the bracket.

Missoula is mtn time costing me an hour of day light. I bought a home made ice cream cone and drove South; ride day was short. Driving S on 93 I saw forest fire smoke in the sky. Turns out that there is a fuel reduction burn going on @ Lake Como where i planned to ride tomorrow. I walked down to lake thru smoldering or burning wood. Lake basin is very smokey. The lake is way down leaving the boat launch just for your imagination. Safe to ride but inhalation of smoke is a concern.

Temperature @ 5:50 in Darby was 74. High peaks to west of highway, the Bitterroot Divide, are dusted w/ snow. I’m camped off a logging spur road @ 4610′ w/ the door open wearing a sweater. Forecast is for rain for next several days.

Tomorrow is over Lost Trail Pass. I might stop @ a commercial hot spring this side of pass for a soak. the last time I was there my VW bus would not start and was towed back to Missoula. So nice to be driving this Mercedes Benz vehicle and having confidence that it will always run. The bus was choice fun but I was always jittery with it because I feared it wouldn’t start or would break down. I have tow truck driver stories to support.

Randy, I am camped @ UTM 11T, 714644 / 5103281. No conversion to your engineering values.