Driving back to the bridge LC stopped the Suburban in the middle of the road while I snapped a few quick pictures.
When LC told me to hurry up because there was a car coming, I realized that there was no time for finesse.
Snapping a few quick point-and-shoot pictures we quickly continued on our way before the vehicle that was quickly approaching smashed into the back end of our "tank".
One of our neighbors had already banged into the front of our Suburban when we pulled him out of a snowbank and he forgot to hit the breaks.
It was dark and I heard the loud crash, and my first thought was "Well crap................no good deed goes unpunished".
When the neighbor finally drove home I walked over to the Suburban fully expecting the worst.
The neighbor had a noticeable dent in the tailgate of his Ranger to show for the adventure, but the Suburban was undamaged.
No sign of impact at all.
I LOVE that Suburban because it is such a big, heavy beast.
Kory loves the Suburban because it is our "going onto BLM truck" and because (unlike the Tahoe) the windows wind all the way down.
LC loves the Suburban for the same reason that I do, although it took him longer to like it as much as his woman and his dog did...................
After snapping a few quick pictures of the Salmon River we headed out of town.
We had only been in Challis for a couple of hours - had safely delivered a picture to the library, had stopped by someones' house twice and were disappointed to have missed her both times, had picked up a few interesting things at a thrift store, had picked up a few snacks and drinks for the trip home, and had taken pictures of the snow covered mountains and the river.
It had been a blur of a visit but it had been a good visit, and it was time to head home.
We were only 10 miles from town when the woman finally called me.
She had gone to help a neighbor find their old dog who had wandered off.
She was sorry she had missed us.
Were we close enough to come back for a visit?
We talked on the phone for a short while, while LC continued driving further away from Challis and closer to Atomic City........................
30 minutes or so outside of Challis you begin to steadily climb until you reach an elevation around 7000 feet.
Asking LC to stop at the top of the pass, I climbed out of the Suburban and stepped into knee deep snow.
I was immediately enthralled.
Standing at the top of a pass in the middle of winter, I looked around me.
The area was incredibly isolated. Incredibly beautiful. Filled with nothing but endless snow, endless mountains, and endless silence.
It was a special place.
Aware that LC and Kory were both waiting for me, I began quickly snapping pictures.................
Looking back in the direction of Challis.....................
Immediately to my right.....................
Directly in front of me.
Mackay was another 40 miles or more in that direction.
Atomic City 50 miles further south beyond Mackay................
To my left......................
A NOAA weather station, similar to the one we had in back of town in Atomic City....................
Taken while we were coming down the back side of the pass..................
Click on this picture to enlarge it.
There is a home sitting in the middle of this beautiful emptiness.
People often express surprise that we live in Atomic City and often make comments about how isolated of a place it is.
Atomic City IS quiet.
But THIS is true isolation.....................
A few miles north of the small town of Mackay lies the Mackay Reservoir.
It reminds me very much of the reservoir just outside of Cody - a moderate size body of water surrounded by..........nothing. No trees and even few bushes.
Most of the year I find Mackay Reservoir to be uninspiring place.
But in winter it is beautiful.
It a frozen wonderland of solid ice surrounded by snow filled mountains that look even taller and more impressive than they do at other times of year.
With both LC and me ready for a break, and with a puppy always ready for a walk, it was time to stop for a few minutes to stretch legs and enjoy scenery.....................
Ice fishing huts on the solid lake.....................
How tall are the mountains?
Click on the picture to enlarge, and then look for the stop sign and the BLM information board..................
15 minutes after we pulled down to the reservoir we loaded back into the Suburban.
We still had 55 miles to go, and after a long but good day, we were all suddenly ready to get home and curl up to take a nap.....................
Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to
find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a
necessity...........John Muir
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