Our ultimate mountain guide, Jim, said "what a perfect day to go on top of Baldy and see hundreds of miles!" Suzy and I said, "sure, sounds good, we could go for a Baldy burger." So, we set out, and not being stupid, we grabbed our sweatshirts in case of chill. Then hiked up the LiftLine trail, stopping at Vulture Pt, and it was a very nice day to hike -- about 60 degrees, not too crowded, and the ascent steady but not a killer, about an hour in all.
The plan was to get on the lift at mid-point and head up for our Baldy burgers. However, a pimple-faced employee insisted that we have tickets. Now, we can tell you that we have employed this strategy of hiking to the midpoint many times and never been turned down. Curses on said employee.
Valiant Suzy volunteered to return down the chairlift to the bottom to purchase tickets, since they were not available for purchase at the midpoint. Little did she know, that she was heading into an arctic headwind. Blue and chattering, tears streaming down her face, she stumbled off the lift to the ticket office. "Do I have my cell phone," she thought? "Because those dummies can come right on down here and we'll have our burgers in civilization." Alas, no, it was not to be, so plucky Suzy headed back up into cold, eastern wind.
Tickets in hand, we boarded the lift for the top. And, dear readers, it was cold, very cold. The sun disappeared and the wind was steady. Our fleeces and sweatshirts were not, alas, adequate to the task and our frozen fingers were seeking warmth wherever they could discover...
It really wasn't heartening to see the folks in parkas going down the mountain.
Once on top, the sun re-appeared and we eagerly sought out the shelter of a building to suss out the scene. For once, all the outdoor picnic tables were open -- imagine. And we were happy to see the burger man flipping his wares outside the restaurant. Nevertheless, once we procured our various sandwiches and our potato chips, we had to resort to inside seating. The chip bags were something else -- the altitude differential made them puff up to max capacity. This made them quite interesting to open -- it wasn't too bad once you borrowed the jack hammer, though.
As we prepared to head down, a few small snow flakes blowing horizontally in the winds passed us by. Oh, yes, Idaho in August.
On the trip down, Suzy and I used my little kangaroo pouch and held hands the whole time, which helped. And, finally, we were at the bottom. Ah, the warmth of 60 degrees.
Fishing Report
There are days when as a fisherman, you are the vanquisher and there are days that you are vanquished. Today was one of the latter.
Weather forecast for Sun Valley tonight is 33 degrees with snow showers.
Heading back to Hotlanta and back to school tomorrow.
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