It was a beautiful sunny summer Saturday afternoon so I didn’t have high hopes for a campsite in or nearby to Ketchum. At least near enough to take in some Saturday nightlife. The nearest I could find to Sun Valley was the North Fork campground, 8 miles North. A state patrol vehicle tailed me for a bit of the way there. I thought it prudent to just hunker down for the evening.
It was another chilly night but I slept until 8. Late enough, that I almost talked myself out of taking time to make breakfast.
But I pulled out the stove and whipped up some sausage, eggs and coffee, cleaned up and was heading
north on 95 before 10. A very pretty drive over the highest pass yet at 8700 feet. No problems with the trailer either. I stopped
at the Galena Lodge at the pass, Had a coffee
and watched the hikers and mountain bikers fuel up for a day in the high wilderness. Cool little place with a big out door deck and beer taps in the afternoon.
View from Galena Pass at 8700 feet Looking North
I was doing well enough that I decided to take a side road to see the ghost town of Custer. A late 1800’s gold mining town. Mostly because I wanted to see if it was named after Custer or he actually had something to do with it.
It was an ok drive up. Packed dirt and gravel, pretty flat and the trailer towed easily. I don’t think I got over 30 miles an hour though because the summer traffic created the washboard ruts that are pretty rough on a suspension over time. It probably took me close to an hour to make the 18 mile drive.
I looked around for 30 minutes. But no Custer references in any of the self guided tour literature. It was fine to see once. I asked the park ranger about the road going forward. She warned me that the 30 mile drive was narrow and rough in places. It did go through some pretty scenery and would save me about 20 miles compared to going back the way I came in.
So far, so good with the trailer, so I ventured on up the road.
She was right, it was some pretty crappy road. Supper bumpy, winding and just a bit wider than 1 lane the whole way with the occasional wide spot to let traffic from the other direction get by. I was super lucky that I didn’t come on one driver coming the other way because it would have been hard to back my trailer up. That’s a euphemistic way of saying impossible, no way in hell I could have backed the trailer up to a wide spot for passing. There were steep hills that I was just barely able to get up. Leaving a cloud of dust from the spinning tires. I probably peaked out at 20 mph. But mostly spent the 30 mile trip at 10 mph or less. There was added stress watching out for any pointed rocks that might puncture a tire.
It took me 3 hours to make the 30 miles and I have some pretty scenery.
I made it back onto the asphalt road at just after 5pm. Thirsty and hungry. Other than a cup of coffee at the really cool Galena Lodge, I hadn’t had anything to drink since breakfast. I was definitely ready to wind this day down.
However, the second I hit the asphalt, I just happened to look in the rearview mirror and notice the trailer wheel do a serious wobble.
I immediately stopped and inspected. All the vibration caused the axle to slide in the hanger to the driver side. The passenger wheel was rubbing against the trailer wall. And worse, the wheel hub nuts had worked themselves loose causing the wheels to wobble.
I precariously jacked up the trailer loosened the hanger bolts and worked the axle back into position. Tightened down the hub nuts but had to wreck the remaining hub cap to get to one of them. The other got lost along the way.
A few nice people stopped to offer assistance but I was almost done. I said it would be most helpful if they could come back in an hour to make sure I wasn’t pinned under the trailer.
In the end. I was able to get the wheels spinning again but took the next 50 miles to Salmon under the speed limit. Keeping my eye on the wheels in my rear view mirrors. If someone came up behind me I took the next pull off to let them by.
One car waved at me and pulled in with me to tell me I had no tail, brake or turn signals. They were just working a couple days ago so I think the vibrations shook a connection loose.
So now I am racing the sunset so I am not driving an invisible trailer in the dark. While still keeping my eyes on the wheels. Luckily, it stays light until 8:30. Just as I was driving down Salmon, Idaho’s main street looking fir a campsite or even a WalMart to get this thing off the road.
I found a full hookup campsite just off of main street. And will be spending the day fixing all of my trailer woes. Wish me luck.
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