Images from Mackay Idaho

Very soon we will be packing and preparing to move on from Mackay.  Our next destination will also be in Idaho, which we expect will be similar, only it will be in a much smaller town!  There won't be groceries to speak of at our next destination, so we will be sure to stock up before we drive in.

We discovered that May is a very early arrival for Mackay.  The snow and flood waters can close many of the NFS roads leading up into the surrounding mountains.  The upside for us was that not many visitors were here yet and we just about had this place to ourselves.  By Memorial Day weekend, the crowd descended, and it seemed that every man, woman and child had their own 4-wheeler ATV.  Lots of ATV traffic in Mackay over Memorial Day weekend.

Below is a view of Mackay, Idaho from the first stop on the White Knob Mine Site Tour.  Penelope is parked at the little yellow star, frame right.  The golf course is to the left of Penelope in the picture.  The White Knob mining operation started in the late 1800’s and continued into the 1950’s and was an important part of the Mackay, Idaho economy.

The first stop was at a Tensioning Tower for the ore bucket trolley system.  The design of this tower is kind of fascinating.  The trolley cable that the ore buckets rode on were supported by several towers coming down along the mountain side.  This tensioning tower was a special tower used to keep the proper tension on the cable.  It did that by hanging two huge wooden boxes, filled with rocks for weight, over pulleys and attached to the cable coming down from the mountain top.  Depending on the weather and ore loads the miners adjusted the amount of weight rocks in the wooden boxes to put the right tension on the cables.  You can still see remnants of the wooden boxes and weight rocks on the ground underneath the tower in this shot below.  As the ore buckets entered the tower, they would exit the cable and then ride on a rail through the tower, only to run back onto a subsequent cable at the back end of a tensioning tower and continue their journey on down the mountain side.  Clever as any ride at Disneyland!

Close up on the remnants of an old weight box and it’s remaining weight rocks.

Below are the engineering plans if you want to make your own tensioning tower.

The next stop on the tour is up this road and farther into the mountains to get to the old Compressor Building and Cossack Mine shaft.

The large building on the right is the old Compressor Building.  The old pneumatic mining drills depended on compressed air and were fed by hundreds of feet of pipes and air hoses snaking into the mine shafts.  Later the pneumatic tools were replaced with hydraulic tools powered by electricity and the Compressor Building was decommissioned.

Below is a picture of some men who worked the mine many years ago.  There were bunk houses up at the mine shaft and Compressor site but have since been removed.  Can you imagine going to work here every day?  The dog looks happy....

Steve is ready to explore the old dilapidated Compressor Building.

Gari simulates feeding the old forge found in the Compressor House.

We even saw a little snow at this elevation.

There’s the old Cossack Mine Shaft… yep we had to go in there for a peek.

Gari is smiling because she doesn’t have to work there in the morning!

The mine shaft is definitely not an inviting workplace!

The Cossack Mine shaft was a good vantage point to be able to observe the ore trolley towers descending the mountain.

Out to the reservoir and a Mama Duck leads her ducklings across Mackay Reservoir underneath the Sawtooth Mountain Range.

Gari paddles back toward Romeo after catching her limit.  The distances are deceiving in the bright mountain air; that is about a 15 or 20 minute paddle left to take out.

Steve has been known to eat his fish dinner right off the grill or out of the frying pan.  Kind of a cave man he is.

Gari stops to collect information as we head up the NFS roads into the Trail Creek area.

Steve tries his Money Clip at a fishing spot in the Trail Creek area.  If you’re from the east a money clip is used to hold your folding money, but out west you know it’s a spoon type lure that trout can’t resist.

The Money Clip is the left most lure.

Gari observes a hawk hunting over the Wildhorse Creek in the Trail Creek NFS area.

Romeo parked at on odd angle near odd colored rocks.

Gari and Romeo somewhere in the Trail Creek NFS area.

Cattle country near Trail Creek.

“Junior, come down off that pile right now!  But momma, do I hafta?  I’m playing King of the Hill!”

Gari and Romeo on Bar Road just outside Mackay.

Slanted rocks on Bar Road.

Seven colors, Bar Road.

Blue Bells underneath the Sage Brush.

Howlin’ Coyote Rocks, Bar Road.

E.T. Rock spotted, Bar Road. (hint: lower left corner)

Steve thinks he is still 16 y/o and climbs a tall rock in an attempt to convince himself.  He survived this time...

Scream Face Rock spotted, Bar Road.

Bar Road beauty.

Back in the valley now, and headed back to town on Bar Road.

Earthquake signs at Mt. Borah.  In October 1983 this area experienced a 7.3 magnitude earthquake dropping the Lost River Valley an additional 9 feet below Idaho’s tallest peak Mt. Borah at 12,662 ft.

The shot below is looking along the fault line exposed by the 1983 earthquake.  This fault line runs over 26 miles.

Steve climbs down in a small stream at the earthquake site to explore.  Maybe he can find a fossil… nope, no fossil today, just Mayfly larvae.

Mt. Borah towers above the fault line in the foreground.

Steve takes an apple and mini-pretzel snack break at the earthquake site.

We found a fishing hole near the earthquake site, but we will have to really want to get to the river.  Gari climbs over obstacles with her ultralight tackle.  Yes we are packing bear spray today.

Steve works a small pool at the bend in the Big Lost River near the earthquake site.

Gari is ready with her ultralight rig and Money Clip lure on the Big Lost River.  It wasn’t that hard to get down here…. yeah right!

Steve experiences a little fishing backlash on the Big Lost River.