More About Mackay, Idaho

We are starting to find our way around Mackay already, and enjoying it very much.  When we read about Mackay we understood the population to be around 850, made up of a few more women than men.  When we arrived we were greeted by the Mackay sign that read population of 525.  At any number there seems to be more wildlife than people.  The weather is much cooler up here at 6000 ft.  The scenery is beautiful as we are surrounded by several peaks some in excess of 11,000 ft.  The high mountains still have snow from about 8,000 ft up.  As the weather warms up we can see the creeks and rivers rising just a bit every day as the snow melts and runs off.   Part of the forecast here in Mackay is the Hydrologic Outlook; we better keep an eye on that.  The locals tell us that this year wasn't a big snow year, so we don't expect to see much flooding.

Mt. McCaleb at 11,682 ft watches over the sleepy little town of Mackay, Idaho.  This is the view from our campground road.

We are staying at the Mackay Golf Course and RV Park.  Below is a shot of the small club house and a few RVs.  This part of the campground is too tight for us to fit into, but we can fish the Big Lost River at the end of the 7th hole per the owner Steve M.

Below is the annex RV park that is across from the 9th hole.  We didn't have much trouble getting onto our site.  The way this part of the park is layed out, Gari had to back in from the blindside, which made it a bit more difficult, but Gari being the driver she is, she made it look pretty easy.

We rode our bicycles from camp up to a self guided mine operation tour.  There is Gari arriving at the White Knob Mining Site in Mackay.  This original site was the blast furnaces and smelter where the ore was brought down from White Knob Mountain.  Copper ore was discovered on White Knob in 1879 and full production started up by 1884.  The mine produced copper, and some silver and gold all the way into the 1980's.

Steve takes a turn at operating the shovel.

Gari inspects the blast furnace and smelting pot.

There was a nice view at the mine site of the Big Lost River meandering through sleepy Mackay, Idaho.

We rode out in Romeo to explore the Mackay Reservoir and the Big Lost River below the dam.  We parked Romeo up on the hill above the river.

Steve presents an nice Rainbow Trout specimen caught below the dam... only thing is, Gari caught it! Safely released after the picture.

Gari skillfully plays another whopper below the earthen dam.

Steve picks up Gari's catch.  Even though the picture is a bit out of focus, we suspect that was a 3 pound Cutthroat Trout.  All catches below the dam are released prior to Memorial Day.

Gari casts her lucky lure from the dam into the reservoir.  We didn't have much luck there.  We will return with the kayaks later and get away from the shoreline a bit more.

We rode down stream a bit to a Sportsman Access area.  We saw a lot of feathered fowl but no fish bites here.

...and we discovered that there was a fungus among us...

Steve tried his luck from a rock and confirmed it was no fish luck at all.

Another day, another fishing expedition; this time with kayaks!  Gari gets a snack before we put over.

Steve finishes his apple before paddling out.

Gari & Steve paddling on Mackay Reservoir.

We saw this couple preparing to launch their fishing boat.  We spoke to them as they headed out.  It turns out they had already spotted us in town and knew where we are staying!  I suspect a lot of the 500 folks in town have noticed our presence as the new people.

Steve soaks in the magnificent view from the reservoir.

Gari jigs around the aquatic plants near where Romeo is parked.

We rigged up a hauling configuration with bungee and rope for carrying the kayaks in the hauler bed.  It looks like it is going to work very well.  It is a lot easier and faster to load and unload in the bed than it is to use the roof racks.

Two small Mule deer passing our back window by the creek.  I wonder what they are up to?

Joining up with the rest of the herd out our side window.

Gari goes out and scatters the Mule deer away.  See the white butts?  Mule Deer.

 Until next time...

Romeo goes to Idaho

After spending the month of April in Congress, AZ at the Escapees North Ranch, we are looking forward to heading north into cooler climes to southeastern Idaho.  We pulled out of North Ranch on Friday April 30th with a loosely planned ETA in Mackay, ID for Thursday, May 3rd.  We followed Rt 93 right out of Congress, AZ and all the way through Nevada and into Mackay, Idaho!  The locals pronounce it Macky, not to be confused with Parkay :)  That's how they tell if you are from the local area.

This is where we are headed, Mackay, Idaho in the Sawtooth Mountain Range.

After we left Congress, AZ on Rt 93 north, we soon saw at Milepost 169, a sign that read, “Joshua Tree Parkway of Arizona.”  It was stating the obvious because we could see the Joshua Trees all around.

A short time later the Joshua Trees gave way to a great area of Saguaro Cactus.

The hits just kept coming as we entered the stacked rocks of Nothing, AZ.  Locals call the rock formation below the Snoopy Rock.  Can you see Snoopy?  Hint, it's the high rock at the right...

 As we approached the Hoover Dam the landscape began to become take on more texture.

A small peek of the Colorado River below the Hoover Dam can just be seen above the Jersey Barriers as we cross the bridge on Rt 93.  You can also see the high power wires carrying all the hydroelectric power produced at Hoover Dam.

Shortly after crossing the bridge we pass the Hoover Dam Lodge and Casino.  We hit the jackpot by not stopping!

First day out we made it to Henderson, NV just south of Las Vegas.  There we stayed at the local Walmart.  It was a fitful sleep that first night; people were walking and driving all through the lot until 4 AM, and then things finally got quiet for an hour or two.  It appeared that there are a lot of homeless or disturbed people wandering around that area.  It was good to get up and head out of town that next morning.  Below is a shot the morning we departed Henderson Walmart and headed past downtown Las Vegas.  You can just see the Stratosphere the tall thin structure at the left.  This is as close as we came to the Las Vegas Strip... Jackpot again!!!

Just North of Las Vegas we passed an enormous solar array belonging to the Chuck Lenzie Generating Station.  The panels appeared to be tilt-able.  As we approached the array it looked like a vast blue lake; as we passed by the ends of the rows of solar panels they seemed to disappear in side view.

At Crystal Springs we took a detour up Rt 318 going to Ely, NV where we would overnight at the local Chevron truck stop.  It was there at Crystal Springs that we stopped and paid homage to the Extraterrestrial Highway.  It appears some real aliens have plastered the sign there with groovy stickers.

There Gari waits with Romeo for the co-pilot to return from the out of this world sign.

As we continued to head north we drove deeper into the low pressure system that had camped over the state of Nevada on Tuesday May 1st.  The over night stay in Ely was going to be the coldest night with temperatures dipping below freezing.  The upside was that Ely is not in the middle of nowhere, but we could see it from there.  That made the stay overnight very quiet and peaceful, nothing like the crazy night before in the Las Vegas area.

The next morning we arose to slightly improving weather, and it was forecast to improve more as we drove north.  And that it did.  Just up the road from Ely we stopped at the Pony Express Trail Marker Rest Area.  This rest area was an actual stop along the short lived Pony Express.  Below was the commemorative marker of a rider galloping along.

Once again Gari waits for the blogger to return from his photographic documentation quest at the Pony Express stop.

It wasn't long before we began to see snow capped mountains along our route.

Now we are headed right at the snow.

Soon we came upon an Elk Migration Overpass.

Then another... and this one had a few Black Elk crossing.  It was amazing how similar these Black Elk looked to an ordinary cow.... Mooooo

Our third overnight would be in the Twin Falls Idaho Walmart.  It turned out that Twin Falls now has a city ordinance of no overnight parking at Walmart.  We decided to take our chances, knowing that we could get a rap-tap-tap on our door in the middle of the night.  We had no trouble and neither did the other dozen or so RV's in the lot.  We did a little running around in Twin Falls and captured a picture of the Rt 93 bridge below which would be our route in the morning over the Snake River Canyon.

We took a walk along the walking path that followed the Snake River Canyon.  The views were magnificent, so we stopped for a hero selfie shot.

As we approached Mackay, Idaho our final destination the next day, we passed and stopped at the Craters of the Moon National Monument.  The dark area to the left of Gari and Penelope is an old volcanic flow field.

Steve documents the stop; Romeo & Penelope in the background right.

The visitor's Center at the Craters of the Moon had a very interesting 3D map.  The yellow star is our destination Mackay, Idaho for the month of May.  We think it is safe to say that we will get to see some mountains!  At Craters of the Moon, we are less than 50 miles from Mackay and expect to be there within the hour.  And the adventure continues in a new place for us....

All set up in our Mackay spot.