The rest of July in Star Valley

 

I know that I was going to write more often, but when you play pickleball  almost everyday and hike or Kayak the other days, there’s not a lot of time. However, we’re now having a couple of rainy days and I’m getting caught up, not only on the blog, but paperwork, etc.  I left you with Kayaking on the 7th of July.   On the 10th, we decided to try the Idaho side of the street. This is almost literal, Idaho is less than a mile across Hwy 89.  We went up to Tin Cup Mountain.  This is said to be named for a group of traders that when a child was kidnapped by the Indians, the only thing the Indians would take in trade for the child was a tin cup. The flowers were beautiful, but the mountain showers and the mosquitos had us cut the trip short.

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, Bob and I do all the hikes for the beauty and hopefully to see animals. Of course where do you see them and do you have your camera with you? On the road on the way to the Alpine Ace Hardware.  Two bull moose in the Marsh Pond on the side of hwy 89.  I only had my phone, but here’s the moose.

  Not very clear, but Hey, I saw them clearer.

  Our next hike was on the 13th of July.  Bob and I think that this was the most beautiful of all the hikes and a little more strenuous.  Instead of 1500 ft altitude change in 3 miles, we went up around 2,000 ft.  We left Cottonwood Lake and climbed up to Wagner Lake. Well, we got within 1/4 mile of Wagner, but that was at 4.5 miles and it went downhill, meaning we would have to climb back up.  We opted to have a snack at the top and go back down. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

There were hazards on the trail and you had to be careful where you stepped in the snow. As I mentioned previously, the mountains here had 140% more snow and caused damage to the trails.

 

 

 

 

 

Then it’s back to kayaking.  We’ve had friends here from Sun City Grand, Earl and Carol Tripp.  Not only have we had great pickleball games, they like to kayak.  On the 14th, we took a trip down the Salt River, ending up down at the Marshes.  We didn’t see a lot of animals, but with around 10 couples, it was fun.  I didn’t get a lot of pictures since I’d lost my small camera.  I had emptied it that morning, so didn’t lose any pictures. Oh, by the way, Carol and Earl have bought a lot here, so we’ll see them in the summers some.

  I know that I’m only showing you pictures of Kayaking and Hiking, but besides playing pickleball, we’re having happy hours, dinners, and going out in groups to eat.  Although, the going out is less often since we normally go to Afton, 15 miles away to eat.  This area is not for the people wanting to eat out at every meal.  You do a lot of cooking at home.

We revisited Strawberry Creek on the 20th and took the Strawberry creek fork instead of the north fork.  This is probably one of the easier hikes that we’ve done.  We made it around 4.5 miles and 3 creek crossings.  Finally, at the 4th crossing, I couldn’t find a way to cross.  Bob made it, but he has long legs and can jump further.

 

 

 

 

 

No wild animals, but we did see tracks.

Friends, newly full timers, Mike and Nadine McKay arrived on the 20th of July.  They parked across from us and have really enjoyed the pickleball play.  On the 25th, we took them to Periodic Spring, that isn’t Periodic.  It’s flowing full force.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They came to play in the Pickleball Tournament we had starting July 29th – July 31st.  They like it so much, that they also bought a lot here.  It’ll be good to see them during the summers. They figure that they’ll rent it until they decide to settle for the summer. 

Our next hike was to Prater Creek on July 26th.  This was the most strenuous yet with an actual climb (due going up 1,800 ft. and then down 1,000 ft. and back up) of around 2,800 ft.  Also, the trail was lost in the snow and downed trees.  At the top, a great view of Palisade's Lake.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided it was easier to slide on my bottom down this snow.  No rocks in the way.

   

 

 

and on top.

 

 

  We took a couple of days to recuperate and then “Pickleball Tournament”.  Of course we’d had no rain for a month almost, so of course, we had the dreaded delays.  Melissa McCurley and her brother, Greg Thompson, along with mother, Linda Dillon came up to play with us.  Melissa and I played in Women’s Doubles 4.0 and Linda  and Nadine played in Women’s Doubles 4.5.  Melissa and I took a bronze in 4.0,  Linda and Nadine got gold in 4.5.  Although there were only 4 teams in the 4.0 and 1 team in the 4.5, the double round robin between all of us was very competitive.  4.5 team did win with 75 points.  The Gold in the 4.0, a mother and daughter  team, Lori Salvo and Arial Sprague, had 73 points, Silver was MJ Shin and Kim Deamer with 66 points and then Melissa and I had 66 points, but MJ and Kim had one more win. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob and Linda played in the Mixed 4.5 .

 

Melissa and Greg played in 4.0 and I played with Keith Klein.  No not Kyle, Keith, Kyle’s older brother.  He’s the principal here at the Etna Elementary School.  He’s working on getting it in the schools here in Star Valley area. Neither of us finished in the medals, but had great competition.

On Thursday, Bob and Greg played in the 4.0 men’s doubles.  They were outplayed by teams that have been playing together and are really heavy 4.0 players.

  And now most of the competitors have left, Nadine and Mike had to go to California for funeral and will be back next week.  It’s really quiet here with the rain setting in for a couple of days.  But next week looks great and we’ll all be out playing pickleball, kayaking, and hiking.