Shoshone Falls

Vanlog, Sawtooth National Forest just north of Ketchum, ID

Last night, I woke at 3 AM and knowing that I was in one of the darkest national parks in the NPS, I went outside and laid on the picnic table looking up at the stars. I have never seen so many stars in my life. The Milky Way was clearly visible. Reflecting on the vastness of the universe and man's place in it is a very spiritual experience. I stayed outside until the mosquitoes got the better of me. Then I went back to bed.

I had breakfast in the van and left the campsite by 7 AM, heading west on US 40, then 80W toward Salt Lake City, UT. Then I headed north on 15 and west on 84 to Twin Falls. Here, I paid $5 to see the Niagara of the West, Shoshone Falls. It was a long 7.5-hr drive and the temperature had now reached 97 degrees, but it was totally worth it. Just standing there taking it all in, it is truly an awesome sight to behold. I enjoyed it much better than the highly commercialized Niagara Falls, one of nature's greatest scenes.

Then it was back on the road again north to the Sawtooth Mountains, where I finally made camp in the Sawtooth National Forest in my first real boondocking campsite off a gravel road about two miles east of Route 75 N. Today was a long driving day: 588 miles in 11 hours of driving!