Today I am returning from Sun Valley, Idaho and, as promised, I wanted to share a travel blog on this amazing place. This is the first of two blogs and will focus on the town of Ketchum. With only 3,873 residents, the town is the quintessential Western town with friendly people and an outdoor culture. There are an array of great restaurants, shops, and bars for skiers retiring from a day on the slopes. Located in Wood River Valley, the town contains the popular ski slopes at Bald Mountain. When I arrived, the final competition of the U.S. Alpine Ski Championship was still being held.
Arriving in Sun Valley is itself an adventure as you descend into a valley surrounded by the Pioneer, Boulder, and Sawtooth mountains.
I stayed at the Limelight hotel on Main Street and recommend it. The staff is incredibly friendly and helpful. The hotel looks at the snow-capped mountains and has a great bar and lounge. They serve a great complimentary breakfast to give skiers and others a hearty start to the day.
Located next to Sun Valley, Ketchum and the surrounding areas have become a draw for the famous and wealthy, including celebrities like Tom Hanks. Locals call them “COWs” for California, Oregon, and Washington emigres. That draw is evident from the line of private jets that you pass on the tarmac of the tiny airport.
There is a surprising number of bars and restaurants in this small town, including signature bars like the Pioneer saloon (shown here) and Whiskey’s on Main Street. I also enjoyed meals at Enoteca with a great wine list from California and Oregon. One night we ate at the Ketchum Grill and had their signature meatloaf. It was so good that I returned the next night for a repeat.
On my second day, I went to the top of Bald Mountain. After crossing a small creek, you find a great lounge and bar at the base of the mountain with indoor and outdoor fireplaces. The staff cannot be more informative or helpful. You will need lift tickets so reservations are helpful. I spoke to a number of locals who were taking their regular runs on the slopes. Because there was less snow this winter, they were relying on their snow machines before the close for the season.
To get to the top of the mountain, you take the gondola to the Roundhouse Restaurant near the top. It has a great view from its deck and serves food and drinks at 7,700 feet of elevation on Bald Mountain. It was built in 1939 and has that genuine rustic feel.
You can then take the ski lift to the top of the mountain by taking the “Christmas lift (#3). It is not for those who do not like heights (though it helps if you are smarter than your host and realize that there is a pull down safety bar).
I was able to achieve a uniquely degrading landing at the top. I do not ski so this was my first lift experience. I made it memorable. When we reached the top, I thought the lift had stopped and jumped off. The chair lift then hit me and sent me sprawling forward in a face plant in the snow as the next chair pushed me down again. Small children looked on in disgust as one of the ski staff ran over and complimented me on a spectacular fall and roll. What can I say, it is a skill.
To make my disgrace complete, the watchful staff waited for me when I returned to go back down in order to stop the lift for me. I left without a modicum of dignity and heavily laden with self-disgust.
However, between my moments of self-degradation, I was able to take a few snaps of the surrounding mountains. Usually you can see as far as Salt Lake City on a clear day, but there was snow coming in. It was still an unforgettable view.
There are a variety of ski runs, including the competitive runs used by top skiers. Despite the cold, I would have lingered longer but I had to give a talk on free speech at the beautiful Argyros center. It is a ten minute walk back to Main Street.
While skiing is a big draw, the summer months also pull many to the town for people interested in fly fishing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. The local rivers are favorites for those eager to catch trout, salmon, and other fish. There are also many moose (who sometimes venture into town), elk, bear and other wildlife.
The next day I was scheduled to drive to the mountains for snowmobile excursion. More to come…
Go in the fall for the “running of the sheep.” A real mild mannered version of Pamplona with all kinds of related activities
Nothing like a trout dinner at the Pioneer Saloon.
Ketchum, Idaho, is 93.44% American.
God Bless America!
Thank you for reminding me of why I should go back for a visit!
“Incredible” means not credible! Please do not use it as a superlative.
Tch. tch.
Benson is incredible! His comments are super incredible!
To use incredible as a superlative you’d have to say most incredible.
Oxford dictionary also says it mean difficult to believe, or extraordinary.
Heard famous writer had a blast.
More Turley lies and deceit. Idaho is a terrible place and Ketchum is the most conservative part – guns and one-tons.
Now Jackson, WY or Deer Valley, UT – those are beautiful places.
@Anonymous
You are not well. Seek help.
That’s right, the wafting pollution and accompanying smell from the rendering plants and mining tailings in the drinking water here have messed me up. Stay clear.
Jackson is unaffordable for the average person, but overall that entire area from Jackson down to Hoback and over to the Pocatello/Idaho Falls area is utterly breathtaking.
I will say, though that there is a place in Jackson on the town square called Local, it’s right next to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar that has some of the most amazing steaks and food I’ve ever eaten.
As for living? My wife and I are looking at Wapiti, near Cody to retire.
As a flyover resident, a local, in a small town (~1600 souls) considered a vacation destination and desirable community to which city folks wish to relocate and retire… please don’t move there.
Houses are now unaffordable (for the locals) and our small town character lost to (literally) hordes of city people. Roads are clogged with traffic and being widened to accommodate all the “newcomers” who’ve begun showing up city at council meetings demanding additional services and infrastructure “just like back home”.
Often we hear our new neighbors complain about nearby family farms (smelly things aren’t they) which are being lost to big-time developers at an ever accelerating pace. Not to mention our neighborhoods’ quality of life being degraded by absentee landlords snapping up properties for AirBnB and Verbo rentals — walks down our tree-lined street our reinforce our belief that we’ve become strangers in our own neighborhood.
Besides, you’ll miss your kids and grandchildren… and constantly tell us so, while complaining about how they never (or rarely) visit.
Your thinly veiled trickery is a feeble attempt to dissuade as many potential additional visitors as possible because you don’t want more COWs to clog things up. We understand, dude. You love it and want it all for yourself.
Ketchum is literally the LEAST conservative part of Idaho. In fact it’s very liberal and Democratic. In 2020, Biden beat Trump in Blaine County (where Ketchum is located) 67%-30%, while the whole state went for Trump 64%-33%. Only two other counties in Idaho went for Biden, both by much narrower margins. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/results-idaho.html
Amazing how all these white left libtards are moving to majority white mountain states. Look at the census for California, New York city Detroit and so on. Los Angeles County with 88 cites and almost 10 million people is roughly 25 percent white. What happen to “diversity is our strength?” Blue Michigan’s Detroit is 10 percent white, but you would never know watching a Lions playoff game. These Detroit Dims sure know how to segregate…
I wouldn’t say the whole of Idaho is terrible, but I was more impressed with the western half, especially the parts that haven’t been spoiled by wealthy corporate types. Vacationing in Cascade and McCall is really nice, and instead of a snotty ‘art’ crowd, you get more laid back types who know what vacay is all about–natural hot springs, boating and fishing on Cascade Lake, hiking, eating ice cream while walking the main drag–fabulous!
Clearly Jonathan is a MAGA white supremacist…just look at those pictures of former native American land exploited for white privilege.
I rest my case.
Sincerely,
Dennis M
Relatively speaking the Native Americans have done pretty well by the white man. It might be argued that they have been exploiting us for many years. They have been granted special privilege like no others.
Leave it to man. As blacks finally emerge from the cruelty perpetrated by whites, people of color have discovered the joy in returning the racism. Now, thanks to the propensity of human nature/human beings to hate, we are the latest target of man’s brutality towards man.
No one ever stops to recognize it ain’t him. It is I.
@Dennis M
Clearly you are too stupid to know that the people in question weren’t even indigenous in the annals of history, that they fought amongst each other relentlessly, including ‘stealing’ territory and keeping slaves, and that at one time they weren’t even nomadic. And forget the Azatlan sh** – there are no ancient Mayan or Aztec ruins in the continental United States, none; the Mexican government controlled that territory for less than 50 years while Spain had it for centuries, and prior to that the Native Americans, in the capacity I described, were there doing their thing for a very long time. This land has changed hands so many times, and so many of them long before Europeans from countries other than Spain began to arrive, it may as well have been a tarnished nickel or a can people kicked around.
I do not usually insult other posters, but you are a true, dyed in the wool idiot. Pick up a book. Better yet, get out of your cave and actually talk to someone in real life. I’d be willing to wager the actual number of people you have met from the tribes is zero, and you’ve been on a pueblo in equal measure. Frankly, they wouldn’t invite a hostile POS like you. Give us a break, already.
Idaho is actually a state I’ve never been to, I have traversed mainly the Rockies, the Southwest, the South, and both coasts. Was watching Napoleon Dynamite recently, and it takes place in Idaho; I must confess I don’t know much about it. Looks amazing, thank you for sharing with us.
Been there once. I was in Jackson on my honeymoon when stupid me dropped, then stepped on my blood glucose meter. The nearest place to replace it was the Walmart in Idaho Falls, on the other side of the Teton Pass. We’re self employed so my wife spent the better part of an afternoon while I drove over and back. Absolutely stunning land.
Learned a few things on the drive. If you have decided to use a vape to quit smoking (worked for us) be prepared to have the entire tank pump itself into your cup holder over the pass due to the air pressure difference due to altitude.
Thank you for sharing that. Seems like a beautiful place I will never visit because I can’t sit on a plane that long. I’m glad the lift incident didn’t produce any lasting effects!
We drove from Pennsylvania. It’s worth every single mile behind the wheel.
Hey Jonathan, No worries… that happens to everyone the the first time they get off a chairlift, its like a rite of passage ! The mountains form of gentle hazing before she allows you on her.
That said, the several great “bars and lounges” your reviewed prior to the chair lift experince may have effected your performance while exiting the lift 🙂
Keep up the great commentary, I look forward to your words daily… You are a voice of reason in a very chaotic world.
Tom