Wednesday August 20, 3.9mi/6.3km
Hammett (94.4/2540ft) to Snake River (90.5/2480ft) (ID)
Despite getting most of my chores done yesterday, the morning was still busy packing up everything from the hotel room. I sampled the goldfish to make sure I liked the new flavor, it’s pretty amazing. I’m really looking forward to that snack on the trail.
I made the quick walk back to the downtown area, donated the book that I finished reading to a Little Free library, and then went to the Manhattan Cafe again.
After lunch I went to the park and started reading my new book, it was nice and shady under the ancient cottonwood trees. Then I went to the library for an hour to update some things on my blog, my caltopo maps, and some internet chores are just easier to do on a real computer. I had called the only local taxi service to pick me up from the library at 5pm and take me to the edge of town, where I would begin hitching back to Hammett. The driver was really interested in hearing about my summer adventures in Idaho, so she drove me all the way to Hammett. I gave her some extra for the gas money, and then ordered dinner at Lulu’s Cafe.
The camping in this section is a little sporadic, since there’s a bunch of private property. I knew I was only hiking 4 miles, so I took my time eating and didn’t leave the cafe until 7 pm. The roadwalk was perfectly flat and expectedly boring.
There was a couple miles of irrigated farmland.
And then the road got squeezed between the river and a cliff.
Watching the sunset over the Snake River was rather special.
Crossing the river felt like a unique moment, basically all the waterways in Idaho drain into the Snake River eventually.
It was actually perfect timing, I crossed the bridge just after sunset, so I was able to set up my tent just as darkness was approaching. I’m camped close to a road and I’d rather cars not see me, feels safer.
It’s basically 90 miles of relatively flat and shadeless trail to the Idaho/Nevada border, and I plan to get up early the next few days to start hiking in the darkness, while the temperatures are still cool.