Some great news and some not so great news
Good news! We are adding several new mountain bike trails. These are single track trails and are close to the town of Ketchum.
They vary from easy/moderate to very difficult. Look for Adams Gulch, Oregon Gulch, Fox Creek, and Chocolate Trail on our
single track trail descriptions. Book a special group for a week of trail riding.
And now for the Not So Good News!
Our small business is in peril!! The Forest Service has decided to decrease our user days to an unsustainable
level. User days are the number of days we are allowed to put individuals on the trails, essentially reducing our inventory
of trip possibilities. With the business model they have given us we cannot possibly survive as a business and pay our bills.
They have used our low user number count for the last few years as a model for their decision. One of the years they have
used, Ketchum was under siege from fires (known as the Castle Rock Fire of 2007), it was on national news. That closed down tourism in the Sun Valley area for a
good part of the summer season. 2 of the years the US economy almost shut us down. The Forest Service claims it is autonomous
in this decision making. This will likely be our last year operating in Idaho. But we're still operating in Oregon!!
The Sawtooth National Recreation Area Wilderness (SNRA) is now closed to commercial llama packing!! If you want to access any of the interior of this Idaho wilderness
without carrying in a backpack, you'll have to do it on horses. Even though llamas have less impact on the trails then even
backpackers, based on a graduate study put on by a University Of Idaho, while horses were on the top of their list of trail impacts.
The Sawtooth National Recreation Area has refused entry for our llama trips, although a slot opened up for llama packing after
a horse packer went out of business. After calling and writing Ed Canady (Wilderness Recreational Manager) for three months,
I caught him on the phone at the front desk. I pleaded with him to consider allowing us access because we get a lot of request
from our customers. He said that he would consult with the horse packers. This was in late November. I haven't heard back
from him, and he doesn't answer his phone messages or emails. You're welcome to try!
ecannady@fs.fed.us or phone (208) 727-5004, also Fax (208) 727-5029
If you care to comment to the Forest Service about these issues and/or our service, please give
Terry Clark a call or email at Sawtooth National Forest Acting Supervisor--Terry Clark-208-737-3216-toclark@fs.fed.us
GRANOATMEAL
This is one of our favorite breakfast recipes for the last day when we all reluctantly have to leave the wilderness!
INGREDIENTS
10 cup quick oats
1 c chopped or sliced nuts
½ c honey
½ c oil
Stir well and bake at 350º for 30 minutes or until golden, stirring well after the first 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and add:
1 c raisins/and or other chopped dried fruit (see hint below)
¾ c wheat germ.
Pack in one-portion amounts, adding 1/3 c powdered milk per 1 c granoatmeal
or
½ c powdered milk per 1½ c granoatmeal.
In camp, add 1 to 1½ c hot or cold water or amount to achieve desired consistency
Take what you need for the people on trip and multiple water needs.
HINT: I like to add for the dried fruit, pineapple-mango bits, pineapple, cranberries, cranstrawberries,
cherries, pears, strawberries, instead of the raisins!
Makes 12-13 servings
Originally from Backcountry Cooking by Dorcus S. Miller.
From the Llama Kitchen of Venture Outdoors
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