Sunday, May 26, 2013

Empty Byway #1: Mesa Falls Scenic Byway, Idaho


 

The southern end of the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway begins at the eastern outskirts of Ashton, Idaho. It's a great road to explore by bicycle, although you might want to consider driving the first few miles. You'll pass through a gorgeous piece of rolling farm country, with the high Teton Range prominently visible to the southeast, before descending into the gash of Three Rivers Canyon and coming to mile-high Warm River Campground, a splendid place to set up a base camp.


The gently flowing water of the spring-fed Warm River isn't exactly warm, remaining at about 52 degrees Fahrenheit the year around. Here you can fish for trout, float your tube, or bike and hike to your heart's content. It's such a pretty spot, accompanied by the soothing sound of mountain water not long out of the heart of Yellowstone National Park's Cascade Corner. Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring with a grill (just thinking about it, I can smell those hotdogs sizzling over a lodgepole-pine flame). Additional amenities include drinking water and vault toilets.

The campground serves as the southern terminus of a rail-trail tracing the Union Pacific route that delivered turn-of-the-20th-century tourists to West Yellowstone, Montana. Be sure to bike or hike up its dirt/gravel surface for at least the first 3 miles, to check out the exterior of a 1907 tunnel (closed to entry at latest report). The higher you go, the more stunning become the views down on the Warm River Canyon.

From the campground you'll climb to the Bear Gulch Trailhead. Park here if you have cycling in mind. Pedal the 20 miles to the U.S. Highway 20 junction and back, and you'll have enjoyed the sound and sensation--the soundsation?--of 40 miles of silky smooth asphalt humming beneath your tires. (If you'd rather run than ride, be aware that the popular Mesa Falls Marathon--and Half Marathon and 10K--take place annually along the byway on a Saturday in late August.) 

Along the way, you'll pass Lower and Upper Mesa Falls. The Henry's Fork, fabled among fly fishers, is widely known as a placid, relatively flat river. But it's nothing like that at the falls, where gravity sees to it that the river storms, froths, roars, plummets, and splashes off the rim of the Henry's Fork Caldera, which erupted into existence, geologists say, approximately 1.3 million years ago. 


The nearby Big Falls Inn, a gorgeous structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places, through the decades has served as a stage stop and hotel, cafe, saloon, general store, dance hall, Boy Scouts dining hall, and gathering place for the police force of Fremont County, Idaho. Today it's a visitor center, replete with videos, mounted game trophies, interpretive exhibits, and a sales outlet for books and maps.

Just across U.S. Highway 20 from the byway's northern terminus is Harriman State Park, home to the historic Railroad Ranch. The ranch originated in 1902 with the creation of the Island Park Land and Cattle Company. Most shareholders in the ranch were with the Oregon Short Line, the Union Pacific Railroad subsidiary that laid the tracks early on from Ashton to West Yellowstone. In 1908, Edward R. Harriman, chairman of the U.P., purchased a share in the ranch--hence the name of the state park. 



So mellow is the Henry's Fork current in Harriman that the river appears to be a lake.

That's just the beginning of the history, which you'll learn a lot more about if you visit. What is more important, perhaps, is that Harriman State Park is rather like a miniature Yellowstone National Park, minus the crowds. At hand are outstanding hiking, mountain biking, wildlife viewing, picnicking, lodging in old cabins, yurt camping, horseback riding, and more--including groomed cross-country ski trails in winter.


All in all, this place is a gem that should not be missed. Empty trails, empty byways.

Adapted from the travel app Yellowstone Hotspots, available at the iTunes Store and Google Play.