Well, I didn't really expect this place to be here... Just driving along through the Sawtooth Range National Recreation Area and I come across the town of Ketchum. Small regional center I expect - -no, it's a typical Mountain Resort town where everything is either a gallery, a cafe, or a bike/ski/outfitters shop. Sun Valley Ski Resort is right across the river so I guess it makes sense that a place like this exists, though as a ski hill it doesn't seem that impressive.
Anyway, it's a beautiful Sunday and the town is relatively busy, mostly with bicyclcists, ATVers, and the rest of the summer adventure crowd. Just north of here is the main bulk of the recreation area, which is the western edge of the Rocky Mountains in this part of the work. Quite arrid, with ponderosa pine forrests dominating. There are lots of trails and such, but they're all aimed primarily at ATV and motocross, and apparently it's hunting season as well. So I'll stay in the car and just drive through to Craters of the Moon NM later this evening.
The whole Sawtooth National Forest, including where I camped last night, is an active forrest -- as in, logged (clearcut in some spots, thinned in others including around the campsite.) So I guess that makes clear that "management" of national forests includes harvesting them. (That's not a revelation to me -- but it makes for somewhat less interesting scenery.)
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