Bicycling to Wolf Flats near Heise, Idaho

Saturday, July 29, 2017 was our first full day in Ririe (pronounced "RYE-ree"), Idaho, and we wanted to explore the areas around us along the Snake River.  We decided that bicycles were the most interesting way to do this.  We set out down the road from our campground, Mountain River Ranch RV Park, and across the Snake River.  Here's a view upriver from our road:

We also looked downriver.  Technically, this is the South Fork of the Snake River.  But this is the same river that flows south of Yellowstone and through Grand Teton National Park (Jackson Lake), and on into the main Snake River.  So this is the BIG ONE and we enjoyed watching its robust flow.

As we bicycled along, past Heise, we had beautiful views of the braided river, through wetlands:

Along the way, we spotted this osprey family:  the male on the left standing guard and looking for food, with mom and the chick in the nest:

Our bicycle route brought us along the north shore of the Snake River and into the Targhee National Forest.  We encountered the BLM's Kelly Island Campground.  It is developed, but requires boondock (dry) camping.  Yet the campsites had incredible views and we decided we would love to have found these as we planned our trip:

As we cycled along, we got some wonderful close-up views of wildflowers, including thistle.  Here are views of thistle blossoms at three stages of their maturity:

Pedalling further, we encountered spectacular views of the volcanic ridges along the fault against which the Snake River flows.  Eons ago, after lava flows, a great earthquake caused the valley south of this ridge to sink, leaving these steep cliffs:

The cliffs came right down to the road:

This was Kathy's favorite rock on the trip:

Our ride was about 16 miles.  On our way back, we stopped at the pizza parlor in Heise and toasted our adventure with some Idaho Brewing Company beer:

The day wasn't over with our bike ride.  When we made our campground reservations, we also reserved seats at a dinner show at the campground, known as Meadow Muffin Dinner Theater.  From the campground, three wagons, pulled by great draft horses, carried us over to the dinner venue:

The show itself was rollicking and entertaining, and we enjoyed every minute, participating with our hooting and hollering and foot-stomping.  Here, the cast gives us their best at curtain call:

A wagon ride back to our campground, and we walked back to our RV, laughing and thinking back on the friendly people we met at dinner and the hilarious time we had.