1000 miles of History, Ghost Towns and Amazing Scenery.

[Hodakaguy]

Just finished a 4 day 1000 mile road trip with the van and my father joined the trip with his Tacoma/Vagabond camper. Such a cool road trip, soooo much scenery and history to explore out there.

Warning...Picture Heavy Post.


Heading out of town we were treated to an awesome sunrise.

First up was the historic mining town of Wallace ID. This is town is full of history and cool things to explore. There is also a bicycle trail on a old railroad bed that is all down hill and travels through tunnels and over trestles...we will have to come back for those!

Dad checking out the signs

Wallace is home to the Center Of The Universe!

I found it strange that the Center of the Universe is located in the middle of a 4 way intersection where people will want to stand on it to take photos lol. All locations in town are referenced from the Cnter of the Universe .

This pawn/antique shop in Wallace is a very cool shop, a must stop when your there!

Dad checking out the Mermaid

My wife checking out the lovely room of death lol.

More fun stores

Wallace is famous for it's houses of prostitution, there were MANY of them in this small town. The last operating brothel closed in 1991. The Oasis cat house closed in 1988 and was boarded up tight with everything inside...they just turned off the lights and left, eventually it was purchased and the time capsule was opened and its now a perfectly preserved museum. Really good tour.

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[Hodakaguy]

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Next we left Wallace and headed about 7 miles out of town to the ghost town of Burke ID. Burke was one of the largest producers of silver, zinc and lead. Look up Burke on youtube for some really cool history.

Burke back in the day.....

Today little is left except small ruins, you would never know how massive this place really was.

Massive head frame in the background.

What's left of the Frisco Mill. During a battle between the miners and the mill owners the miners placed explosives in a mine cart above the mill and sent the cart down the tracks into the mill, completely destroying the mill.

Shot from the Drone

Stopped at the 50,000 silver dollar store in Montana. Just cheap tourist stuff here but kinda cool to check out.

Using the Biolite grill to cook up some steaks for dinner...yummm

My wife enjoying the trip....

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[Hodakaguy]

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Dad setting up camp...takes all of about 2 minutes. The Vagabond Drifter is a slick setup!

Next we stopped in Missoula MT....Ehh...just a big city and we weren't to impressed so didn't spend much time here.

Back on the road and heading south towards the Salmon river. Several cool towns to stop and explore along the way.

Stickers on entering state signs must be a thing now

Lots of beautiful scenery along the way.

Found a great free camp site right on the Salmon river...soooo nice! While we were camped here a park ranger stopped by to chat and we told him that we were heading to the Yankee Fork gold dredge and the ghost town of Custer ID. He told us that there is a historic dirt road called the Custer Motorway that would take us right to Custer and avoid paved roads, heads up over the mountains at 9k feet.... just turn at Challis and follow the dirt road. Awesome! Custer Motorway it will be!

Kiddo got a lot of play time in the river

Camp from above

Doesn't get much better than this!

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[Hodakaguy]

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If anyone has ever watched Lucy and the long long trailer you will get this...my wife started collecting rocks to bring home lol.

Heading out again....more amazing scenery

Heading up into the mountains on the Custer Motorway.

Time to get the drone out again for another perspective.

Continuing down the trail.

Kiddo cruising on the bed

More history. This was once a toll road and whats left of the toll cabins are still here at 9k feet. Very cool!

Wild strawberries...yummmm

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[Hodakaguy]

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Didn't take long to find the old dump site.

A little photography along the way

Next we visited the ghost town of Custer. Another great piece of history. But first up...breakfast

In a small remote ghost town in the mountains of ID we ran into Chad with Adventure Wagon! Chad is an awesome guy and makes some really cool Sprinter gear. We are running his Mule bags and basically patterned a lot of our interior off his kits. Great to chat with you Chad!

Showing Chad our build.

Chad even placed a Hodakaguy sticker on his van

Custer from the Air

And checking out the old buildings.

Next we explored the abandoned Yankee Fork gold dredge. Unlike the Sumpter dredge that we explored last trip the Yankee dredge is completely intact with all the original equipment...plus they let you climb and explore on all levels!! Such a cool piece of mining history.

Heading into the dredge, people provide a good reference and show the scale of the bucket line.

I spy a Sprinter

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[Hodakaguy]

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Massive electric powered winches. These were used to position the dredge and raise/lower the bucket line.

Resistor banks used as speed controls for the motors

Thats it...just a little further

Upper axle on the bucket line

Grizzly bars to reject large rocks before they get to the trommel.

Bull gear that drives the bucket line. This is the weakest spot on the dredge, the large bull gear was replaced 3 times while this dredge was in operation.

Trommel from above

Checking out the sluice runs

Gold recovery area, the pot on the lower right was used to burn off the mercury and recover the gold.

The dredge made its own power via two 1940 Ingersol Rand Diesel engines running two generators.

Got the drone back out for a few shots of the dredge

Great shot of the tailings left behind from the dredge

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[Hodakaguy]

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Wife got in a little panning while we were there...didn't get anything but more cool rocks to pack in the van

Sawtooth Mountains as we head south and home

Hot springs along the hwy....gonna have to come back here!

Restaurant along the road lol.

Stopped for ice cream and had to leave a sticker

Next morning all that was left was to make coffee and roll into home.

Hodakaguy

 

[jadmt]

I grew up down the road from Wallace and it was well known for its brothels even into the 80's and maybe the early 90's. The interstate went directly thru the town. instead of bypassing it like it is now.

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

Looks like a great time, thanks for sharing! So many cool places in Idaho.

 

[goin camping]

Beautiful

 

[shortbus4x4]

I grew up down the road from Wallace and it was well known for its brothels even into the 80's and maybe the early 90's. The interstate went directly thru the town. instead of bypassing it like it is now.

Wallace was also the last place on I90 that had a stoplight, in addition to the brothels. I worked with a guy who grew up in the Silver Valley and his family worked at the mines. He had some stories to tell.?

 

[goldtooth]

The hot springs in that pic is Kirkham. We went to them on our trip to Idaho in early July and they are spectacular and don't smell like typical sulfur hot springs.
nate

 

[BLand Cruiser]

Great trip report. Thanks for sharing.

Question: It doesn't look like that river could float that big dredge. How did they do it?

 

[gdaut]

Great trip report. We were up in that area last week.

Pistol, there was a sign that said they needed 11 feet of water to float the dredge. Yankee Boy Creek is just a creek, so I am guessing they would dam up sections to make a big pond, dredge that section and then move upstream. It is an interesting piece of industrial history, and also an interesting piece of environmental history. There are about 6 miles of huge piles of gravel spoil on both sides of the creek. The mining company completely destroyed that area and then just packed up and left. There is a restoration project going on around the dredge, which is an interesting piece of modern industrial/environmental history as well, but I don't think that area will be anything like restored in my or my kids lifetimes. Everything around the area where they did not dredge is really beautiful though. Well worth a visit.

 

[BLand Cruiser]

That makes sense. Thanks!!