On The Trail At: Bald Mountain, Idaho In 1879 a tall, wiry prospector named David Ketchum built a small shelter along the Trail Creek to use as his base of operations in the area. He didn't stay long. By 1880, when mining operations began to be permanently established, Ketchum was long gone, rumored to be in Arizona, or perhaps dead in a saloon standoff. The new town called itself Leadville but the United States Post Office turned down the name because Leadvilles were as common as dashed dreams in the West by that time. The settlers decided to name their town after pioneering David Ketchum, whose rudimentary shelter still stood down by Trail Creek. For more than a decade Ketchum boomed but the collapse of the silver market in 1894 opened a gash in the town's economy that drained 90 percent of its population. The town recovered some with an infusion of sheep ranching but by the 1930s there were fewer than 300 people living in Ketchum. In 1935 Austrian Count Felix Schaffgotsch was hired by Union Pacific Railroad Chairman W. Averell Harriman to scout the American West for the best site to build a destination ski resort like the tony resorts in the European Alps. Schaffgotsch scoured the mountain regions of the West and rejected such places as Aspen, Jackson Hole and Yosemite. He was prepared to return to New York and report his failure when a railroad representative from Idaho asked him to check out Ketchum. Within three days, the Count wired Harriman: "Among the many attractive spots I have visited, this combines more delightful features of any place I have seen in the United States, Switzerland, or Austria for a winter sports resort." Eleven months later Sun Valley Resort opened to international acclaim and Ketchum's future viability was assured. Ketchum features over 40 miles of trails located within a 5-mile radius of town. The marquee walk is the 5-mile Bald Mountain Trail, the trailhead of which is at the end of 3d Avenue at River Run Plaza on the edge of town. The trail crosses numerous ski trails up 3400 feet to an elevation above the tree line at 9151 feet. Not only are dogs allowed on the Bald Mountain Trail, they are welcomed and even catered to. Just past the halfway point up the mountain, in a glade of giant fir trees, is a drinking fountain at the Louis Stur Memorial. There is a spigot to fill a dog bowl and, for neglectful dog owners, a perpetually-filled dog drinking bowl built right into the trail. About the only place dogs are not allowed is on the ski lifts. <<Back To August 2008 Newsletter <<Back To Article Index