I know it fairly well. A non pilot friend first mentioned it to me about 15 years ago, I had never noticed it, (up a blind canyon like it is) though I have flown the general area for decades. I proceeded to fly into it about a half dozen times or maybe a few more. NEVER saw any activity there whatsoever, planes or people, and I was looking, not really knowing if I'd be welcome or tolerated or not..... I can tell you one thing for sure, probably because of it's canyon location, the snow there never gets wind packed, and a few years ago I had a very tense few moments (seemed like minutes), getting the hell outa there. The next time I dropped in there on the skis, I was really keeping a headsup, so made 2 or 3 passes, packing it down, before coming to a full stop. STILL, I used at least 1,000' to get up and out. No cell coverage back there, FWIW, though the last time I was there, I did get a text, just barely. Once up a ways, on previous rides, the views are national park worthy.
That same last time I was there.... again, no one there, and I secured the S-7 in some trees, and then got the folding e mountain bike out to take what was supposed to be an epic ride. But when I got to the never closed/never noticed before gate, it was closed and locked. This gave me pause, and even if I had had the gonads to lift the 50 pound plus bike over the 5' high gate, all of a sudden I felt like a trespasser, (unlike earlier years) and figured right quick that something had changed, and just as I decided to bag the bike ride and get the heck out of there, I heard something weird.
It was a C-17, flaps and gear down, ghosting over the ridge, pretty obviously getting ready to land at very the recently deceased Joe Clark's "strip" (
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle...bituary-flight.html?ana=yahoo&yptr=yahoopaved, fenced, with a tower, he's had 757's in there), one range over. Pretty sure, but not positive, he may have had the longest private strip in the country. But that's another story. That pretty much made my flight, so I didn't feel bad about the aborted bike ride.
A few days later, I checked in with a pilot friend in the Ketchum area, and he told me that the strip owners had discovered some squatters had broken into one of the cabins and had been living there for a while, and the owners locked it down in response. Damn shame..... I just checked the link, to see how much. Dirt cheap, for what it is, one of a kind.
