Tuesday loop ride from the shop

With so many of the trails & higher roads still in muck/snow mode, for our first "Tuesday Ride" we opted for a ride out from the shop. Neither of us has really explored the roads in the south end of the valley much, so it was nice to ride somewhere new. We headed south through town until we hit Substation Rd and then hooked up with Walker Lane.

At about 3+ miles, we found ourselves facing 3 gates. 2 of them definitely looked like private property, and the third we just weren't sure about. So we decided to check out the new Walker Ranch Subdivision. A dirt road turns off of Walker and meanders west, eventually connecting to South End Rd. A helpful kiosk with maps tells you "you are here" and which lots are still for sale. It looks like a nice neighborhood, but the clouds of gnats that attacked every time we slowed down kept us moving along. Eventually we hit South End Rd and turned south, continuing onto forest service Rd's. Many of the roads up in this area are still muddy or snow covered, but this will be a great area to explore further this summer. A loop around to Fish Lake would make a great ride.

After we felt we had climbed enough, we turned around and took South End Rd back to the shop. A nice 11 mile loop, perfect for an early season ride.

Gordy's Epic Birthday Ride

Turned out to be not so epic. We drove down to Riggins looking for some sunshine & warmer weather. Our plan was to drive up Big Salmon River Rd, park at a nice picnic-ish area, and then ride bikes up the road from there. Completely forgot about the road construction going on. Turns out there are only select hours you can drive up now, because they are putting in phone lines and plan to make it a 2 lane road. We could go half a mile up the road, with a pilot car, but we opted not to. Progress, eh?

So then we head north of Riggins to FS road 241, heading up towards Cow Creek Saddle. It was beautiful up there.

We parked where the road started to level off, about 6 miles from the highway. Unloaded the bikes and checked out the scenery.

We heard a crashing noise in the brush and looked up to see an elk on the hillside above us. We also kept hearing an odd thumping noise that seemed vaguely familiar. Turns out it was ruffed grouse doing their spring woo-hoo look at me thing. That was very cool to hear. Then we peddled around a corner and saw this:

Arrghh! But Gordy gave it a good try.

Then we went home and had cake. Happy birthday Gordy!