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!

Route of the Hiawatha- Tuesday July 24, 2007

Ok, the Route of the Hiawatha rails-to-trails ride is a little bit out of our area, but we felt the need to get out of town. It was a 5+ hour drive but totally worth it. Camera was not working so you will just have to check the website to see how gorgeous it is up there: http://www.skilookout.com/hiaw/

15 miles of mountain bike trail, going through 10 tunnels and over 7 trestles. Make sure you have a good light on your bike!

Little Mud Creek Loop- Tuesday, July 17

This Tuesday's ride may be my favorite so far. And we didn't even have to drive any where to do it! When our group was all gathered we just headed up Highway 95 to Little Mud Creek Road, approximately 3 miles. This was a little hairy, with the big semi's roaring past, but for the most part drivers were very courteous and slowed down or moved to the other lane to pass us.

At Little Mud Creek we turned off the highway and headed down the gravel road. Before we had gone too far a road maintenance truck passed us coming the other way. He was watering down the dust, which made our ride even more pleasant. We had trees to keep us shaded, and cows for scenery. When the road forked, we took the right hand branch, knowing it would eventually loop around to Kimberland. At this point we lost our nice shade and had a hill to climb. There are more forks in the road along this section, but we kept taking the right-hand branches and eventually were rewarded with a nice mile + long downhill section. There is a barbwire gate near the bottom of this, which could be bad if you were not aware of it.

After we had passed through the gate Gordy closed it after us. We climbed the short hill to the next downhill section, 1 mile to the clubhouse! Here we had a couple of cold beers and a nice swim in the pool. The perfect way to end a ride. Unfortunately we still had 3 miles of hot furnace head wind to get back to the store. Next time I think we will start and end at the pool!
This ride was approximately 14 miles round trip, and sorry, forgot to take pictures.

Ponderosa State Park- Tuesday, July 10

Since our other riders were out of town, we decided to go toodle around Ponderosa State Park.

We parked at the Day Use beach area, and headed down the gravel road to the Lily Marsh parking area, where we caught the Huckleberry Loop trail. The Huckleberry loop is a nice easy loop for hikers & bikers both, but we wanted to try out the mountain bike single track that branches off the huckleberry loop. So at the appropriate little brown bicycle sign, we headed off.
Almost immediately we hit a steep rocky section that I almost was able to ride. Gordy blasted up with no problem, and we both stopped to breath on the more level section. Suddenly we were swarmed by mosquito's! Argg! Must keep riding! Single track, is of course, just that... a narrow, single track. This one weaves in between trees, over roots, up rocks, etc. It was fun and challenging. The hardest part was not sucking in mosquito's when I stopped to catch my breath. At some point the trail comes out onto the road to the Payette Lake overlook, which is a great spot to stop and enjoy the breeze before cruising back to the day use beach. 4 miles round trip, and sorry, no pictures. Here is a link for the park: http://www.idahoparks.org/parks/ponderosa.html