WEEKEND OF “LOVE, PEACE & OPEN TRAILS “ NOV 9, 10 & 11 -2007

Gerald , Keith / Wendy /Maggie and I left work around 3;30 pm Friday. We got to the camping spot around 5 pm.

After a quick dinner we hung around the campfire and listened to the coyotes. Keith told me all about raising cows and pigs in Minnesota and made me drink most of his whiskey.

Saturday morning Owen and Jonathan joined us.

Saturday dirt bike loop ~ 55 miles. I was trail boss, but it was hard when you’re lost, slow & your bike won’t start. I hadn’t ridden the full loop in about 3 years & I was just following at the time. The turns aren’t so obvious. For some reason my electric start did work most the ride.

Jacks creek overlook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hole in the Rock Spring

Looked inviting !

Owen riding thru pillar

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Sunday Dual Sport Ride

John Emory arrived Saturday night with his camp trailer and bike. Bob Sims trailered his bike Sunday morning. Byron rode his KLR from Boise.

It rained all Saturday night and worried it might be too wet. The Owyhee’s has pockets of clay that pack the wheels and sometimes are bottomless

mud holes when soaked . We decide to head own the roads that parallel the highway before we head into the out back. About a half mile from the rigs

John thought he heard a racket from his bike and decided to turn pack & load up.

 

We had a great ride. No dust and the traction was super ! Bob & I clocked 120 miles. Byron said he had 250 miles by the time he got home. Found some fun two tracks that crossed 2-3 miles of lava flows. Nice rocky technical stuff & a couple of creek crossings. Also spotted several other two tracks that need exploring. I sure the ones with the WSA markers go to some neat spots. Bubba (640 ADV) is a great bike for these long distance runs. You can ride almost anything I can do on the 400.

 

The Island

Old ranch ruins.

“The Hat “

Dusting of snow on desert hills

South Fork of Boise fishing trip Saturday 10/20- Sunday 10/21

I took Scott on a short overnighter to the South Fork of the Boise. We left at noon on Saturday and got back Sunday afternoon.

Saturday was windy, wet and cold so we didn’t get much fishing in.

It was even too windy to hang out by the camp fire after dark.
We watched the BSU* La Tech game and Shanghi Noon that night.

 

Sunday morning it was ~ 28’ and a heavy frost.

By 10 it warmed up to 38. I tried a caddis for 2-3 hours. Blue Dunn’s were the reported hatch , but I wanted to use a fly I could see.I got a few small strikes and could spot large trout lying on the bottom.
When I got out I figured out that I had a 5wt line on a 7 wt rod. Not too bad considering I had been on an 8 year hiatus.

2007 LAZY BUTT

FALL 2007 LAZY BUTT Sunday 9/23- Saturday 9/29

A CELEBRATION OF CARBON BASED RECREATION!!!!!!!!!

“DIRT BIKE RIDING (and beer) IS PROOF GOD LOVES MAN”- Ben Franklin 2007

Stats - total miles – 290 (250 + single track /some double track)

Elevation changes – 16 miles!

Base camp - Pole Creek elevation 7500ft

Riders - John Aiton, Scott Moore, Tim Bossart (Mon- Friday)

Jon Doebler – Friday

Fire Marshal – Scott Moore

Scott left Saturday. He spent the day cleaning up the camp site and giving his chain saw a work out.

He also caught up with the Iron Butt crew at Smiley Creek Lodge.

Sunday morning the Iron Butters dropped by Scott’s camp to repair a flat

I left Boise ~ 9:30 Sunday morning. Tim phoned to say he was leaving later and not to wait for him.

I got to camp ~ 1 PM and started setting up during a light snowfall.

Tim arrived a couple of hrs later in the 6 metre.

 

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Monday 9/24

Monday we woke up to a dusting of snow. We could see the hills got quite a bit.

True to our theme we didn’t start the ride until noon! The plan was to ride Grand Prize & Germania then do a quick loop across the highway.

The top of Grand Prize had 3-4 inches of snow. Side hills sure can look different!

Tim dropping out of the snow line.

We crossed the river then on the way down to road we noticed 3 new cattle guards installed on the trail!

I thought Grand Prize was soon to be non-motorized??????? Someone must have some extra money in the budget.

	Tim having a good time at the hot springs!

Germania trail head. Waiting for the horse & mule to get over the rise

Me on lower Germania.

 

This is where “it” happened. May not look the deep, but when you drop off the shore the water almost hit the head light. I did didn’t carry enough speed and fell over. Should have crossed up stream a bit.

Tim helping with the bike. It took about 20-30 minutes to drain the water and get the bike running again. Luckily the mud hole was almost dry!

Not so lucky -- at the next stream crossing Scott dropped his bike! He says I jinxed him.

Gee, I thought I only did this! At least I had deep water.

By the time we got Scott’s bike running the hunter on the horse with the pack mule had caught up to us.

End of the trail. We still have about 10 miles of road back to camp. I still had some bragging rights. I cleaned the big ledge. Tim and Scott paddled the line to the right.

Time to change the oil

 

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TUESDAY - 9/25

MILES -62 ELEVATION CHANGE - 3.1 MILES ROUTE – CROSSED HWY 75 OLD MINE ROAD OUT OF CHEMEKTAN => WEST FORK BIG SMOKEY è SMILEY CREEK TRAIL=> TOOK A RUN UP VIENNA CREEK EXPLORED SIDE CANYONS ON THE WAY BACK TO CAMP

ME & TIM SCOOTING UP THE OLD MINE ROAD

Tim riding up the ridge

Tim & Scott ~9500 ft ridge above the old mine road. Top of Idaho.

UPPER WEST FORK BIG SMOKEY

Switch back & side hill West Fork Big Smokey L on West Fork Big Smokey

At the intersection of Big Smokey we meet another crew climbing up Smiley Creek. They were camped at Baumgartner and ridden Johnson Creek into Smiley Creek lodge. They were also up for the week.

We took a break at the bottom of Vienna Creek next to the mine. I headed up first. I made a personal best, about half way in one run, but still didn’t make it to the top. There weren’t any tracks at the bottom, or any where ups the hill. I had my concerns about what we were getting into.

While I was on the hill, Tim and Scott met Hal. Hal owns Smiley Creek Lodge and the mine. He told them they had a gold star for not cutting across his mine. He was up there to meet with the Forest Service to convince the feds to improve a couple of trails so people would be less tempted to trespass.

After a while Scott & Tim came up the hill. Scott made it past me and got hung up on root. Tim made it up to my spot. After much discussion Tim and

I convinced Scott we didn’t have enough daylight & know idea what we might be getting into.

We spent the rest of the ride exploring old logging roads and different canyons. Lots of neat places and opportunities for more trails.

Scott’s finger from his fall in Germania Creek

Scott turned his trailer into a dry box.

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Wednesday was our rest day 48 miles ( ~15-18 miles of single track) Elevation change 2.6 miles

Lazy butt 07 –CONT

WED 9/26

ROUTE – GERMANIA CREEK => WASHINGTON CREEK TRAIL=>4^TH JULY LAKE => ROADS AND TWO TRACKS BACK.

Washington Creek Trail- Tim & Scott

WASHINGTON LAKE

4^TH OF JULY LAKE – WE MEET A COUPLE OF OLDER GALS WHO HAD HIKED IN FROM PARKING LOT.

The older one told us about her grandson who rides dirt bikes & that she once walked in & out of 4^th July from Pole Creek !

Sheepherders along Valley Creek

Got back to camp early, ~ 4pm.

Sat in the sun, drank beer with chips, bean dip & salsa. Scott and I shot a few rounds through our hand guns.

Tim- Iron Chef / SIDRA Champion / Rock Star - in the “6 METRE”. Tim is quite the cook : Sunday – grilled Pork Loins, fresh mashed potatoes, fresh broccoli Tuesday – shrimp & sausage gumbo Wednesday – Meat loaf , fresh green beans, sautéed red potatoes Usually had Irish whiskey for an appetizer Key for a good ride is to a good cook and someone to get your bike thru the rough stuff.

Thursday was the classic motorcycle ride.

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LAZY BUTT 07 CONT – THURSDAY 9/27

Thursday was the signature ride for the week. A good mix of climbs, technical single track and easy stretches where you could rest.

75 miles Elevation changes 3.4 miles

Wolf tracks upper Big Smoky ========è

Tim on the way to Chemeketan

Me coming thru “the notch” at the top on Snow Slide. The trail has had a lot of work. It actually fairly easy now.

Snow Slide Summit Me and Tim discussing the virtues of trail tires. Various portraits below at Snow Slide Summit.

Snow Slide Lake & camp site. Looks like an old cabin site. This is just below the summit.

Lunch break along South Fork of Boise

Upper Johnson Creek

Ross Creek

Trying to spot where the trail climbs out of the bowel. You can see from the map that it cross the face of the bowel in front of us.

Me and Tim getting thru a tight spot on top of Johnson Creek.

Looking back down Johnson Creek drainage

We dropped over the ridge to Alturas Creek. You can tell the lower potion was an old road plus it had recently been groomed.

I was cruising in 4^th gear, but still couldn’t keep up with Tim and Scott. Once we got to the Hwy 75, we followed the two tracks along the power lines

back to Smiley Creek Lodge. We stopped and called home, then headed to camp.

When we got to camp Doebler was unloading. Jon made us several vodka tonics that evening.

After dinner we watched Sam Peckinpah’s Ride the High Country , this has to be the best western ever.

It’s about growing old, “right & wrong” and the changing WEST.

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LAZY BUTT Fall 07 cont- Friday 9/27

Loop ~ 75 miles Elevation change 4.5 miles

Route – Rainbow Trail => Grand Prize => East Fork of Salmon Road => Livingston Mine => Frog Lake => Boulder Creek => East Fork of Salmon Road => Grand Prize

Just about ready to leave camp. Doebler looks all buffed out! Look’n good!

It was warmer this morning, ~38-40 deg, but the skies look like rain / snow.

	The week is starting to wear on Tim’s nose. Me looking for a band aid.

Traffic jam on Grand Prize

The week was starting to catch up with me too. My hands are beat upped and starting to swell. My “throttle elbow”(tendentious) kept me up most the night. Next years Lazy Butt we need to arrange for an Medical Officer !

	Fuel Transfer for Jon Boy at Frog Lake Trail head.

I found a broken wire on my happy button. A quick repair with red duct tape made me happy!

The wind was picking up and temps were dropping and it looked cloudy on top so we couldn’t talk each other into riding to the top of Rail Road Ridge.

I think we were all a bit tried from a week of riding.

Looking back toward Rail Road Ridge.

Just before the descent into Frog Lake. Castle Peak in background

Tim & Jon above Frog Lake. Me in front of Castle Peak.

Frog Lake

We had lunch at Frog Lake. It was chilly sitting under the tress.

	Side Hill to Willow lake

Views from Boulder Creek

Some weather was starting to roll in , we were tired, so we opted to skip Germania and take Grand Prize back.

I was starting to fade mentally loosing my concentration and having to ride a gear lower.

Tim being fast.

About an hour after getting to camp the rain started.

I decided I was still ahead for week and was not going to ride on Saturday and started packing up my dirty gear and other odds & ends.

The only decision was when to leave on Saturday.

SS

Saturday morning we woke to another dusting of snow. The snow picked up during the morning and didn’t look like it was going to quit. Tim & Jon also decided to pack it in.

Even though no one got to ride double and squeeze their best buddy, it was still a great ride. Really lucky that I ended up in Idaho and knew guys who would help me learn to ride.

Possible destinations for nest year’s Fall Ride : Elk City – we can dirt bike and dual sport the Magruder to Darby.

Saint Maries – Couer D’Alene

Lemhi’s

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