We met Carl at this years SpodeFest.
He emailed us that he wanted to make another trip to Idaho the last week of October or the 1st of November. We wanted to ride Baumgartner since the fires kept us out this summer. Told him we usually get our first winter storms around Halloween and high country can start closing down.
Sure enough the forecast for the southern Sawtooths, Baumgartner, changed to lows of mid teens and highs in the 30’s with snow. Decided Idaho City would be a safer bet.
Then midweek before the ride we got a “surprise” snowstorm in the mountains . 
Our house in Donnelly the Tuesday before the ride. Original forecast was for an inch of snow then rain. We got 6-8 inches. It was a white out from Little Donner to Donnelly. However ,Wednesday the forecasts for Idaho City was looking more promising and it looked like the ride would be back on.
We rode Saturday and Sunday, clocked ~ 120+ miles.
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Saturday we rode north of Hwy 21.
Loop ~ 70 miles
Trail Boss- Boise Bob
Riders – Carl, Phil, Jon, John
The low Saturday morning was ~ 25-26’F and the top layer of dirt was frozen but by 10AM it was nice and tacky.
Bob was working us toward the State Lands near Centerville. At Spanish Forks, ~10 miles / 30 minutes into the ride, Phil rolled up to the intersection and said he was ” hurting and it was bad”.
“ Your Jewels ? “ “ No my ankles”. Said he ripped through a corner and went too fast into a flume and smacked the far side. Must of cased , had his feet on the pegs.
Took him 5-10 minutes to decided to get off the bike.
Carl and I rode back thru Idaho City to get their truck.
When we got back it was obvious the adrenalin was wearing and the pain was increasing.
Jon decided he would drive Phil into St Lukes so Carl could keep riding.
Phil had to be carried to the truck.
Bob lead us over to some of last years race course. It’s a confusing maze of roads, quad trails and single tracks.
I could “keep up” by following the fresh rips in the wet dirt and snow.
We rode “ Sticks & Stones”, “Poop Chute”, “ The Elevator “, “ Twist & Turn”, …..
I never knew where we were, even Bob got turned around.
In between “Sticks & Stones “ and the “ Up the Elevator”.
There was a time when I was prettier than Bob !
The Up Elevator
The end of Twist and Turn
Bob had to transfer some oil from his tranny to the clutch. The last one to two hours a light rain rolled in.
After we got back to the trucks , I decided to ride into town to buy some tooth paste and make some phone calls.
Jon told me Phil had two broken ankles, one was crushed and the other was chipped. He might have surgery on Sunday.
I flagged down Carl as he drove through town and gave him the news. He sounded doubtful that he would make it back for the Sunday ride.
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Saturday night it sounded like it rained all night , but I was able to sleep all the way to 8AM. The low was only 37’F.
It looked like it would only be me and Pat for the Sunday ride. I still had my street clothes on when Pat rode up.
Pat help me decide to put on my warmer gear. I thought it was water proof, but it wasn’t.
As I was about to wrap up when Carl and Jon drove up ! 
Phil was on standby for the surgery and told them to go ride. As Jon was unloading he realized he forgot his helmet bag- no helmet, gloves or goggles . Pat said he had more gear at his house about a mile away. We rode to Pat’s house so Jon could finish gearing up.
The Sunday route would be south of HWY21 and “Short Creek” along the NF of the Boise River.
Loop – 53 miles
Trail Boss – Pat
Riders- Carl, Jon, John
Carl and me on the way to the “ Long Climb”.
Pat , Jon and me.
Spode Daddy in a bit of snow on the ridge trail to the Rabbit Creek saddle.
Top of the “Long Climb”. There was a light steady rain and a slick , snotty climb to the top.
On the ridge to “ Short Creek”. It was wet and snotty.
I rode a gear lower and still was sliding off the trail in the black goo.
Lunch break at the Short Creek intersection.
No tracks on Short Creek, decided it would be too snotty if we had to back track back up and we weren’t looking forward to the off camber trail above the river.
Decided to try the “Meadow Creek ?” trail. Last time I tried it was in 2010, hadn’t been cut and got the impression the FS was trying to close it. The trail is now legal, signed and was cut open. They even re-routed around a nasty root climb.
It was steady rain all the way back to the trucks.
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Original plans were to ride with Phil and Carl on Monday too. Since that wasn’t happening I packed up started back home. I soon figured out that since they put a dump station at the rodeo grounds the one in town was closed.
At the new dump station I removed the sewer cap from the drain. Guess what – the black water valve was open, so much for no spode attacks. They built a nice wide apron the drains into the dump so it was easy to hose down and someone had left a bar of soap out for me.
Monday I visited Phil at St Lukes. He thought he was going home to wait for the swelling to go down before any more surgeries.
Tuesday they booked him on a Delta flight back to Fresno.
Getting all the riding gear cleaned was a chore. Didn’t have a mud fender on the bike so I was plastered at the end of the ride. I found a mud fender in my “pile of plastic”, one on a rear fender David had traded with me.
We have one of those LG “save the climate” washers that doesn’t use water. It wouldn’t rinse all the decomposed granite off the clothes. I had to go thru a tub clean cycle to clean the washer, then read the manual to find the secret code to get more water in the thing. By Tuesday I finally had my clothes cleaned.
