THE LONE “OTM”– SHAKE CREEK => ATLANTA => WILLOW CREEK 7/19 /2014

(OTM = OTHER THAN MOUNTAIN HOMER )

Loop ~ 55 miles ( 4 bonus miles trying to find trail head out of Atlanta)
        Shake Creek , Trail Creek , Atlanta , Grouse Creek, Decker Creek , Willow Creek

Trail Boss – Al
Riders – Chris , John

Photos – John , Chris, Al

Great ride , first time Chris and I did this loop.

I met Chris and Al in Mountain Home and we carpooled to the Shake Creek trailhead.
The trailhead parking was tighter than Al remembered , but he did an impressive job backing the trailer to get the rig turned around.

Just as we were about to start the ride Al noticed my rear tire was flat. I parked the bike over a rock , pulled the wheel . We got the tube out , but couldn’t find any leaks. Remounted the tube and tire , no issues the rest of the ride.
It must have been a sticky valve.

Sheep on lower Shake Creek.

Shake Creek is a fun , fun trail.  The single track is about 15 miles long.

 

Me on Shake Creek

 

Shake Creek Summit

Meadow along Trail Creek

View into Atlanta

Rest stop on Trail Creek.   Just above this Chris smashed his toes on log. I hit the same log with my forks , but stayed on the trail.

Beaver Lodge in Atlanta where we had lunch.

 

 

It took a bit of searching , but we eventually found the Grouse Creek trailhead.
Grouse Creek is an ATV trail that was still fun ride on the bike.

 

 

Side hill on Decker Creek

 

Chris and I taking a breather after a climb up Decker Creek, we were both huffing & puffing

Al didn’t break sweat .

Decker Creek Summit

Willow Creek drainage .  The top had a couple of miles of rutted , switched back trails filled with bowling ball size rocks.  I paddled down through them having to stop every few hundred yards to rest.

About midway down the trail I managed to drop my bike in two shallow but slick creek crossings. The upside is the water cooled my down.

Me in the creek bed, I was tired and stupid , went to dab and stuck my foot in hole , fell in the deepest spot.

Chris grabbed too much front brake and slid off the trail. We had to tie off the rear , then we double teamed the front back on the trail.  We were only a couple of miles to the end of the trail !

Why does the 1% have 99% of the Single Tracks ? Silver Creek 7/12/2014

 

Trail Boss – Brian
Riders        - John

Loop 35 miles , felt like 60 in the heat. It was 80 in the shade on the ridges and 95 in the valleys .

Long Fork of Silver Creek , Bitter Creek , Deadwood Road , Habit Creek , Peace Creek
1st time I rode this loop.

 

 

Long Fork Silver Creek is lush and green. It felt like a more technical single track I’ve ridden so far this year, but it really is about like the NF of Lime Creek . I was in 1st and 2nd gear the whole 15 miles.

After a tight technical section I was rolling through a hair pin turn that had a mud hole with a few roots right after it.
Don’t know what happened but I bonked on the roots , rolled backwards and high sided . I slid down hill almost to the creek but the bike stayed on the trail , upside down but on the trail. I tied the foot peg off to a root and tried to press the bike up on the trail. I couldn’t get a good foothold on the side hill. So I decided to wait for Brain to help me.
After about 30 minutes no Brian,  there must have been a fast section ahead & he was a ways down the trail or maybe he was in trouble his self.
I tied the strap to the rear wheel then dragged the handle bars up hill to where I could get better leverage to lift the bike upright. Just after I got the bike back and was getting all my gear back on Brian rolls up. Turns out he was just about a half mile down the trail.

The next ride I’ll take some better help !

I also managed to get stuck on the last bit of snow on the trail , that I could of ridden around.

Top of Bitter Creek descent to the Deadwood river.

Bitter Creek was a gnarly descent, much of it I coasted and paddle through, I wouldn’t want to climb it.

Brian crossing the Deadwood, it was a little deeper than it looked with slick moss covered rocks.
We caught up to three other riders who just crossed. I’ve seen a couple of them on the trails the last couple of years. One of them lives in Cascade riding a Honda 230 with a big ass saw on the back. He said they started a Round Valley taking Web Foot over East Mountain.

Tranquil Basin from Habit Creek

                                                                                           Top of Peace Creek

 

Peace Creek where the water fall washed out the trail.

The trail crews did a good job repairing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peace Creek Trail Head , if I was thinking I would of soaked in Silver Creek before I got in my street clothes.