SPODE DADDY BOOGIE - WARM SPRINGS 8/29/2015

 

Riders – John , Eric
Loop – 60 miles
Ditto Flats , Drive Way , Dollarhide , MF Warm Springs  , SF Warm Springs , Warfield ,Red Warrior,Mahoney,
Mars Ridge, North Fork Deer Creek , Lick Creek , SF Warm Springs , Willow Creek

First ride in couple of years because of fire closures on the Dollarhide side.

Great day .
We had the mountains almost to ourselves , one other rider , two parked bikes and
five mountain bikers.  
We saw pronghorns, a young buck and huckleberry jam (bear shit).
 

Cherry Creek
As we were getting on the bikes we had a few sprinkles , so I backed my jacket on the fender.
No dust and the trails we great. The Ditto Flat entrance hadn't been ridden, not much more than a cow
trail. 





Eric


Me and a rider we met looking for a bull elk he spotted.

View of Pioneer Mounts  and new wilderness  from Dollarhide Ridge

 

DollarHide looking back toward Ditto Flats.

 Middle Fork Warm Springs

 



 
Top of Warfield



A few miles from the bottom of Warfield  we ran into sheep being herded .


They were on a side hill of shale tailings, totally destroyed the tread . We had to walk the bikes
through the heard.

Mars Ridge connector

South Fork * Willow Creek junction

The Willow Creek ATV trail has had the blowouts repaired and they even plowed off many of the cobbley  
rocks. Upper Willow Creek is still washing with silt , mud and rocks from recent rains.
Don’t know if I would want to camp at the end of the road.

We finished the day off at the Wrangler.
After dinner Eric bought some diesel for me at pumps next door , $2.75/gal. 

PS: Idaho spoils you.
       We question a 124 mile two hour drive to world class trails as too long !

BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN - MAGRUDER ADVENTURE RIDE AUGUST 19TH-23RD

 

 

Loop ~ 1,000 miles

Idaho City>Pinyon Peak > Challis > Twin Peak> Morgan Creek-Panther Creek> Shoup> Darby>
Magruder >Elk City > Riggins> McCall > Yellow Pine > Garden Valley > Boise

Riders : John    KTM 950
                Byron   BMW WC GS1200
                AL          KTM 990
                Chris     KTM 1190R
                Loyal    Husaberg 501

1 flat
2 SFS malfunctions
1 warped rotor
a few loose nuts

Fun ride even though we missed “the window” by a couple of weeks. A electrical fire
moved through an started several fires .

Photos – John , Chris , Loyal

Day 1 Boise – Challis

215 MILES

We rendezvoused at Trudy’s in Idaho City at 8:30 . The ride in was chilly , mid 40’s but the smoke wasn’t too bad.
By the time we finished breakfast the temperature was approaching 60.

We topped off at the Sourdough Lodge on the way to Cape Horn. As we rode up Banner Summit the smoke became worse.

Much of the road at the lower elevation into Pinyon  Lookout is a easy jeep trail. As you climb to the ridges the road is wider and more established.
The lookout employee rides a 4 wheeler in from Cape Horn.

The smoke got worse irritating my eyes , throat and generally making me feel off.

Pinyon Peak LO is 10,000 feet.

Me coming through a switchback.
I had dropped my bike a couple of turns back. I rolled off the throttle in the turn
and the bike died. I waited a few minutes for Byron to help pick up my bike.
I never heard his bike so I had to muscle it back up .
Byron said he had dropped his bike in the first switchback .

 

 

 

Dan is still manning the lookout.
Byron and I met him on last years trip.

 

Switchbacks on the Loon Creek road. Good example of how bad the smoke was.

 

USFS instructions on how to shit in the woods.

 

 

Custer .
Some relief from the smoke. My second ride on the Motorway  neither time I got to see all the sights.
Last year it was raining , this year the smoke. Calls for another trip.





Pioneer Motel in Challis.
Good place to stay . Rooms are comfortable , clean and the owners are helpful .

Mule deer in front lawn on our way to dinner.

=====================================================================


DAY2     CHALLIS- DARBY

237 MILES

 
What really happens on adventure rides ……….
Chris and Loyal were trying to sync radios .

Friday morning had some relief from smoke, but you the Lost River Range was still hidden.



As we approached Twin Peaks the smoke thinned .




The climb up to the look out was spectacular !

Started to climb out of the smoke and see some Idaho skies .

 
Last push to the look out . Byron spun out in some loose shale.

Note all the riding gear on the ground, Evidence of Al’s SFS malfunction.

 

 

Twin Peaks is the tallest Look Out in the west at 10,3000 feet.

 

Chris just too happy !

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way down Al noticed Chris’s panniers were flopping around.

Chris found he has some missing nuts and bolts. He has to scrounge and swap some hardware
to patch it back together. We decided to ride back into Challis for hardware and Loctite.

After Chris completed his repairs we followed HWY93 to Morgan Creek.
Morgan/Panther Creek is a 60 mph dirt & gravel road.  It services ranches and mines.

I wanted to take a side trip to Yellow Jacket,  a ghost town 15 miles off Panther Creek.

 

Yellowjacket Guard Station can be rented for ~ $20 / night. Might be a good option on the next trip.
A couple from Oregon were staying the weekend.

 

Old stamp mill.

 

 

 

Because of the Challis detour we were running behind “schedule” and didn’t have much time for sightseeing.

Soon after we were back on Panther Creek Chris, got a flat.
It looked like a granite shard  pierced the tire. It took Chris a couple of attempts to seal the puncture with a plug.

Middle Fork of the Salmon River on the way to Shoup.

 

Gassing up at Shoup.

We rode along the Middle Fork to Hwy 93 then into Darby.

Darby was full of smoke.

 

Day 3 | Darby – Elk City  Magruder Corridor ~ 190 miles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 4 ELK CITY – RIGGINS 150 MILES