Purple Sage | Grand View 1/22/2016

Loop ~ 60 Miles
Riders – OffRoadRider , Spode Daddy

We both wanted to see what was on “the other side” of Hog Pen Gulch.

Scouting for trails.

The Big Water Fall

We found a trail that took us across Castle Creek toward the Bachman Grade Road.

Mouth of one the canyons on Castle Creek .

 

The trail took us through a neat basin surround by cliffs. Poked around a bit then took the main route
out of the basin.

We followed more single  track that intersected a road. The trail continued across the road , but I was worried
that I was already at the halfway point on gas.



 

We followed the road to the Spiry Place.
The gate was open so I road up to the ranch house and asked for permission to cross the
property. Told the rancher we were exploring and ended up on the wrong side of the fence.
He immediately knew where we had crossed the canyon  and  said OK.

Hog Pen had these Voodoo Hippie trinkets through it, some sort of
Electric Kool-Aid ritual . They were brand new , no weathering .

 

The waterfall was iced up .

If you were an Enduro –X  champ you might could find a line up the rock faces.

Back tracking down Hog Pen my right knee locked up. I might of tweaked it , but don’t
remember doing so. It was hard moving from sitting to standing and back. Probably a bit of cartilage
wadded up in the joint. The rest of the ride back to the trucks was more awkward than normal,
worried about jamming / tearing something and not being able to ride at all.

The big Birch Wash was nice and smooth .
I cruised along ~ 40MPH . About a mile from the trucks I hit reserve .

 

Couldn’t Stand The Weather | Grand View 1/17/2016

 

Riders – David, JimBob, Tim, John

Loop ~ 60 miles

photos – John, Jim Bob , David
video – David

The weather forecast for Sunday looked like a warm , dry lull between storms.
We set up a rendezvous at the Dead Cow wash at 10 am.

Sunday morning the day looked promising  but as we drove to Grand View we could see that the
Snake River was fogged in.  It was thick along HWY78 , I could barely make out the landmarks
and sign posts.  At the wash , ~ a couple of miles off the highway the fog was much lighter but it
was still cold, ~27F.

Jim Bob and David pulled in right behind me said the fog had iced HWY78 past Sinker Creek.



JimBob and Dave’s trek down HWY78.

We took off up McKeeth Wash then hooped over to Vinson Wash.
Vinson had been washed this winter , hardly any tracks and no whoops !
At the top of Vinson we were out of the inversion and had patches of blue skies .

 

 

Side Canyon off of Poison Creek.

Dave talked us into riding up Doyle Mountain.
The trail is rutted with a couple of cobble step ups , then on top the ruts are filled with snow. 

At the saddle intersection on Doyle.

 

 

The decedent down was slick in spots .



 

Birch Creek wash at the bottom of Doyle .

MUD DADDY | MURPHY 1/9/2016

 

 

LOOP ~ 42 MILES

TRAIL BOSS – JIMBOB

RIDERS – JOHN , DAVID

PHOTOS – JOHN, DAVID
VIDEO – DAVID

Jim Bob and David took me on a mud ride.
Kicked my ass . I need to work on my balance so I can keep some speed through the mud.

 

 

 

Jim Bob

On Tiddy Creek there was a south facing slope of bentonite clay. I didn’t keep enough speed to keep
the tires clean. The forks and swing arm packed up and froze the bike.

I had to drag  the bike off the jeep road to a firm spot. I used a pair of light summer gloves to
clean off the bike and tires with my hands. The bike probably still had 50 pounds of clay.

I was spooked the rest of the ride. Riding along a fence line there was 1-2 inches of grease on top
of frozen ground, I poked along in 1st & 2nd gear  . The bike felt like a lead balloon through the greasy frozen whoops. 

A portion of the ride was through a burn from the SODA FIRE , it looked like images from
Mars Rover .