HELL’S CANYON JET BOAT RIDE 3/28/08

Scott and I spent a couple of nights in Hell’s Canyon and took a half day jet boat tour below Hells Canyon dam.

http://www.hellscanyonadventures.com/pages/bernard_creek.htm

Mitch was tied up with school, Marilyn thought it was too wet and cold and I couldn’t talk Emily and Kevin in joining us.

 

Monday evening we stayed at Eagle Bar, which was in sight of Hell’s Canyon damn. Across the road was the Red Ledge Mine trail.

Boat docks

 

We got a break on the weather. Tuesday morning it was only 40’ degrees and the clouds were starting to clear. Still decided to wear long johns.

At several of the rapids, they would open the front windows for photo opportunities.

The boat stopped at Benard creek for a look at Indian drawings and a home stead.

The cabin was occupied ~ 1900 by a black smith. It looked like the homesteads you find in the desert, a bit more preserved because of the remoteness.

When we got back to the dam the hatchery trucks were releasing steelhead.

Tuesday night we stayed at Big Bar.

Succor Creek Adventure Ride 3 22 08

Riders – Byron - KTM 950 Kurt - KTM 950 John - KTM 950 Mark - KTM640 Thad - BMW 1200 Loop ~ 225 miles 4 of us met at Rockies at 8AM. We rendezvous’d with Kurt in Homedale. It was a COLD ride down I-84 !

Took some side tracks off of the main Succor Creek road, which ended at the base of the cliffs or at the creek.

Took a short jaunt up the tracks across the bridge at the campground. I’ve been told you can reach Jump Creek Falls on them. They are better suited for thumpers although one probably could ride the big twins on them if you had time.

	Followed a ranch road the looped us back north above the cliffs. It dropped out of cliffs at Devil’s Gate, a grotto with a small water fall. There are a couple of memorials at the base of the falls. I’m surprised the BLM hasn’t removed them.

Took a lunch break, Byron gave us an oral history of Boise – he knows everyone in town.

Then buzzed down the main road to Leslie Gulch.

DAGO GULCH- Freshly graded “non-motorized” road ? Map shows a homestead up the draw. You also can see some mine roads on mountain at the end of the draw.

Mark – Owyhee Reservoir I wonder how far you could make it down the shore.

Birch Creek Ranch – Jordan Craters recon Sunday 3/8/08

I wanted to ride into the Birch Creek Ranch as a recon trip for a spring break destination with the camper & trailer.

Byron was to meet me at my house at 8AM , but he showed up at 7AM. After a cup of coffee he told me it was daylight savings time now.

As we headed out I noticed my front brake wasn’t what it should be, the front end wasn’t diving much less no stopping power.

Turned around and went back to the house. I cleaned the front disk with some solvent, which seemed to fix the issue.

	Riders- Byron Defenbach KLR 650 John Aiton KTM 640 Loop -240-250 miles mostly pavement.

 

 

 

NEWS FLASH- IT’S STILL WINTER IN JORDAN VALLEY! We topped the tanks off in JV. The gal at the Chevron told us it took a couple of days to get the road plowed back to the ranches from a storm earlier this week. She didn’t know is the road was plowed or open all the way to the Craters. The road is gravel & had been plowed by a cat, so the bed was firm. Not sure what the air temp was other than cold. The boys didn’t like you standing up. As we got closer to the crater there was more creeks & water holes. This one was a couple of feet deep and a skim of ice when I rode thru. We decided the next big one we would turn around. We got to within ~ 5miles of crater and decided not to push our luck. It was too cold to be paddling thru the muck & we didn’t know what type of drainage was ahead. Byron liked to hit the water in 3rd. I think he was trying to roost me even though I was in front.

The Succor Creek road was dry. This might be a better spring break choice. A couple on an ATV said there are lots of two tracks to ride, including a loop that takes you to the top & bottom of Jump Creek Falls.

There is a big sign at the park of everything you can’t do in Oregon, including operating a metal detector w/o a permit

 

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

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

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.