2007 LAZY BUTT

FALL 2007 LAZY BUTT Sunday 9/23- Saturday 9/29

A CELEBRATION OF CARBON BASED RECREATION!!!!!!!!!

“DIRT BIKE RIDING (and beer) IS PROOF GOD LOVES MAN”- Ben Franklin 2007

Stats - total miles – 290 (250 + single track /some double track)

Elevation changes – 16 miles!

Base camp - Pole Creek elevation 7500ft

Riders - John Aiton, Scott Moore, Tim Bossart (Mon- Friday)

Jon Doebler – Friday

Fire Marshal – Scott Moore

Scott left Saturday. He spent the day cleaning up the camp site and giving his chain saw a work out.

He also caught up with the Iron Butt crew at Smiley Creek Lodge.

Sunday morning the Iron Butters dropped by Scott’s camp to repair a flat

I left Boise ~ 9:30 Sunday morning. Tim phoned to say he was leaving later and not to wait for him.

I got to camp ~ 1 PM and started setting up during a light snowfall.

Tim arrived a couple of hrs later in the 6 metre.

 

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Monday 9/24

Monday we woke up to a dusting of snow. We could see the hills got quite a bit.

True to our theme we didn’t start the ride until noon! The plan was to ride Grand Prize & Germania then do a quick loop across the highway.

The top of Grand Prize had 3-4 inches of snow. Side hills sure can look different!

Tim dropping out of the snow line.

We crossed the river then on the way down to road we noticed 3 new cattle guards installed on the trail!

I thought Grand Prize was soon to be non-motorized??????? Someone must have some extra money in the budget.

	Tim having a good time at the hot springs!

Germania trail head. Waiting for the horse & mule to get over the rise

Me on lower Germania.

 

This is where “it” happened. May not look the deep, but when you drop off the shore the water almost hit the head light. I did didn’t carry enough speed and fell over. Should have crossed up stream a bit.

Tim helping with the bike. It took about 20-30 minutes to drain the water and get the bike running again. Luckily the mud hole was almost dry!

Not so lucky -- at the next stream crossing Scott dropped his bike! He says I jinxed him.

Gee, I thought I only did this! At least I had deep water.

By the time we got Scott’s bike running the hunter on the horse with the pack mule had caught up to us.

End of the trail. We still have about 10 miles of road back to camp. I still had some bragging rights. I cleaned the big ledge. Tim and Scott paddled the line to the right.

Time to change the oil

 

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TUESDAY - 9/25

MILES -62 ELEVATION CHANGE - 3.1 MILES ROUTE – CROSSED HWY 75 OLD MINE ROAD OUT OF CHEMEKTAN => WEST FORK BIG SMOKEY è SMILEY CREEK TRAIL=> TOOK A RUN UP VIENNA CREEK EXPLORED SIDE CANYONS ON THE WAY BACK TO CAMP

ME & TIM SCOOTING UP THE OLD MINE ROAD

Tim riding up the ridge

Tim & Scott ~9500 ft ridge above the old mine road. Top of Idaho.

UPPER WEST FORK BIG SMOKEY

Switch back & side hill West Fork Big Smokey L on West Fork Big Smokey

At the intersection of Big Smokey we meet another crew climbing up Smiley Creek. They were camped at Baumgartner and ridden Johnson Creek into Smiley Creek lodge. They were also up for the week.

We took a break at the bottom of Vienna Creek next to the mine. I headed up first. I made a personal best, about half way in one run, but still didn’t make it to the top. There weren’t any tracks at the bottom, or any where ups the hill. I had my concerns about what we were getting into.

While I was on the hill, Tim and Scott met Hal. Hal owns Smiley Creek Lodge and the mine. He told them they had a gold star for not cutting across his mine. He was up there to meet with the Forest Service to convince the feds to improve a couple of trails so people would be less tempted to trespass.

After a while Scott & Tim came up the hill. Scott made it past me and got hung up on root. Tim made it up to my spot. After much discussion Tim and

I convinced Scott we didn’t have enough daylight & know idea what we might be getting into.

We spent the rest of the ride exploring old logging roads and different canyons. Lots of neat places and opportunities for more trails.

Scott’s finger from his fall in Germania Creek

Scott turned his trailer into a dry box.

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Wednesday was our rest day 48 miles ( ~15-18 miles of single track) Elevation change 2.6 miles

Lazy butt 07 –CONT

WED 9/26

ROUTE – GERMANIA CREEK => WASHINGTON CREEK TRAIL=>4^TH JULY LAKE => ROADS AND TWO TRACKS BACK.

Washington Creek Trail- Tim & Scott

WASHINGTON LAKE

4^TH OF JULY LAKE – WE MEET A COUPLE OF OLDER GALS WHO HAD HIKED IN FROM PARKING LOT.

The older one told us about her grandson who rides dirt bikes & that she once walked in & out of 4^th July from Pole Creek !

Sheepherders along Valley Creek

Got back to camp early, ~ 4pm.

Sat in the sun, drank beer with chips, bean dip & salsa. Scott and I shot a few rounds through our hand guns.

Tim- Iron Chef / SIDRA Champion / Rock Star - in the “6 METRE”. Tim is quite the cook : Sunday – grilled Pork Loins, fresh mashed potatoes, fresh broccoli Tuesday – shrimp & sausage gumbo Wednesday – Meat loaf , fresh green beans, sautéed red potatoes Usually had Irish whiskey for an appetizer Key for a good ride is to a good cook and someone to get your bike thru the rough stuff.

Thursday was the classic motorcycle ride.

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LAZY BUTT 07 CONT – THURSDAY 9/27

Thursday was the signature ride for the week. A good mix of climbs, technical single track and easy stretches where you could rest.

75 miles Elevation changes 3.4 miles

Wolf tracks upper Big Smoky ========è

Tim on the way to Chemeketan

Me coming thru “the notch” at the top on Snow Slide. The trail has had a lot of work. It actually fairly easy now.

Snow Slide Summit Me and Tim discussing the virtues of trail tires. Various portraits below at Snow Slide Summit.

Snow Slide Lake & camp site. Looks like an old cabin site. This is just below the summit.

Lunch break along South Fork of Boise

Upper Johnson Creek

Ross Creek

Trying to spot where the trail climbs out of the bowel. You can see from the map that it cross the face of the bowel in front of us.

Me and Tim getting thru a tight spot on top of Johnson Creek.

Looking back down Johnson Creek drainage

We dropped over the ridge to Alturas Creek. You can tell the lower potion was an old road plus it had recently been groomed.

I was cruising in 4^th gear, but still couldn’t keep up with Tim and Scott. Once we got to the Hwy 75, we followed the two tracks along the power lines

back to Smiley Creek Lodge. We stopped and called home, then headed to camp.

When we got to camp Doebler was unloading. Jon made us several vodka tonics that evening.

After dinner we watched Sam Peckinpah’s Ride the High Country , this has to be the best western ever.

It’s about growing old, “right & wrong” and the changing WEST.

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LAZY BUTT Fall 07 cont- Friday 9/27

Loop ~ 75 miles Elevation change 4.5 miles

Route – Rainbow Trail => Grand Prize => East Fork of Salmon Road => Livingston Mine => Frog Lake => Boulder Creek => East Fork of Salmon Road => Grand Prize

Just about ready to leave camp. Doebler looks all buffed out! Look’n good!

It was warmer this morning, ~38-40 deg, but the skies look like rain / snow.

	The week is starting to wear on Tim’s nose. Me looking for a band aid.

Traffic jam on Grand Prize

The week was starting to catch up with me too. My hands are beat upped and starting to swell. My “throttle elbow”(tendentious) kept me up most the night. Next years Lazy Butt we need to arrange for an Medical Officer !

	Fuel Transfer for Jon Boy at Frog Lake Trail head.

I found a broken wire on my happy button. A quick repair with red duct tape made me happy!

The wind was picking up and temps were dropping and it looked cloudy on top so we couldn’t talk each other into riding to the top of Rail Road Ridge.

I think we were all a bit tried from a week of riding.

Looking back toward Rail Road Ridge.

Just before the descent into Frog Lake. Castle Peak in background

Tim & Jon above Frog Lake. Me in front of Castle Peak.

Frog Lake

We had lunch at Frog Lake. It was chilly sitting under the tress.

	Side Hill to Willow lake

Views from Boulder Creek

Some weather was starting to roll in , we were tired, so we opted to skip Germania and take Grand Prize back.

I was starting to fade mentally loosing my concentration and having to ride a gear lower.

Tim being fast.

About an hour after getting to camp the rain started.

I decided I was still ahead for week and was not going to ride on Saturday and started packing up my dirty gear and other odds & ends.

The only decision was when to leave on Saturday.

SS

Saturday morning we woke to another dusting of snow. The snow picked up during the morning and didn’t look like it was going to quit. Tim & Jon also decided to pack it in.

Even though no one got to ride double and squeeze their best buddy, it was still a great ride. Really lucky that I ended up in Idaho and knew guys who would help me learn to ride.

Possible destinations for nest year’s Fall Ride : Elk City – we can dirt bike and dual sport the Magruder to Darby.

Saint Maries – Couer D’Alene

Lemhi’s

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SawMill Canyon 9/1 -9/3 2007

Well Scott hit puberty and acted goofy for ~ 36 hours so we didn’t get out of
Boise until late Saturday morning. After ~ 265 miles we finally got into SawMill
around 3pm.

Being late I wasn’t too picky about camp spots, but ended up with a site to
ourselves along Bull Creek. After we got set up I found that another 200 yards
there was a more scenic spot with one other camp but didn’t think it was worth
moving for just two nights.

The Forest Service employee dropped by and introduced his self. Hank was from
Collage Station Texas, retired from prison system. Told him I was from Dallas,
graduated from UT and I thought A&M always looked like a penal institution.
He went back to his truck to get his ticket book !

Didn’t get much riding in other than some old roads & scouting more camp spots.

Most people were camping on the upper end of the canyon from Quigley Creek to
Timber Creek.
I think I would pick a spot along Iron Creek Road, not crowded and pretty clean.

On top of Bear Basin Road I met a hunter in a Polaris ranger that had a small camp
set up. I forget his name (CRS), but he worked at Gowen Field in the Guard for 20
years. He was original from Mississippi and had been scouting the hill side for elk
the last 3 days.

Still worked out to be a nice trip, a good shake down with the camper and no
problems with the truck. Plus my luck may be changing, when I was backing the
trailer into its spot at the house I heard the left tire hissing when went to unhook
from the truck. Usually this happens on I-84 at 75 mph in the dark !

POLE CREEK / GRAND PRIZE 8/10-8/12/07

 

Took off work around noon Friday and left the house ~ 2pm. We stopped at the Boise Stage for lunch (which may have been a mistake for me.

Saturday morning I had to make several emergency donations to the John Marvel Water Shed Project). I lost count of all the Lear Jet greenies as we drove past the Sun Valley airport. Pulled into the camp spot ~ 6:30 PM. Gerald was just getting his trailer set up. I set up next to the creek again.

Owen arrived ~ 9:30- 10 pm. Scott had to fill in the gaps on THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, had to know who was selling the repeaters to the Indians !

THE ROUTE - RAINBOW TRAIL =>GRAND PRIZE GULCH => EAST FORK OF SALMON RIVER & BACK ~ 38 MILES

“THANK YOU JOHN MARVEL !” ALWAYS DRAWS A SMILE.

JORDON & SCOTT

OWEN, SCOTT & JORDON

SCOTT & JORDON DROPPING INTO THE EAST FORK OF THE SALMON RIVER DRAINAGE

TAKING A BREAK AT THE TURN AROUND POINT

	EAST FORK OF THE SALMON

All the boys did good riding in. Scott got tired and fluster on the way back went over the handle bars once, bobbled on a few rocks and limb pull him off his bike. But he stuck with it and rode all the way back with a little bet of help.

Late Saturday afternoon the rest of crew rode up to the mines. Scott and I tried our luck fishing in Pole Creek, but got skunked.

Sunday morning Scott 7 I did a 4-5 mile bicycle ride to Grand Prize trail head & back. We started back home about 11am.

Jordan Valley / Succor Creek Dual Sport 7/15/07

 

Stats John Aiton - 640adv

Byron Defenbach - Vstrom 650

Miles 230

Rolling time 5:30 hrs /min

Total Time 8:20 hrs/min

Max speed – 75mph (dirt & pavement)

Original plan was to take Whiskey Mt Road out Reynolds to Jordon Creek. It tops out ~7,000-7,500 ft. Every other time I’ve taken the route we see deer and elk and you pass through an alpine meadow on top and head waters of Succor Creek . Saturday evening Byron called and said his battery on the KLR was dead. What to know if I still wanted to go or could he take his Vstrom? Of course I wanted to go we could re-route through Silver City

and stay on maintained roads.

We left my house ~ 7:15. Had to make a pit stop in Kuna, and then spent 10-15 minutes at Dan’s Ferry Service to see if there were any other takers.

We still made it into Jordan Valley by ~10AM. It was great morning overcast, temps in the 70’s and a sprinkle of rain near Silver City.

And the gal at the Chevron in JV was actually pleasant (but I don’t remember if this was the nice one or mean one)!

We breakfast at the JV Café and were back on the road by 11:30. There was 2-3 fire camps set up in town.

We took the Hwy 95 north to the Succor Creek turn off.

This portion of Succor Creek is a maintain road thru wide open vista’s. You can top out in the straights ~ 75mph.

ROCKVILLE SCHOOL HOUSE

We rode about halfway down Leslie Gulch to Dago Gulch

Dago Gulch (doesn’t seem very PC does it?) I need to see how far I can ride down this road.

Just as we turned around to head back to Succor Creek CG we spotted Big Horn Sheep along the road. They were pretty tame, you get right under them.

Just as we exited Leslie Gulch my let boot felt cool and wet and I hadn’t crossed an creeks ! I looked down and saw gas streaming from the tank.

The cross over hose had come loose and I was spilling gas from both sides.

The clip and hose had worked loose, probably a good application for safety wire.

Trail side repair. (Looks like I’m due another haircut)

I wanted to get to Succor Creek camp ground so I could wash off my boot and sock in the creek. It was about 10-15 miles away.

Along the way there was only mucky looking ditch water and after about 10 minutes my left foot started “burning” ( no it wasn’t on fire).

At the campground I took my boot off and soaked my foot, sock and boot in the creek. The creek still had some flow and was clean.

After I washed my foot I could see the skin was blistering and I lost a spot of skin about the size of a half dollar. Byron had a 1st aid kit (made in China ) with some gauze and ointment. We spent a few minutes letting my sock and foot air out And talking to a another rider, Mike, who was at the camp ground, the stinging sub sided . I swapped socks ( right & left) and the 3 of us headed to Homedale. Besides extra underwear, I need to start packing extra socks and first aide kit.

Byron & I missed “got lost” and missed our turn in Homedale and ended up on the out skirts of Parma before we caught Hwy26 to I84.

Who owns that big ranch / horse farm between Homedale & Parma ????

I84 on Bubba was chore, he can do 65-75 mph but doesn’t have any oomph left for high-speed passing like Major Kong does.

Bubba might need to go a tooth bigger on the counter sprocket. I could keep up with Byron. At the Meridian exit my fuel light came on so I pulled off.

I wonder how much fuel I dumped.

FALL CREEK CAMP OUT 6/22-6/24, 07

Took Scott and Jimmy to the TVTMA Fall Creek Camp Out.

We left Boise ~ 9:45 Friday morning ,of course we had to have breakfast at the Boise Stage Stop. Got back on the highway ~ 11am.

On the way in we drove around the Anderson Ranch on the one lane road above the lake. Being early we only encountered 3 cars traveling the opposite direction and each time we were at a pull out ,with more traffic it would be slow going.

Got to the Talley Creek camp spot ~ 2pm . Wasn’t sure where the group was going to set up camp , but found a nice shady spot I could back the

motorhome into. The temp was ~ 87-88 under the trees.

By 3pm we had all essentials set up and the boys found the creek right behind camp. They spent an hour riding bikes. Later we for a 15 mile dirt bike ride following two tracks and a couple of short single tracks. They set up a dirt ramp to “jump” the bicycles , waded in the creek and had pine cone fights. The rest of the group started showing up around 5pm and were setting up camp in a tighter grove of trees about a 100 yds away. We had steak , beans & salad for dinner. Then took bets on what the low would be in the morning.

Saturday morning the low was 47’. We slept in to 7:30. I made scrambled eggs , bacon and toast. By 9 we started dressing up for ride. I decided to take the boys on the intermediate ride with Jack Grover & Becky Mandern. Becky offered to watch the boys so I could go the “Big Ride”, but I decided to stay with the boys. We rode the upper half of Camp Creek => Bear Hole =>Trinity Mt Road=> ATV trails back to Talley creek. About 20-25 mile loop around Red Mountain. Started out with 9 riders : Jack, Becky, Rachel Frisbe, Scott, Jimmy, Mark Johnston & his 2 kids, and myself. After we got on Camp Creek ,Mark decide it might be bit much for his two so he headed back. Camp Creek quickly turned into a series of side hills and ridge lines. Scott and Jimmy did great. No crying or cuss words ! Don’t think Scott said 6 words the whole ride, but he rode through every thing. Only hesitated at one creek crossing, but after I pointed out the line he rode through with no problems. He even cleaned a “reroute” side hill / rock climb around a down tree. Jimmy then stared across the creek, lost his balance, grabbed a handful of throttle and took a left turn down the creek bed and disappeared behind the bushes. He was shook up but other wise ok. Jack and I had to push his bike back on the trail because the chain got knocked off. The boys had a snack and rested while we worked on the bike.

Camp Creek terrain

Bear Hole terrain

Scott and Jimmy taking a breather after Jimmy’s swim.

Rachel had a head on with a rider while we were making our way up serious of switch backs. She said she was ok , but was mad because the middle rider didn’t signal there was another bike behind him.

We got back to camp around 2pm. I wish I took more pictures, it was a great day ! Jimmy was pooped so he took a nap after we had lunch.

They played around camp the rest of the afternoon and evening. I loaded up the trailer so we could leave after breakfast in the morning.

Around 8pm most of the “Big Ride” still wasn’t back, but I didn’t give it much thought, but latter I decide I was glad went on the chick / kid ride.

BIG RIDE REPORT

" A short story by Tom Bithell"

· Nine of us started the ride, which was to be an Intermediate/Advanced ride: Brett Madron, Steve Frisbee, Verick Bach, Troy Cobbley, Cody Grover, Andreas and his sons Austin and Aaron (13 and 16), and myself.

· It was a planned 65 mile loop. Our first mistake was riding the known trails and saving the unknown, unridden-for-years trails, for the second-half of the ride.

· The first 35 miles were awesome trails in beautiful country. Nine of us made it to the half way point, but Cody Grover got a hole in his radiator, so he and Andreas took a forest road back. It was the last forest road we’d have the opportunity to take for a long, long time. That left seven of us to continue on. It was around 4pm at this point with about 30 miles left. We felt like we’d be back to camp by 7 or 8pm, no problem.

· We dropped down Sheep Mountain trail and started up the Sheep Creek trail. That is where the trouble started. I didn’t know it at the time, but in reflection, we crossed through the gates of hell about 1 mile up that trail. That is where we should have turned around, rode back to the last FS road and gone home. The trail followed a creek up a deep canyon. A forest fire had gone through there a few years ago and really hammered the trail. We hit a section where the trail washed out and we had to cross the creek twice. This was a big, wide, rocky creek and we had to help one another across to make sure no one dropped their bike.

· We continued on from there but the next two miles took us three hours to ride because it was a gnarly, brushy trail and we had to cut a tree here and there to get through. We also had to do some pushing over rocks and dragging bikes back on the side hill trail. Troy and I were riding at the rear with the kids. I was already tired from man-handling my own bike, but we were having to help the kids over everything too, so it was exhausting. Thank God we had water filters because we drank way more water than we packed.

· We hoped once we got out of the valley and up on a ridge we’d get to the next trail junction and find it better travelled and make up time. I still hadn’t given up hope on making it back before dark, but the doubt was growing in the back of my mind. By this time we knew we’d past the point of no return. If we tried to ride all the way back we’d have people running out of gas and it would be dark before we got to a forest road. So we were forced to ride on and hope the trail got better so we could make it to Trinity Ridge road before dark. We also stopped cutting every fallen tree to save time. If we could ride around them or over them we did.

· It was somewhere in here the 16 year old Aaron said to me, “I can’t go much farther, I don’t have much left.” I told him, “dude, we got no choice. We’re twenty miles from anything.”

· The trail got a little better and our time picked up, but Trinity Ridge road was further than it looked on the map or GPS. At the last trail junction when we hit Lava Mountain trail it was around 9pm and we knew we had less than an hour of light. By our best calculations we had seven miles to the road. We were hoping it was the best seven miles of trail and we’d just make it as the sun went down. By this time, though, I knew we were screwed and would not make the road before dark. This was about the time I started asking God for a little help.

· Nonetheless we pushed on. The light steadily faded as we crossed a few more ridges and before you knew it we were riding in the dark. Frisbee stopped in a valley below North Star lake to check our bearing. By now Frisbee was leading and I was behind him. I had Madron switch positions with me so he could help the kids over every obstacle for awhile. We were really hoping around the next ridge would be the road, and that we had only had a couple of miles to go.

· This is where the bad news started compounding. When Bach and Madron caught up with us, they told us that Austin had crashed and broke his headlight. They left his bike behind and Verick was riding him on the back of his bike. Madron and Aaron had the only two-strokes and Aaron was on reserve already with Madron also low. We started going up the ridge (hoping it was the last one) and Aaron ran out of gas. Now we were down two bikes.

· Still thinking (hoping) it was only a couple of miles to the road we decided to have the kids keep walking. Troy would stay with them on his bike. Should they get too tired or need to stop he said he had a lighter to start a fire. It was a mistake for us not to clarify what provisions Troy really had, because it turned out he didn’t have matches or a lighter, or anything significant besides food and water. A mistake because the rest of us had fire starter and solar blankets. Now it was a cool night in the forties and it was chilly. Our feet were wet because we had been in and out of creeks, and we only had riding shirts on because it had been a hot day.

· The rest of us were going to keep riding and try to make it home, then send back a rescue squad. Of course as soon as we started up the ridge, it turned nasty. There was a 10-star uphill section and we had to help push each other’s bike uphill, over a boulder. After that there was still more rocky uphill in the dark. It’s pitch dark and you can see like three feet of trail in front of your fender. I was real tired, trying to get out uninjured, praying for the trail to get easier and for us to make it out, but really losing hope we would.

· After we made it up the nasty ridge, the trail got a little better. We came to Smith Creek Lake at about 11:20pm. There we found two trails leaving. We weren’t sure which was the right trail. There happened to be a couple of backpackers camping in a tent there. We figured we had already woke them up with the bike noise, so we went and asked them what was the right trail. The guy told us which trail to take and that it was 3.5 miles to the road. Then he throws in, “but it’s a pretty nasty trail.” After hearing that I proposed building a fire and staying the night. Then we could get the other three guys and hang together until the sun came up. Since we were close to getting out, the other guys wanted to keep riding to get help back at camp.

· So Madron, Frisbee, Bach and myself, rode on. Madron has an RM250 that doesn’t have a headlight, so he rode between us. We rode in as tight a formation as you’ll ever see, pretty much 1^st gear all the way. The trail had its’ moments, but thank God it wasn’t as bad as the guy made it sound or as bad as the stuff we’d already rode in the dark. There was one major fallen tree that we had to lift all four bikes over, yet another exhausting task on top of uncountable others. Finally, though, we made the road. I was never so happy to see a forest road in my life! It was still 9 miles to ride to camp, but it was finally a sure thing. Madron ran out of gas half-way and then rode on the back of my bike the rest of the way to camp. We got to camp about 1:15am and told those still awake what was had happened. Andreas and a guy named Kevin loaded some backpacks and hopped in the truck to drive to the trailhead. They planned to hike in until they found the other three.

· Meanwhile, the other three - Austin, Aaron and Troy - had not walked all the way to Smith Creek Lake before they decided to hunker down until sunup. That’s where Troy finds out he doesn’t have a lighter or matches. By the grace of God someone had left a sleeping bag out there, in the middle of forest, on the side of the trail and they stumbled upon it. That is probably the only thing that kept them from getting hypothermia. Andreas and Kevin did not find them until about 6am, but they were fine. We sent a crew of bikes up at about 8am with gas and whatnot to get the two abandoned bikes. Everything and everyone was recovered successfully by early afternoon.

The End

RANDOM DIRTBIKE TIP
We had some people spend the night this last week in the woods without some essential gear.  Here is a list to help.  I put a lot of these items into a Nalgene bottle wich also serves to transfer gas,  Heat water, and has some other nifty uses as well. 

Pack the "Essentials" and be prepared for minor injuries, sudden weather changes or delays. The following are items you should include in your pack:

• Candle
• Clothing (always bring something warm, extra socks, and rain gear)
• Compass
• First aid kit
• Food (bring extra)
• Flashlight
• Foil (to use as a cup or signaling device)
• Hat
• Insect repellent
• Map
• Nylon filament
• Pocket knife
• Pocket mirror (to use as a signaling device)
• Prescription medications for ongoing medical conditions
• Radio with batteries
• Space blanket or a piece of plastic (to use for warmth or shelter)
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Trash bag (makes an adequate poncho)
• Water
• Waterproof matches or matches in a waterproof tin
• Water purification tablets
• Whistle (to scare off animals or to use as a signaling device

FALL CREEK CAMP OUT 6/22-6/24, 07

Took Scott and Jimmy to the TVTMA Fall Creek Camp Out.

We left Boise ~ 9:45 Friday morning ,of course we had to have breakfast at the Boise Stage Stop. Got back on the highway ~ 11am.

On the way in we drove around the Anderson Ranch on the one lane road above the lake. Being early we only encountered 3 cars traveling the opposite direction and each time we were at a pull out ,with more traffic it would be slow going.

Got to the Talley Creek camp spot ~ 2pm . Wasn’t sure where the group was going to set up camp , but found a nice shady spot I could back the

motorhome into. The temp was ~ 87-88 under the trees.

By 3pm we had all essentials set up and the boys found the creek right behind camp. They spent an hour riding bikes. Later we for a 15 mile dirt bike ride following two tracks and a couple of short single tracks. They set up a dirt ramp to “jump” the bicycles , waded in the creek and had pine cone fights. The rest of the group started showing up around 5pm and were setting up camp in a tighter grove of trees about a 100 yds away. We had steak , beans & salad for dinner. Then took bets on what the low would be in the morning.

Saturday morning the low was 47’. We slept in to 7:30. I made scrambled eggs , bacon and toast. By 9 we started dressing up for ride. I decided to take the boys on the intermediate ride with Jack Grover & Becky Mandern. Becky offered to watch the boys so I could go the “Big Ride”, but I decided to stay with the boys. We rode the upper half of Camp Creek => Bear Hole =>Trinity Mt Road=> ATV trails back to Talley creek. About 20-25 mile loop around Red Mountain. Started out with 9 riders : Jack, Becky, Rachel Frisbe, Scott, Jimmy, Mark Johnston & his 2 kids, and myself. After we got on Camp Creek ,Mark decide it might be bit much for his two so he headed back. Camp Creek quickly turned into a series of side hills and ridge lines. Scott and Jimmy did great. No crying or cuss words ! Don’t think Scott said 6 words the whole ride, but he rode through every thing. Only hesitated at one creek crossing, but after I pointed out the line he rode through with no problems. He even cleaned a “reroute” side hill / rock climb around a down tree. Jimmy then stared across the creek, lost his balance, grabbed a handful of throttle and took a left turn down the creek bed and disappeared behind the bushes. He was shook up but other wise ok. Jack and I had to push his bike back on the trail because the chain got knocked off. The boys had a snack and rested while we worked on the bike.

Camp Creek terrain

Bear Hole terrain

Scott and Jimmy taking a breather after Jimmy’s swim.

Rachel had a head on with a rider while we were making our way up serious of switch backs. She said she was ok , but was mad because the middle rider didn’t signal there was another bike behind him.

We got back to camp around 2pm. I wish I took more pictures, it was a great day ! Jimmy was pooped so he took a nap after we had lunch.

They played around camp the rest of the afternoon and evening. I loaded up the trailer so we could leave after breakfast in the morning.

Around 8pm most of the “Big Ride” still wasn’t back, but I didn’t give it much thought, but latter I decide I was glad went on the chick / kid ride.

BIG RIDE REPORT

" A short story by Tom Bithell"

· Nine of us started the ride, which was to be an Intermediate/Advanced ride: Brett Madron, Steve Frisbee, Verick Bach, Troy Cobbley, Cody Grover, Andreas and his sons Austin and Aaron (13 and 16), and myself.

· It was a planned 65 mile loop. Our first mistake was riding the known trails and saving the unknown, unridden-for-years trails, for the second-half of the ride.

· The first 35 miles were awesome trails in beautiful country. Nine of us made it to the half way point, but Cody Grover got a hole in his radiator, so he and Andreas took a forest road back. It was the last forest road we’d have the opportunity to take for a long, long time. That left seven of us to continue on. It was around 4pm at this point with about 30 miles left. We felt like we’d be back to camp by 7 or 8pm, no problem.

· We dropped down Sheep Mountain trail and started up the Sheep Creek trail. That is where the trouble started. I didn’t know it at the time, but in reflection, we crossed through the gates of hell about 1 mile up that trail. That is where we should have turned around, rode back to the last FS road and gone home. The trail followed a creek up a deep canyon. A forest fire had gone through there a few years ago and really hammered the trail. We hit a section where the trail washed out and we had to cross the creek twice. This was a big, wide, rocky creek and we had to help one another across to make sure no one dropped their bike.

· We continued on from there but the next two miles took us three hours to ride because it was a gnarly, brushy trail and we had to cut a tree here and there to get through. We also had to do some pushing over rocks and dragging bikes back on the side hill trail. Troy and I were riding at the rear with the kids. I was already tired from man-handling my own bike, but we were having to help the kids over everything too, so it was exhausting. Thank God we had water filters because we drank way more water than we packed.

· We hoped once we got out of the valley and up on a ridge we’d get to the next trail junction and find it better travelled and make up time. I still hadn’t given up hope on making it back before dark, but the doubt was growing in the back of my mind. By this time we knew we’d past the point of no return. If we tried to ride all the way back we’d have people running out of gas and it would be dark before we got to a forest road. So we were forced to ride on and hope the trail got better so we could make it to Trinity Ridge road before dark. We also stopped cutting every fallen tree to save time. If we could ride around them or over them we did.

· It was somewhere in here the 16 year old Aaron said to me, “I can’t go much farther, I don’t have much left.” I told him, “dude, we got no choice. We’re twenty miles from anything.”

· The trail got a little better and our time picked up, but Trinity Ridge road was further than it looked on the map or GPS. At the last trail junction when we hit Lava Mountain trail it was around 9pm and we knew we had less than an hour of light. By our best calculations we had seven miles to the road. We were hoping it was the best seven miles of trail and we’d just make it as the sun went down. By this time, though, I knew we were screwed and would not make the road before dark. This was about the time I started asking God for a little help.

· Nonetheless we pushed on. The light steadily faded as we crossed a few more ridges and before you knew it we were riding in the dark. Frisbee stopped in a valley below North Star lake to check our bearing. By now Frisbee was leading and I was behind him. I had Madron switch positions with me so he could help the kids over every obstacle for awhile. We were really hoping around the next ridge would be the road, and that we had only had a couple of miles to go.

· This is where the bad news started compounding. When Bach and Madron caught up with us, they told us that Austin had crashed and broke his headlight. They left his bike behind and Verick was riding him on the back of his bike. Madron and Aaron had the only two-strokes and Aaron was on reserve already with Madron also low. We started going up the ridge (hoping it was the last one) and Aaron ran out of gas. Now we were down two bikes.

· Still thinking (hoping) it was only a couple of miles to the road we decided to have the kids keep walking. Troy would stay with them on his bike. Should they get too tired or need to stop he said he had a lighter to start a fire. It was a mistake for us not to clarify what provisions Troy really had, because it turned out he didn’t have matches or a lighter, or anything significant besides food and water. A mistake because the rest of us had fire starter and solar blankets. Now it was a cool night in the forties and it was chilly. Our feet were wet because we had been in and out of creeks, and we only had riding shirts on because it had been a hot day.

· The rest of us were going to keep riding and try to make it home, then send back a rescue squad. Of course as soon as we started up the ridge, it turned nasty. There was a 10-star uphill section and we had to help push each other’s bike uphill, over a boulder. After that there was still more rocky uphill in the dark. It’s pitch dark and you can see like three feet of trail in front of your fender. I was real tired, trying to get out uninjured, praying for the trail to get easier and for us to make it out, but really losing hope we would.

· After we made it up the nasty ridge, the trail got a little better. We came to Smith Creek Lake at about 11:20pm. There we found two trails leaving. We weren’t sure which was the right trail. There happened to be a couple of backpackers camping in a tent there. We figured we had already woke them up with the bike noise, so we went and asked them what was the right trail. The guy told us which trail to take and that it was 3.5 miles to the road. Then he throws in, “but it’s a pretty nasty trail.” After hearing that I proposed building a fire and staying the night. Then we could get the other three guys and hang together until the sun came up. Since we were close to getting out, the other guys wanted to keep riding to get help back at camp.

· So Madron, Frisbee, Bach and myself, rode on. Madron has an RM250 that doesn’t have a headlight, so he rode between us. We rode in as tight a formation as you’ll ever see, pretty much 1^st gear all the way. The trail had its’ moments, but thank God it wasn’t as bad as the guy made it sound or as bad as the stuff we’d already rode in the dark. There was one major fallen tree that we had to lift all four bikes over, yet another exhausting task on top of uncountable others. Finally, though, we made the road. I was never so happy to see a forest road in my life! It was still 9 miles to ride to camp, but it was finally a sure thing. Madron ran out of gas half-way and then rode on the back of my bike the rest of the way to camp. We got to camp about 1:15am and told those still awake what was had happened. Andreas and a guy named Kevin loaded some backpacks and hopped in the truck to drive to the trailhead. They planned to hike in until they found the other three.

· Meanwhile, the other three - Austin, Aaron and Troy - had not walked all the way to Smith Creek Lake before they decided to hunker down until sunup. That’s where Troy finds out he doesn’t have a lighter or matches. By the grace of God someone had left a sleeping bag out there, in the middle of forest, on the side of the trail and they stumbled upon it. That is probably the only thing that kept them from getting hypothermia. Andreas and Kevin did not find them until about 6am, but they were fine. We sent a crew of bikes up at about 8am with gas and whatnot to get the two abandoned bikes. Everything and everyone was recovered successfully by early afternoon.

The End

RANDOM DIRTBIKE TIP
We had some people spend the night this last week in the woods without some essential gear.  Here is a list to help.  I put a lot of these items into a Nalgene bottle wich also serves to transfer gas,  Heat water, and has some other nifty uses as well. 

Pack the "Essentials" and be prepared for minor injuries, sudden weather changes or delays. The following are items you should include in your pack:

• Candle
• Clothing (always bring something warm, extra socks, and rain gear)
• Compass
• First aid kit
• Food (bring extra)
• Flashlight
• Foil (to use as a cup or signaling device)
• Hat
• Insect repellent
• Map
• Nylon filament
• Pocket knife
• Pocket mirror (to use as a signaling device)
• Prescription medications for ongoing medical conditions
• Radio with batteries
• Space blanket or a piece of plastic (to use for warmth or shelter)
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Trash bag (makes an adequate poncho)
• Water
• Waterproof matches or matches in a waterproof tin
• Water purification tablets
• Whistle (to scare off animals or to use as a signaling device