Steve went hunting on Warm Springs the prior weekend, said they were pushing 6-8 inches of snow.
After the storm we had a week of warm weather and the SNOTEL for Dollarhide even showed warm temps
and 1-2” of snow left.
The ride was on !
I had mapped out an awesome route – Ditto Flats,The Secret Trail, Dollarhide Ridge , Middle Fork, South Fork, Warfield, Red Warrior, Mahoney, Green Horn, Howards, Deer Creek, Poison Flats, Warm Springs- We were going to do 70-80 miles on the last hurrah in the mountains !
Riders – IdaSpode , Spode Daddy
Loop- 55 miles / Avg - 13 mph
We got turned around twice by snow on north slope side hills.
David at the top of the “ Secret Trail “. Warm Springs drainage & Pioneer Mountains in the background.
Middle Fork intersection
The ride down Middle Fork was fun.
We were the first tracks thru the snow and the traction was really good.
Snow was firm not icy and no frozen mud !
Surprisingly at the bottom there was even more snow along the drainage. 
South Fork Trail Head
Lower South Fork trail
The plan was to ride to the Warfield intersection and decide if we wanted to ride down Warfield to the road
or continue over to Red Warrior.
It was a short ride, we hit our 1st snowed in side hill.
We walked up and scouted the trail. No tracks , snow was firm but it was high consequences if you went off.
We decided we would have a better ride if we re-routed.
David rolled some boulders down the cliff
Great views !
Remember a vote For Global Warming is a vote for a longer riding season.
Lunch along the South Fork trail. It was warm sitting in the sun.
North Fork Deer Creek had a couple of down trees and stretches of frozen mud where all of the sudden
you would see your rear wheel swinging in front of you.
Mars Ridge looking north east.
Mars ridge was clear for the most part, then we could see another snow covered side hill in the distance.
Saw some “animals” which were hunters on horseback with their pack train.
They were climbing up the ridge avoiding the side hill .
There were no bike tracks in snow on the side hill where we stopped and looked like an alternative route down a steeper rocky face.
Being seasoned Spodes we still weren’t interested in wrestling bikes back on a snow covered side hill if one of us went off. We decided to back track thru Poison Flats and out Warm Springs depending how we felt we could take the single tracks up to Dollarhide Ridge then out No Tellum thru Ditto Flats.
The last of the snow slog on Warm Springs. We just had met 3 young Turks from Jackson Hole. Told them we turned around twice on, once on Warfield and once on Mars Ridge.
The last hundred yards on Warm Springs. Paddling thru the snow wore us out. Decided to take the ATV trail down to Willow Creek road and back to the truck. It was a relief to ride some rocks and gravel again !
Didn’t get the Hurrah I was after , but it still was a good ride.
Gourmet meal in Fairfield ! Jack Rabbit Patty Melt with handmade Onion Rings
No comments:
Post a Comment