Newbie in Southeast Idaho. Rest of Story after I can post
Our unbeatable 2011 dirt bike trip.
Heroes and true friends can't always be distinguished.
After reading a motorcycle blog on the internet several months ago, I made up my mind that I wanted to plan and complete a dirt bike trek crossing a large swath of Idaho. I wanted more than just a Saturday ride. My riding cronies and I have ridden countless hours around southeast Idaho. Especially in the mountains that surround my home in Teton Valley. We are all relatively new to biking and because the novelty of buzzing up a mountain hasn't worn off yet, we oftentimes plan biking excursions that begin before dawn and end long after dark. I can't stand the thought of wasting daylight when I'm on my motorcycle. Days like that are precious.
Dirt bike trails in Idaho are many, but after some planning, I decided on a trip beginning in Cascade, Idaho, just south of McCall and ending in Challis with three days of riding in between. I'm not a very skilled rider, but what I lack in talent, I make up for with passion. I haven't met anyone beyond my close relatives that enjoy riding as much as we do. With one exception, Johnny Allen.
Johnny is a close family friend. He and Dad began riding dirt bikes together when they were both starting families and farming out in Monteview, Idaho in the late 70's. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IMffWOkdo_...25281%2529.jpgOur family eventually moved away around 1985, but kept in loose contact when the opportunities arose. I had no idea how good of rider he was until we rode together last summer out near Howe. We invited him that day via text message at around 8pm the night before thinking he would respond with a "Thanks for the invite, but I've got work to do." At 6:30 am the next morning en route to the mountains, I got a reply from Johnny asking "when and where?" That was a Thursday morning. The day was phenomenal; we didn't quit riding until Saturday evening. It was an epic three days.
When our trek destination was settled; I invited Johnny. Not only because he was so fun to ride with, but also because I wanted to spend three days and nights with the man my dad was so close to. I remember a conversation I had with my dad several years back when I asked him to describe his friendship with Johnny. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ItA8W4YBI3...0/scan0010.jpgHe said, "If you're ever privileged enough to have a friend as good as Johnny, your life will never be the same." I didn't understand--still don't. But this ride gave me a brief glimpse. This is a pretty recent picture of Johnny and Dad at Henry's Lake.
Day 1:
On the first day, we loaded the bikes up and drove from Driggs, ID to Cascade, ID. We arrived in Cascade at around midnight after filling up on Panda Express in Boise. The group included (left to right) http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kz3OeAhvTx...2011%2B071.jpgmy brother in law Chad Williams, Johnny, Chad's brother Tagg Williams, my younger brother Val, and me. Chad's parents followed us to Cascade in their own car and agreed to drop off our truck in Challis for us to load bikes in at the end of three days riding. That night we stayed at the Ashley Inn right in downtown Cascade. Since I was in charge of accommodations, I got us one room each night we were on the trip. To say I'm cheap is probably an understatement. The one room I reserved this night had two beds and a hide-a-bed couch. The boys shared the nice beds and Johnny volunteered to sleep on the miserable hide-a-bed.
Day 2:
We awoke relatively early in anticipation of our trek. This is Chad and Val enjoying the breakfast at the Ashley Inn. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mBeVhtbxFX...2011%2B002.jpg
All of us were a bit worried about being dropped off in a town we barely knew. We were about to set off on a three day journey riding mostly single track that none of us had ever ridden before. We didn't have the luxury of having a vehicle follow us in case of break downs or getting lost. Furthermore, we were riding in one of the most remote parts of Idaho; no major towns or roads. Not only did we have to pack water and food for a day, we also had to pack everything we'd need for the three days including tools for repair, clothes and maps.
Three of us rode Honda 450s while Johnny was on a Yamaha and Tagg a Suzukihttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I5tO8i4P-R...2011%2B011.jpg. Here is Chad doing some last minute upgrades with The Ashley Inn in the background. He can't wipe the smile off his face.
Because the whole area was new to us, I ordered some trail maps from Bill Dart. His maps are well-known because they provide a detailed view of all single-tracks that have been rated under one of the following descriptions:
- Easiest - green circle
- More difficult - blue circle
- Most difficult - black diamond
- Gnarly - double black diamond
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QDcTEKJoYT...2011%2B018.jpgWe got dropped off by our ride at around 9am. We rode out of Cascade on dirt road 409. This dirt road went on forever. We couldn't find the trail we wanted so we settled on turning east onto the Tyndall Creek (106). The trail was blue circle and a very laid back fun trail. I noticed early on that Johnny seemed to always end up near the rear of the group taking the heaviest dust.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vJBfvg8vSK...2011%2B027.jpg
This is Tagg with Chad looking for something he can't find. Notice the large backpacks.
Tyndall Creek led us to road 474. We turned right and followed the road for about 4 miles until we ran into construction workers fixing a bridge. We were forced to turn around. Road 474 was suppose to take us to more single tracks that would lead us eventually to Deadwood reservoir. We had no idea this bridge being out was going to be such an obstacle. We returned North and turned onto Road 478 again going South toward our destination of of The Silver Creek Plunge. This swimming pool agreed to have some gas for us to buy.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f0gsqskXYA...2011%2B041.jpgThis road soon turned into a four-wheeler trail and then a single track. It was beautiful. This little lake was surrounded by large mountains and a fire watch station on one of the tallest peaks.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5u9A4NVKfJ...2011%2B065.jpg
This is Tagg eyeing the nasty side hill through this boulder field. His bike got a little hot here. Nothing to worry about though, because he'd just had his bike worked on by a professional.....
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PcQqrR0ix5...2011%2B075.jpg
This is me and Val. In the background is a fire lookout. Apparently the guy last on watch failed because the whole landscape had recently been torched.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e2suXiYyb0...2011%2B079.jpg
This made for awesome vistas.
We went over a summit of sorts and shortly after lost the trail. We backtracked for a long time and found another trail we thought would take us where we wanted to go. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lvNW-h1eB_...2011%2B083.jpgThis trail dropped down a huge ravine.....where it disappeared again. Val and I were the only ones to make the mistake of going down something that we couldn't easily get back up. This tree root ate his lunch.
We finally got back up the hill and eventually found a four wheeler track going downhill the wrong direction. It was our only choice at this point, so we got on our way. The trail switched back and forth 20 times or more. It was all down hill so we were able to coast with our bikes turned off the whole way down giggling to ourselves at the roller-coaster ride. Val used his brake a little too much and just about started his bike on fire. At the bottom, we realized we were right back where we were 3 hours before. There was no way we could make it to the swimming pool for gas now. Cascade was far away, too and the extra gallon of gas each of us packed on our back wasn't going to get us anywhere. Desperation set in. We noticed we were in a campground of sorts. There was a camper trailer with around 5 gas jugs under it. Presumably, this belonged to the bridge construction workers. I'd never stolen anything in my life, but it was our only choice. We rushed to the camper and filled our tanks as fast as we could. One of us left some extra cash to help us justify our thievery. We then headed out on the only other trail left to take; Yellow Jacket Trail. Yellow Jacket trail ran parallel to Tyndall Creek and was equally entertaining. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fIUoB9na-B...2011%2B084.jpg All of us were smiling at this point, even though we were now back on road 409 at the place we road past at about 10 am that morning. It was late afternoon now. We then went south down a different dirt road that would probably lead us South to The Silver Creek Plunge. This assumption again failed us. When the road hit a dead end, we took a very faint trail in our desired direction. This decision was brutally ill-advised, too. All of us went down another ravine and had to turn around at the bottom. Getting back to the top took all we had. Johnny led the way and it only took him one run to scale the rocky hill. The rest of us struggled. I couldn't help but start to worry about the gas we burned trying over and over to get back up this hill. Tagg laid his bike over and broke his clutch lever. Sweaty and tired, we eventually got back to where the road had dead-ended. Now we were really in trouble. There was no way we could get to any gas to refill our tanks. We could, however get to a main road to try and find help.
We got back to the main highway between Boise and Cascade at around 7pm. The traffic on the highway wasn't bad so we got into a single file line and headed South. Cars had to pass us often, but it was still light out so it wasn't much of a problem. Val was the first to run out of gas. Chad and I made it to the Banks intersection that leads East toward Lowman and Stanley. We knew we had to get help with our gas situation. Tagg visited a nearby county snowplow shed to see if we could have some gas while Chad and I put our thumb out in hopes of hitchhiking a ride into Garden Valley. A nice lady stopped and let me jump in the backseat with a bunch of pop bottles to fill with gas. The road to Garden Valley follows the river and is horrendously windy. Before I knew it, my face was pail, my body temperature was rising, and I was ready to throw up with motion sickness. I luckily made it to Garden Valley without throwing up, but I was ill. I laid on the gravel parking lot for several minutes to try and get my bearings back. Darkness was setting in.
After I filled all of my bottles, it shouldn't have surprised me that no one wanted to give me a ride back to my friends. I watched dozens of cars pass me with my thumb out. My face was dirty and I looked like a gangster with all of my riding garb on. About 30 minutes later I heard the unmistakeable humming of a dirt bike coming my way. Johnny and Val managed to get some gas and ride into Garden Valley leaving Chad and Tagg back at the intersection. I jumped on the back of Val's bike with the gas bottles in my hand and we returned to save our comrades. We arrived back at the intersection as darkness was officially upon us. As we were gearing up to travel back to garden valley, a cop passed by and gave me peculiar stare. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-td6TWcmoIb...2011%2B201.jpgWe waited for him to leave and then quickly set off. None of our bikes have headlights so we put LED headlamps on our foreheads so oncoming cars could see us. The cop set us up. He drove away for 5 minutes and then turned around knowing he would meet up with us. Immediately his flashers turned on and he had us.
Tagg is a police officer. During the truck ride to Cascade I asked him if it was ethical for an off duty officer to tell another police officer of his common occupation in order to avoid a citation. Tagg replied this was wrong and unfair to the public. Very unethical.
Well, this police officer wasn't pleased with us dirt bikers riding down his highway at night without headlights, without registration, without insurance, and without our licenses. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pHy4zU5V4B...400/police.jpgTo make matters worse, I learned that he had given me that peculiar stare earlier because he believed I was concealing drug contraband in my backpack. After he obtained our IDs he got back into his jeep cherokee to figure out what to do with us. I looked at Tagg and asked, "any ideas?" After hesitation, he replied, "hold up my bike. I'll go talk to him." Three minutes later, we were receiving a police escort back to the gas station. I gotta believe Tagg didn't divulge that one of the riders in his party was a defense attorney.
Our situation at this point was still tenuous at best. Our bikes were full of gas, but we had another 40 miles to travel down the highway before we arrived at our lodging for the night. It was completely dark and chilly. None of us had anything more than a rain jacket. But we didn't have a choice, so we set off. Two hours of highway riding on a dirt bike destroys the morale of a group, especially in the cold dark. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-97HGpgUOwm...estaurant2.jpg We made it to the Sourdough Lodge nevertheless with nothing more exciting than a close run in with a deer. The owner of the lodge was nice enough to return to the office in the middle of the night to give us a key to our bungalow. He also opened his store so we could get some food. We bought a package of hot dogs and sodas.
Our little rental cabin had four bunks and a futon. The kitchen had no stove or microwave so we cooked the hot dogs precariously in the toaster. It worked. All of us hit the sac hard that night. I noticed once again that Johnny volunteered to take the uncomfortable futon. I didn't take any pictures of our cabin, probably because of my frustration with the day's outcome. We had ridden in excess of 150 miles; most of it on pavement. If there had been a vote to cast someone off the island at this point, no question the tribe would have picked me. I was the navigator and there wasn't much to be proud of. Day 2 sucked.
