TR - Idaho - Montana fall 2014 (pic heavy)

[springsproject]

Sickness! Digging the huge alpine adventure days, looks like you guys hit it right.

[jono]

So much awesome here. Loving the installments, too; take all the time you need, just keep those pics coming, please! I keep checking back to see where you found all the rock...day 8?

[evdog]

Day 7 - Mt Blackmore to Cottonwood

The rain having passed, we headed back to Bozeman to pick up where we left off with a cruise up and over Mt Blackmore.

We are going way up there


The trail started off tough with lots of slick rocks and roots


We definitely didn't hike a bike any of the trail


OK maybe a little


Saw some goats


Some of them saw us


The climb was not bad at all and soon enough we were at the summit. 406 rides off the top


We had interesting light on adjacent ridges with partial cloud cover but the views were excellent


The trail to the summit was an out an back from the Blackmore-Cottonwood junction so we had a fun cruise back down




Junction on the ridgeline just up ahead


Cottonwood started off with fast trail and sharp switchbacks, which can be a dangerous combo. The mangled deer we came across met some other fate. Had to wonder if some big cat was not far off watching us when we stopped


The trail was little used, narrow and fun




We send Gman ahead with the bear bell to clear the way


There was plenty of chunk to keep things interesting


All the turning colors were quite a sight to see


Toward the bottom the trail gets lots of use so watch for hikers. Gil nearly got taken out by an off leash dog that came flying around a blind corner.


Another fun day in the woods!

[stuckathuntermtn]

God damn. Epic trip. I think I'd be having too much fun to take pictures.

[406]

where you found all the rock...day 8?

That's in CA, different trip.

God damn. Epic trip. I think I'd be having too much fun to take pictures.

It is good to have an excuse to stop and rest

[406]

Day 7 - Mt Blackmore to Cottonwood

Basically all riding up the switch backs


A little cold and windy at the saddle:


So we are off to the peak out and back trail:


It was actually mostly riding:


Summit points:


Nice and warm at the summit, but cloudy to the south:


Lots of stopping on the upper part for photos, but very fun trail:


Turned at the saddle down to cotton wood:


Cottonwood is a fun mix of everything, but got a little busy the last few miles, it was after all a beautiful fall Friday afternoon.

[406]

Day 8 - Beartooth traverse

All my favorite rides seem to include some time around 10000 ft, this one started that high and spent most of it above:


Down to a lake:




Snow!:


Always good to have some hike a bike:


We started early, so got some good lighting:


Up we go:


Then it's miles of tundra:


faint trail:




Awesome views:


Into the trees the trail started dropping, very fast and fun:


Opened up for views a few times:


After ride beer with a view:


Always a bad sign, 3-7-77:

[evdog]

Day 8 - Beartooth traverse

For the last day in Montana we did a long ridgeline traverse that ran for over 10 miles at around 10,000ft. Not many places you can do that.

We started down past a nice lake and then crossed over and up the drainage on the far side


Extra gnar points for starting above the 'snow line'


pano shot as we climb up to the ridge line


then it was open ridge line tundra for 10 miles









Seems kinda boring but there were awesome views to the side


The ridgeline narrows as we continue on


Nice views down into the valley as well


Trail starts to get real faint


We lose it numerous times as cairns are far apart


Eventually we get to the happy ending, a 3.5k drop into the valley


Its a whole other trail, forested and fast




Nice singletrack with some rock thrown in


Fast finish


OK, not so fast as our shuttle by hitch hike wasn't going so well, not much traffic. Finally got a lift which was good since the nearest shuttle/taxi service wanted $260 for a ride up the hill.


Parked at the trailhead. Pretty sure this would not pass in CA. But guess they have different standards in MT :nono:


This was a pretty interesting ride. You could call it boring xc for a long ways but the views, remoteness and faint raw trail made it very cool. And the descent at the end was awesome. Stats were 16mi, +1,000, -5000

[evdog]

Yellowstone drive

Our plan was to ride Sunday in Boise, and we could either take the interstate back or drive down and go through Yellowstone. Hard to pass that opportunity up!

A few sights from the drive


Had to go look over the edge. There were rock climbers with ropes anchored around a rock


Wyoming, brah!




When you see this at roadside you know something is going down


Wolf meet bison. The bison had apparently been gored and could barely move or stand up long. The wolves were taking nips and bites but not going in for the kill yet.


buffalo x-ing


Tons of other wildlife on the drive out - elk, pronghorn, deer. Well worth it and the crowds were not bad being after Labor day

[tone capone]

So fun to see it from other rider's perspectives, pretty much sums up my feelings of each ride too. Finally got to do the Line Creek one last week, nothing to shake a stick at, being out there in that country for 15 miles and 5 g's! Whoever built the new Palasades Trail and improved the Willow Creek trail in Red lodge did a bang up job, some super fun close to town riding with that little network.

[406]

^^^thanks again for the huckleberry cocktails and trail conditions info! Hopefully see you this winter.

[evdog]

+1 Cool to meet you Tony, hopefully next time we can finally get a ride in with you

[evdog]

Day 9 - Boise Ridge to Rivers front country trails

We found a random spot to camp on the drive out to Boise and pulled into town around 10am. Flight was at 6 so we had a few hours to ride. Boise has a nice front country trail system right out of town and we were able to pedal from Adrian's house.

"A few miles of road" turned out to be 4 on pavement and around 4 or 5 on dirt


No big deal, it wasn't bad though my legs were pretty dead. We were soon enough on singletrack


Glad I wasn't on a singlespeed like Adrian


We had a 3 mile singletrack climb to the pass where we would have more options


There was a fun drop down a ridgeline where we picked up another trail




The trails were lightning past in places, fortunately the lack of trees provided good sight lines




"Just one more climb"


Leads to another fast descent








Pretty extensive trail system that would make our San diego land managers heads explode.


The final "final" climb


That's a wrap, time to head back and pack up the bikes! Final day got us 24mi and 2,800ft climbing, all within 15mins of town.

The fly-in and rent vehicle plan worked pretty smoothly. It helped being able to drop the bike boxes in Boise. Not sure what we would have done otherwise. Considering the airport/flight time and bike build took up around 6 hours each way and the drive was 15, we saved around 9 hours each way by flying. The travel cost was around $700 each to fly and rent compared to $250 each in gas to drive up.

The main reason to fly was so we could get a full day of riding the first and last day. It worked great for the way up with an afternoon flight but on the way back we only had til mid afternoon to ride so it was more of a half day ride. In the past driving up we have taken turns driving through the night. Not everyone likes that but it is doable, or you can drive over two days and split it up with a ride in UT. I'm on the fence whether I would fly up for a trip like this again. For a larger distance, definitely. But there is enough good riding on the way up you can easily split the drive if you don't want to do it in one shot. The good thing is knowing we can fly for longer trips now. Alps here we come.....

[stuckathuntermtn]

Maybe that guy with that license plate really likes Swiss ink?
More great photos, of course.

[406]

Day 9 - Boise Ridge to Rivers front country trails

I started mountain biking with Adrian in high school around Missoula, so it was cool to get to do a ride together again ~20 years after that. He has a short story published in a book about funny bike adventures. Also cool checking out the Boise local trails as this trip was the first time I have been to Boise.



Miles of buff, fast, and fun trail:




Even the rigid single speed can get air:


The End.

[biggins]

Oh man, Line Creek. I love Red Lodge and Beartooth Pass so much.

What a sick TR. Thanks again.

[jamal]

Cool trip, I need to get out of town and ride other places more often. I was on a lot of the CDT near Butte in July but was so out of it by then I don't remember a whole lot.

Also what garmin mount is that? The slide on bracket sucks balls. Friend recently lost his garmin on a ride and I almost did last year, but managed to backtrack and find it.

[evdog]

This is what I use for Oregon 400 http://www.amazon.com/Mount-Garmin-O...andlebar+mount. It has been pretty solid so far, never had the unit come off during a ride.

[grinch]

high plains driftin bump. strong work lads

[allTandA]

Sick dude! Thanks for sharing, would've had no idea extended high altitude options like that were over in idaho. Moar!

Dunfee- ya gotta get out moar
Brah

Dudes: nice work! Can I have my jar back, i dropped that in '06?

[sar13]

Great read and great pics. Makes me want to do a longer bike trip like that.
Thanks

[Gerome]

That's awesome. I'm working in Big Sky right now and rode the Curly Lake Highline on 9/25. It looks like you were there a few days earlier than that. You nailed it for weather too. It's been storming and its now freezing. I rode yesterday evening and froze. I'll have to try the Blackmore trail next. Just noticing, but you all ride with some really large packs.

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Love the new additions, putting all this shit on the docket for next summer! Beartooth Traverse looks super rad....

Found this Smith video this morning, was this Idaho zone the same place you guys were pedalling in? Noticed that same mountain with the split in color...

[evdog]

Yeah some of that is what we rode, some I don't recognize. I saw a post somewhere else they did 14 days of riding so hopefully they can put together more than a 3 minute clip. Sorry...."edit", as the brah's would say....

1:51 is dropping into Ants basin which was our day 3. Don't recognize the waterfall or wet crossing at 1:25. Of the rest nothing is distinctive that I remember but this could be pieced together in any order. We also only touched a small part of what is there.

I want to go back again for a bikepack loop around the whole area.

[Hicks]

Cool.....