Sat AM dawned cloudless blue sky. After b-fast I headed out to Jug Mtn Ranch south of town for trail school.

Steve and Morgan of the IMBA trail care crew gave their presentation on trail care to less than 20 students. I won a pair of socks by stumbling thru an answer to a pop quiz. A free ride trail is not sustainable: no fix for a trail built on the fall line. Saw more of the core bike club members and several for the 3rd time. Hi Sid. Jug mtn is a family owned rand of 2000 acres for golfing and developing. Golf course is spread out such that a cart is necessary. The ranch fed us well @ lunch.

After lunch we all boarded these Swiss troop carriers for a bouncing ride up to our trail work project, the second part of the school to apply sweat equity to a previously laid out route. Others cut out the corridor while the rest of us moved dirt, chopped roots, then tamped down. Dirt lost its moisture almost immediately by turning into dust. Hot day. Reward was glasses of Millers from contributed keg from sponsor.

Visited w/ Steve and Morgan. Again it is cool to share stories about the same places and people we have ridden and met. I learned they no introduction visited Bill up @ his Zunni mtn cabin. They are neat people.

I was invited to dinner w/ Steve and Morgan and Sid and Dave to a Sushi restaurant. First S & M let me shower in their plush hotel room. Sushi rubs me the wrong way. Enjoyable conversation. Dave is central avalanche forecaster for the USFS, guided for RMI, back country skier, et.al.

Drove to grocery store on my way back to Bear Basin sleep spot. Saw a one white ring tail fox walking around in the parking lot. Learned that it is a common site. I suspected rabies for its lack of fear of humans.

Today was a group ride back @ Jug Mtn trails lead by David, the energetic and driving boss’ son. The mtn is putting # into trail construction and it is open to the public. The sushi was attacking my lower digestive track such that I almost begged off on the ride. The trails need to be marked and a map created to make heads or tails out of the trail system. B4 leaving Dave put together a shuttle ride of Goose Creek for early afternoon.

Goose Creek shuttle was enhanced by 2 drivers who dropped us off at the top then picked us up @ the bottom thus negating the car shuttle. 6 people in Dave’s Tundra pickup. We were dropped off almost @ the top of drop down a gravel road to start of ST. Strong winds blew dirt all around.  6 riders lead mostly by Fred as none of us could catch him on the ST. I was second and well ahead of the others but Fred remained way ahead. Trail is my kind of chunky, some serious rock dancing that I mostly made. Challenging. Used the visual goal setting several times to smooth out the chunk. Total ride was 7.39 dropping us 2123′. I still like my bike. Dave rode his PUSHed fork for the first time and reveled in its new suppleness. Me? I still smile.

Happy that the only thing moving is Goose creek. Me and Steve:

Short drive back to McCall. Dave lead Steve and I back to Salmon River brewing for a pint. Steve offered a shower. Bottoms up glasses and we pedaled back to hotel. After my shower Steve Morgan and I visited. Hard to part w/ neat people.

Back out @ Bear basin. Wind gusts blow dust around.

Tomorrow I move on. My front hub bearings need lubed as the wheel is getting harder to turn. I need to have it greased b4 my next ride which affects my ride plans. Figure I will drive thru Stanley and down to Hailey to Chip’s shop to have the hub greased then some other day drive back over Galena Summit to ride Fischer creek.

Enjoyed dinner and an evening w/ Marty & Trish along w/ a shower b4 bed.

Thurs AM after bfast Marty lead me on a ride of Payette Rim from his house. Statistic made up on the typing: 67% of riders naming their favorite trail is one that they can ride from their house. Marty’s was no exception. We climbed up part of the trail I rode down the day b4. Trails here are so dusty as there is no organic material to absorb the h2o which binds the dirt and keeps the dust down, certainly no wet side conditions here. We caught the Rim trail which is a bit more technical and leisurely dropped its elevation for a longer time ride. Lower parts of the trail have been logged off on state land. I learned that Idaho does not recognize recreation as a user group to restore the trails after logging.

Back @ Marty’s house we continued our discussion on trails, guides, and how to share info. After another shower I headed into town to take care of things. Crutchfield customer service is accepting the XM receiver back as it was not required, the issue w/ the tuner was a simple update of the software. Pharmacies can transfer prescription refills between different pharmacies thus negating driving to a Walgreens in Boise.  Smokejumper Chris told me about Salmon River brewing that needed to be sampled for my verification. Enjoyed a pint of their Porter while talking to co-owner Matt, a former smoke jumper. He told me it was his Great Grandfather that started Rainier Brewery back in Seattle towards the early part of the last century.

Next up was the CIMBA / IMBA meeting @ Hotel McCall. Steve and Morgan of the Trail Care Crew presented IMBA’s program on making a club successful. Lots of cats attending kept the discussion unfocused or action item identification just like herding cats. Ah, the joys and tribulations of a small organization sorting things out. Meeting adjourned to dinner upstairs for more conversation. I learned from the IMBA info that would have been helpful for me when I created Fat Tire Trail Riders’ Club back in Spokane. I was able to share ideas and examples from my learning experiences gathered around the country.

Drove back out to Bear Meadows for the night.

Today was another IMBA presentation on the economic impact of mtn biking. Unfortunately no mover and shakers of McCall attended. People buying mtn bikes are an economic engine that spawns an accelerator affect that generates more revenue downstream. There are many riding areas in Idaho some aligned along RT 95 the main north south route thru the state. I shared an article from MBA about riding the 7 trails along interstate 20 in Louisiana and suggested that the same could be created in ID that would benefit the entire state along w/ McCall as a riding place along that route.

Steve and Morgan liked the Bear Basin trails that I might ride this afternoon lead by Marty.

Tomorrow is the trail education and work project @ Jug Mtn ranch which is a large chunk of private land that is open to public mtn biking. Trails on private land lack the checks and time required of building on US land. Greater freedom yet coupled w/ ethic of building sustainable trails.

I UPSd back the XM tuner and refilled my prescription @ Rite Aid as they were able to transfer the script info from Walgreens.

I was out across the road from the airport and the jumper base. Matt at the brewery said I might get a tour of the base. I hesitated then drove over and walked up to the base bldg. As i approached a car approached and the driver waved. It was one of yesterday’s jumpers. I asked for a tour even thought eh front office sign said no tours. I was allowed to attended the crew briefing b4 7 headed out for a proficiency jump. Chris ran the briefing, when he saw me he called me by name. I watched the jumpers gear up and the preparation process that takes place that assures that each jumper is safely rigged. Just so cool. I learned they pack about 90lbs of jump equipment that they must pack out. Kyle was the jumper from yesterday and my tour guide today He showed me how parachutes are processed from the time they are unpacked from a jump to when they are rigged and stored for the next jump. Mistake proofing. Kyle showed the fire equipment boxes that are sent out to support the jumpers to fight the fire and to live. Once they are on the ground the were just ground pounders like I was. I bought a smoke jumper stickie that I put on my van. I fought fires back in 1970 longer than most of those jumpers are old today. Old fart.

Marty and I played phone tag to set up a ride @ Bear Basin trails that CIMBA created. I drove to the TH while Marty pedaled from his house. I was apprehensive about the trails, if they were like the Manson, WA trails the ride would be a bust. WRONG: the trails were hand built well crafted and fun to ride. These trails are purpose built mtn bike trails w/ lots of wiggles and waggles and a bumpy tread, twitch between trees, lift over a few tech features on the tread. The tread surface was untrammeled by horses. The trails are all about the ride. Worth riding when visiting.

There are at least 3 more days of riding I could get in b4 leaving. A killer ride plan would be to leave Spokane and ride Mt Coeur d’Alene on day 1. Day 2 ride Moscow mtn. then a bunch of days in McCall. You can drive back to Spokane in 1 day. McCall is a potential landing spot.

Drove back to the other Bear Basin TH wher i have been staying for the night. Hot in the 80s during the day while dropping into 40s at night. Camped @ 5400′. Some mornings I run the heater for a short time b4 the sun warms things up.

Tomorrow is trail school.

Plan is to leave here on Monday and drive back woods roads to Stanley to ride Fisher Creek on Tues and Sun valley on Wed.

 

Getting chilly at night now at 5400′ good sleeping. First time I have lived at this elevation since Flag(?).

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I was putting my kitchen stuff away when i heard a vehicle beside me. I looked out: a white USFS truck driven by a guy who did not hold down a public job. He is a smoke jumper out of McCall and he is running a proficiency jump for jumpers to arrive from the sky. Holy cool! I could watch a real jump and not be held behind lines.

Back story: Back in 1970 I was on a 12 man interforest fire suppression team out of the Umpqua NF in Oregon. I spent 33 days on fires that summer. I dug fire line. I lived way primitively for many days at a time. I been there. I earned the chops. I wanted to be a jumper the following summer but stayed in summer school to avoid being a full 5 year student. And the chance was lost as I sought legal tender and a career.  We all shared fighting forest fires.

So cool. They jump out of a twin Otter. First pass was the streamer drop to view the wind. They jump from 1200′. Streamers were all but hitting us as a bullseye. They jumped 2 at a time on each plane pass. I was in their dropping midst.

Salmon River brewing co in town is owned by a former jumper. Has better beer per a jumper.

I listened in on their jump debriefing. I was so excited to be in their midst as just an aw shucks kind of moment.

What kind of ride could trump jumpers? I knew I had a logging road slog and then turn around. Memory from previous rides was the climb was brutal, I remember walking some for a break. The downhill was going to make the grunt worth coasting. Today I rode the road climb straight away, maybe the tread was more rideable today. Map showed the trail taking off at a findable road junction. No sign. I saw a break from the road traffic off to the right, only trail going to the right has to be the trail. At first the trail headed east and not south southwest per map memory. I saw faint mtn bike tire tracks amid the dirt bike knobbies that I allowed to be my guide. Nothing was familiar, this was a new to me trail, what I remembered was from another ride.. There is just dusting of duff over sandy loose substrate making the corners like skiing and plowing. Some wallowing. The trail dumped me out on a logging road and a short spin back to my van.

Plan is to get h2o for the sink tank @ the FS ranger station, then find out from Gravity Sports who is part of the IMBA visit knew of hosting plans for Steve and Morgan and if any rides were planned that i could glob onto. Buy some groceries then head to Burgdorf hot springs.

Last stop in town was a shaded grocery store parking lot w/ great internet coverage to do internet stuff. I am managing my time. A SUV pulls up beside me and a man stcks his head out and asks if I was the wierd guy mountain biking all over. Nailed me. Marty is his name and he writes trail guides. He and his wife spend 2 weeks here then drive to Spokane and spend 2 weeks there then repeat. Marty invited me to dinner w/ his wife’s cooperation. Marty is a local as he talked rides w/ not on the map trails. He will guide me on tomorrow’s ride.

My plan was redlined.