Wagonhammer

Quiet night for no human visitors; however nature said hello for a short bit w/ winds and not much rain.

I bought a set of new tires at discount Tire in Bend. I requested the tires be inflated 55 front, 80 rear. New tires went on the back and the back @ 80psi were put on the front. The van’s handling took a holiday making hanging on in the corners interesting. Sunday in Stanley I checked the air pressure. The front tires were at 80 which was the source of the handling problem. The rears were only at 70. I inflated the rears and dropped the fronts and handling improved. Today I checked the tire pressures: the rears per the gauge were only at 70. WTF? I drove to a Schwab dealer for a tire check. The rears were at 80 per their gauge. Need better pressure gauge.

I then headed north downstream into the mountains to North Fork and the Wagonhammer ride. David, Bryan was out fishing. I followed the route climbing out of the creek. The route left the closed road on single track. Skinny worn in bench tread w/ exposure down the very steep grass covered hill side.

Sketchy and consequence of a miscalculation.

A very full rack mule buck crossed my path while on the road.

David: at 4.7 mile where the route takes a left turn to ignore the right trail. There is now a beef path heading steeply up the hill and the one that goes straight ahead which is the dead end. The proper trail is a hard left. I missed the hard left and continued contouring the hillside until it arrived at the saddle and the apparent dead end. I believed I was on the correct trail even as I pushed and carried my bike traversing the steep mountainside wondering why this would be the trail. Lots of elk and deer droppings. The game path finally petered out in a meadow. This ain’t right. I retraced my pedal strokes to the 4.7 gate and saw the trail to the hard left.

The weather had snow which added to the excitement of figuring out a new trail.

I remained outside the weather. The trail joined the Lewis and Clark trail and followed it a ways. Route was almost all downhill from here.

Wagonhammer drainage below.

Back at my van I looked back up the drainage to where I was.

I loaded up and headed back thru Salmon with the Bitterroots to my left and the Salmon on my right. Steelhead are running which attracts anglers like flies to horse shit.

then onto st 28 going up the Lemhi river. The BLM guys told me about Sharkey hot springs that they clean. I drove up to it on the Lewis and Clark Backcountry byway. Man made pools. I managed only 16 mins soaking in the 104 degrees pool as my heart rate started pounding. I was too cooked.

I drove further up the road and pulled off on a side road for a sleep spot.

Tomorrow is on to Driggs and Victor. Forecast is calling for snow on Thursday.