Ride today! Yup! First off, it was a little cool, so we stuck around to get a fairly inexpensive breakfast at the KoA, then we headed out to ride the trails at Hulls Gulch Reserve. We rode those last year, and were looking forward to doing it again. BUT – nowhere to park! Man! these trails are busy on the weekend! Ok, plan B. Head out to Eagle Sports Park. It’s a BMX track that has a bunch of trails on the hills behind it – we stopped here last year, but with the trailer, and only to look at the park itself, to take some ideas back to Dallas. Parking? Huge lot, room for 60 or more cars, and only two other vehicles there when we arrived! Cool!

It’s the desert, so it looks like this:

Here’s a closeup:

Yup, no shade. Nice hills, though, so we got a bit of a workout. No maps anywhere, unfortunately, so it was a guessing game, and with no one else really out there, no one to ask. Well, we’ve done this before, and I’m quite sure we’ll do it again at some point, it’s all part of the adventure! At least it’s almost impossible to get lost here – if you’re on the hills, you can see the parking lot from almost everywhere, and if you’re on the back side of the hills … well, you need to go to the other side of the hills, and see where you are in relation to the parking lot, so you can get back!

Nice ride, then back home – we have a growler of Leroy Brown Ale, so it was that and chicken sandwiches – no brewhouses today!

Tomorrow? We’re going to try for Hulls Gulch again, but maybe earlier – or later!

Ride day … no … back still hurts. Feels better, so I’m not going to push it. Another rest day. Went out looking at campgrounds – good idea – cross another off the list, at least for the big trailer.

Back in town, got some lunch at the trailer, then went back to McCall Brewing Company to get a growler of Leroy Brown Ale. Of course, we had to sit for a beer, and met a guy named Michael, from Spokane, WA. Interesting guy! We had some very good conversation, and were invited to call him when we make it up his way. I’m looking forward to that! It’ll be nice to have a tour guide of the local breweries when we get there!

After that, veg out at home and start packing – tomorrow we move!

Ah, another day in McCall. And my dad’s birthday. He would have been 107 today! Damn – that’s old! And old is how I feel. My back is killing me today. We may be taking a rest day, though I really don’t want to – too many rides left to do. We’ll see.

Yeah – rest day. My back was murder on me, and The Bear’s legs were sore, so we washed the bikes (they needed it!) and lubed them up, so they’ll be ready to go tomorrow. Also went down to the Ranger Station to ask a few questions … found out more about dispersed camping … what is that? It is camping that you can do FOR FREE. We definitely like the sound of that! Sure, you have to bring everything with you, but that’s what boon-docking is all about! That’s why we got the generators and the solar panels. WooHoo! Next year may be a whole lot cheaper than this year, and maybe even some later this year. Wish we could do that in Texas!

Anyway, walked around the park to check out the sites, so we know what to get for next year – we’re thinking boon-docks for a few days, State Park for a day or two, more boon-docking, that way we get all the amenities every few days, with no cost in between! Cheap way to spend a month in Idaho, or Montana, Wyoming, Colorado. Anywhere there’s a National Forest, pretty much, though some do not allow it. We’ll have to look into it some more. We’re excited!

Ride day! Again! Can you believe it? Today, we’re going to try a ride that last year WAS an IMBA (International Mountain Bike Association) Epic ride, but has since been downgraded – Boo!

Anyway – Loon Lake. Supposedly a nine mile loop, so it should not be too bad. Problem is, Bear Basin (yesterday’s ride) is rated “easy”, and this one is rated “intermediate”. So it will be harder. Oh, well. It’s about a 33 mile drive that takes an hour. No, really. Speed limit in town is 25, and it extends about halfway there, and then it’s Forest Service road, part of which goes through private property, which is also 25, so it takes an hour. Oh, joy!

Got to the trailhead, and here is their map of the trail:

We are at the trailhead at the bottom of the map, and try to decide which way to ride – clockwise, or counter-clockwise. There is another couple there with their son, and they ask if that was us at Bear Basin yesterday, so, of course, I said ” … maybe …” – and they laughed! Cool! People with a sense of humor! Anyway, they said they came out last year, and did it counter-clockwise, but then came back the way they went out. They didn’t get to see the wreck last year, because there was too much water. The wreck? WHAT WRECK? Oh, did I forget to mention it? Around World War II, a bomber crashed in the frozen lake, and the remnants are still there, if you’re willing to hike out there. Or ride out there. I forgot to bring my directions to the wreck, but we’ll see what we can see.

At the trailhead, we also see this:

We have bear spray, and I’ve got my Glock, so hopefully we don’t see any bears. Well, ok, maybe from a considerable distance, that would be alright, as long as we see them first. I hold out hope for no bear.

The woods are beautiful. Well, there was a fire here some years ago, and it’s still trying to grow back, but it’s still very beautiful, I think. I’ll have lots of photos:

That was near the start of the ride. All dead from the fire, but still cool looking. Trees far away are still green, and very beautiful. The ride out to the lake is a bit hard, but not that bad. I get a pretty good view of the lake, and I can see glints of light from the wreck:

You can’t see them on the photo, but they are there. Here’s a closeup:

You can almost imagine a white spot in the middle of the frame, right on the water. It’s about two thirds of a mile across the lake, so going out there would add probably two miles to the ride, so I decide against it. Good idea, it turns out …

On the return, the scenery is every bit a spectacular:

Problem is, the trail turns HARD. It is kind of sand, but very large-grained, like mustard seeds, or rice that’s cut in half lengthwise. Not bad to ride on, but the trail gets STEEP, going down, and big sand does not make for big traction, so skidding is pretty much unavoidable, and if you skid … you don’t stop, so we really had to control our speed. And it was twisty – two switchbacks in the steepest part of the trail – oh joy! But the scenery …

And after a while we cross a bridge:

If you look at the river, the water is completely clear – you can see the rocks on the bottom:

Have not seen water that clear in a long time! Then, there’s this:

Like how I framed it between two burned-out trees? Well, it was pretty impossible to not do that, so …

Did I mention the return was hard? The Bear crashed twice, once while riding, she went ass-over-elbows, and the next time, while walking the bike over a tree – there were several of them down on the trail. She almost ended up in the river (a looong way down!) but luckily she did not. Whew!

And that was the ride. Grueling is a good word. When we returned, the folks we talked to were not back yet, but then, they went to the wreck and we did not, so …

I did notice something at a couple of Subaru Foresters out there:

Partial Zero Emission Vehicle. WTF? Ok, you’re either Zero Emissions, or you’re NOT. Right? Oh, wait! I get it! My Dodge Diesel is a Partial Zero Emission Vehicle!!! Yeah, when it’s parked, it does not emit anything! Yeah, that’s it! Damned marketing people.

Anyway – my back is KILLING me from the drive, and it isn’t getting any better. Riding doesn’t hurt it, but the standing around really does. So when we got back to town, I HURT. What to do? BREWERY!!! Back to McCall Brewing Company for dinner and some brewskis. We each had a burger, and at least for me, it was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Ok, maybe ’cause I was REALLY hungry, but maybe not. I had the Smoke Scotch Ale – very good – and The Bear had the Leroy Brown Ale, which is, quite coincidentally, a brown ale – also very good.

After that – stumble home to a shower and a nice, warm bed! (Love my heated mattress pad in the cold!)

Today, WE RIDE!!! McCall is my all-time most favoritest of all places, EVER. Bear Basin – love it! And that’s where we’re going today. But first – BREAKFAST! A huge batch of banana nut pancakes, so we have leftovers for the next few days. They really hit the spot. Then, off to Bear Basin – not the most challenging of trails, but just a whole lot of FUN. Nothing that really kicks your ass, but it does make you breathe a little bit hard. I love it! Here’s a map:

We’re going to start with Baby Bear, then Sleepy Hollow, Blue Ridge, which all lead us to the main reason we’re here – Upper Drain. Baby Bear starts at the Trailhead, and goes up a bit, then drops to The Hub – where about six or seven trails and roads meet. From there, we take Sleepy Hollow – it winds through trees, then a climb at the and, for a while, cross a road and it’s Blue Ridge – again some climbing, and then at another road – Upper Drain. This looks different from last year, but this was much easier – less confusing. Anyway, what’s up with Upper Drain? It is a beautiful downhill section, just a bunch of sweepers, left and right, very highly banked, very smooth, and you can FLY down this thing! Well, I’m not that brave, but it is a lot of fun anyway! Just too short! At the bottom, there are several options, one of them being Lower Drain. Last year, we were told to DEFINITELY NOT take that trail – it would kill us! It kills all who enter! Stay away! Huge drop-offs, cliff faces, god only knows what else. So last year, we followed literally EVERYONE’s advice. This year – no one to ask, so what the hell? Timidly, I took off down the trail. A few bumps (rises) in the trail, then a sweeping turn like Upper Drain. then more of the same, bumps, sweepers. Wow! This was FUN! I slowed for the bumps, as I don’t catch air, but the sweepers were a blast! Steeper than Upper Drain, to be sure, but nothing TOO outrageous. We only did it once, so I want to come back and try it again! Anyway, then we did Witch Ditch backwards (that’s a bit of a mistake, as it’s more uphill than down), but it was still fun. Then we bailed back to The Hub to get something to eat. While eating, clouds rolled in, so we cut the ride short. Bummer! We got in eight miles, so I’m happy! Here are some more shots:

Those are two trail features that have been routed around, to accommodate riders of varying skill levels – cool! And here’s another cool thing, you hardly ever see:

Woohoo! No horses! They really tear up the trails. Almost as badly as motorcycles.

Anyway – rained out, but there was still an activity we could do – BEER! But lunch and a shower first, which I’m sure everyone at the pubs appreciated. On the way home, we stopped by the grocery store to get stuff for lunch, and I saw something I’ve never seen before, that I thought was very appropriate:

I think it’s sad that I’ve never seen one, I guess in most places folks just throw them away, which is highly disrespectful – there IS an approved way of disposing of old flags, and they seem to do it here – Good!

Anyway – BEER. Went back to Salmon River, for more brewskis – we both had the Black Happy ABA – not too bad. Then of course,, had to try a new place, so we went up the street to McCall Brewing Company:

I had the Coconut Porter (interesting – in a good way!), and The Bear had the Devious Intent Imperial Stout – VERY good.

After that, home to rest!

Rain, rain, RAIN! Cold, too. Miserable day to do ANYTHING, so we didn’t do much. Laundry, empty the tanks on the trailer, and fuel up the truck. We’re off to an early start tomorrow, as it’s a long drive. McCall, ID is probably less than 150 miles away, but you can’t just drive over. You have to either go up, over and down, or down, over, then up. Driving? 275 miles. Going up first adds another 100 miles! I think we’ll take the Southern route!

No riding today – weather! It’s cold, and supposed to rain on and off all day, so we’ll just hang around town and check some things out. For lunch, we decided to go back to Bergtram’s Brewery, downtown, to try their burgers. We already had some of their beer, and it was good! So The Bear had their Jalapeño Cheddar Burger, and I had their ‘Shroom Bacon Swiss Burger, and a pint of their Brown Ale:

No, that’s tea in the glass – the Ale came a bit later. Good stuff. And a HUGE lunch. You get a lot of food, but then, they’re $11 burgers, so I would hope so!

We sat in a table right at the front window, which was fortuitous, because while we were sitting there:

A parade! Yes! The rodeo is in town, and so they had a parade! And we had front row seats! Kinda cool.

After lunch, we went by the local Forest Service Ranger Station to get some maps – we always get maps of the areas we’re going to be riding in. Must have over a hundred different ones by now. You need info, by golly, we’ve got it!

Never did rain today, but it sure looked like it was about to, all day long. Tomorrow? Laundry day, because tomorrow IS bad weather day – I can see it coming in on the radar. Oh, well, our last day here doing domestic chores. It has to get done sometime!

Alright – Ride day! It rained last night, but we’re going to try it anyway! Today we are returning to a ride we did last year – it’s gonna hurt! We are not in as good a shape, but we’re gonna do it anyway! Discovery Hill Trail System.

It’s supposed to rain, but not until about 17:00, so we should be good. Remembered to eat breakfast, which was good, but that set us back, which is bad. It’s a little warm out, but not bad – supposed to be cloudy, so I think we’ll be good!

Cloudy? Not so much. Sun beating down is more like it, but the trail looks great, so we’re off. First, Owl Canyon Loop, then follow it up with Slump Gulch Loop. Same route we did last year, same exact way. Be interesting to compare. Here’s a map of the trail system:

Not sure you can see them, but we’re doing the green loop, then the dark blue loop. There’s some overlap, and sadly, it’s the one part of the green loop that has TWO massive uphills, within just over half a mile, which means we get to climb them twice – Woohoo! Somewhere out there I got some scenics:

Clouds look a bit ominous, and it’s raining on those hills on the left. Hopefully the wind is blowing it away from us. It’s not. Toward the end of the second loop, I took a pano:

Just about that time, it started to rain on us … very lightly, and then it stopped … until it started again. We never got really wet, because mostly it just pittered, and it did not even get to the point of being annoying. On the last mile of the ride, however, THAT part of the trail had got some very heavy rain, and it was muddy in spots, but what were we to do? Had to get back! Hate riding wet trails. We were off the trail by three, so the rain was EARLY. Shame on you, rain!

After that, we needed a brewski, so headed into town – Dang it, the pizza place doesn’t open until five! Ok, home for leftovers, and we’ll come back later.

A bit after five, we went back out and got a beer – had the Oatis Oatmeal Stout – VERY good. Not a threat to Guinness, but still quite good. Still stormy:

And it was to pitter most of the evening. Oh, well.

Got some supplies at the grocery store and headed home.