Allison and Tanya getting their 4th of July on
In the morning I dropped Carolyn and Allison off in Kellogg to buy groceries and continued to Cataldo to pick up my 31 year old Kawasaki dirt bike. A skilled mechanic replaced the bike's fork seals and fixed a couple of other small problems. I picked Carolyn and Allison up on the way back to Wallace. Allison had big plans for decorating the backyard for 4th of July. Carolyn bought a grill at the hardware store and I put it together.
Cresting the top of Red Oak Gulch
John and I went on a ride in the afternoon. I had trailered John's bike from Redmond to Wallace. We suited up and rode up King Street until it turned into dirt and then up Red Oak Gulch. I've looked for this trail before, but wasn't sure which little spur it was off of. This time I came prepared. I found a phone app called BackCountry Navigator that lets me download topo maps to my phone. The state of Idaho has an online map service that allows users to select trails and download the GPS tracks to put on my phone. With the GPS on the phone, the topo maps, and the intended route, I was able to see exactly where we were at any time, without having to have an internet connection. On this ride, our target destination was Stevens Peak, the highest point in Shoshone County. My secondary motivation was to check out the Red Oak trail. It's rated extreme and I wanted to see if it would be possible for Carolyn to ride her ATV up it. John rode his new KTM and I rode my old school Kawasaki.
Ridge road
The Red Oak Gulch trail is very steep and rutted for a mile or two but pops out on a easy road along the ridge of mountains above Wallace. We rode as far as Gold Hill and both possible routes from there were blocked by snow.
Infamous Trail 16
We turned around and took Trail 16 to Moon Pass. The trail is famous for its exposure on the mountainside. We rode two sections. One section was clear but the second section had logs, trees, and slides, across the trail.
John on a Trail 16 switchback
John clearing an obstacle
Unmarked single track
From Moon Pass we headed off for Arid Peak along several connecting ridges. Since we failed to reach Stevens Peak, we had time to explore a ride I had planned for tomorrow. On the way we saw a trail heading off the road and took it.
View point
We found a cool viewpoint looking down at the headwaters of the St. Joe River. The tallest peak in the distance was our original aborted destination.
Blocked at Slate Creek Divide
Climbing the ridge along Slate Creek Divide we hit snow and had to turn around.
Left is Wallace, right is where we stopped on Slate Creek Divide
The ride was 37 miles long.
Altitude graph of the ride
On the garage roof
Back at home Allison and Tanya finished decorating the backyard and were sitting on the garage roof (not sure why). Carolyn and Natalie put together a delicious dinner, Allison made her specialty salad, and John cooked hamburgers on the grill. That night we walked to the same place in the neighborhood as last year and watched another spectacular fireworks show.
I am Spartacus!
After our last trip to Wallace when Carolyn got an ATV over Memorial Day weekend, we began considering coming back to Wallace in July for the annual ATV week. I got the week off from work and then things worked out so I got my own ATV via a Costco/Kawasaki deal. We took an ATV training class in Arlington a few weeks ago. There was another couple there from Montana. They are also planning to attend ATV week in Wallace. At the end of the class, the instructor told Carolyn she was ready for the expert rides in Wallace. He told the other lady to stick to the beginner trails. During ATV week, there are five or six organized rides each day up to hundred miles long. The rides are rated easy, intermediate, and expert. Most of the good rides are expert so those are the ones that I'm most interested in. From reading about past years' rides, I know the Red Oak Gulch trail is an expert ride. I figured Carolyn should try it in advance as a litmus test of what kind of rides we should sign up for during ATV week. On Thursday morning at 7am, Carolyn and I got ready and headed out on our ATV's for Red Oak Gulch. At the bottom I gave Carolyn a pep talk and told her her machine can easily do this trail. She needed only to control the machine and it would take her to the top. We started climbing the rutted rocky trail. It's steep, climbing over 1,100' per mile. There are big rocks that must be crawled over. Carolyn climbed it like a pro.
Looking down on Wallace
Up on top of the mountain above Wallace we rode around looking for a good view of the town.
GPS track of the Red Oak Gulch ride
Eventually we back-tracked and rode back down the steep Red Oak trail. Again, Carolyn rode it like an expert and let the engine braking do most of the work. Later that day I posted a note on the ATV week sponsor's website about the trail and the fact Carolyn had ridden it. Note: a week later Carolyn was walking to the library when she noticed the office for the High Mountain ATV Club, the sponsors of ATV week, was open and people were inside. She went in and talked to some women putting together the registration packets for upcoming week. They asked Carolyn, "Are you the woman whose husband took her up Red Oak Gulch?" She said, "Yes, it was fun!" They said they'd be mad if their husbands took them up there because it's so scary and difficult.
Altitude graph of Red Oak Gulch ride
Eric crossing Lake Creek
A week ago at home Eric learned to ride a motorcycle. He spent 45 minutes riding the Honda 150 all around the yard and up and down the hills. With that experience under his belt he was ready for a trail ride. I thought we could ride up Lake Creek Canyon, past the Galena mine, and up a trail to a dirt road that would take us to the top of Mt. Pulaski. I rode my old Kawasaki and Eric rode the 250. The trail turned out to be very overgrown and hasn't seen any maintenance this year. We couldn't make it all the
way up because of the number of trees across the trail. Eric did an amazing job for a novice.
GPS route up Lake Creek
Altitude chart of Lake Creek ride
Eric on trails above Gem and Burke
Later that afternoon John wanted to take Daniel on a ride. John and Daniel rode my 250. I rode John's 350 and Eric rode the 150 (sounds like the Three Bears). John wanted to see old mine history stuff. From the house we rode up Burke Canyon past one mine ruin after another. There are signs on the side of the road pointing out old mines and historical artifacts. We turned off the road and up over old mine dumps and headed up over the mountain down into Nine Mile Canyon.
Mine tailings from the Granite mine
After ten miles we stopped and took off our helmets. John asked, "When are we going to see some mine stuff?" I said we've been passing mine stuff all over the place. We continued up the East Fork of Nine Mile creek and came across this pile of waste rock from the Granite mine.
Climbing the pile: Eric, John, and Daniel
We rode up the pile on a bulldozed path.
Interstate mine dump
We came across another massive pile of tailings.
Mine ruins
GPS track of mine tour
After a couple of hours we turned around and rode back to Wallace down Nine Mile Canyon.
Altitude chart of Burke to Nine Mile Canyon ride
Daniel practicing
When we got back home John took Daniel to a giant parking lot across from the visitor's center so he could practice riding a motorcycle. Daniel rode around for about an hour.
Back at the mine dump
Carolyn enjoyed our early morning ATV ride that she wanted to go again the next day. On Friday morning Carolyn and I rode up Nine Mile Canyon and the east fork directly to the mine ruins. I knew she'd enjoy seeing all the history of the area.
Carolyn powering up the trail
Hey, get that board
At one dump Carolyn spotted a board high on the slope. She said to me, "Hey, would you go get that old board? I could paint a rustic flag on it." All of these rocks were at the angle of repose. Each step set off a slide.
Your wish is my command
We strapped the board to the rack on Carolyn's ATV.
View from a loading station
More flag material
We discovered that Idaho is a gold mine of weathered wood and rusty corrugated metal. Carolyn collected some pieces for various projects she has in mind.
Ore hopper
Mine cars from the right would dump their ore loads into this hopper.
Heavy chunk of ore
Around the hopper are lots of chunks of ore. This large piece is very very heavy. I'm guessing it's lead ore with some silver content.
View of hopper
Trucks could drive underneath the hopper, open metal gates, and fill up with ore.
Old shoes
Carolyn spotted a pair of old shoes. Only the rubber soles remain.
GPS track of the ride
We rode the ATVs 22 miles and explored a large area on a beautiful morning.
Altitude chart of Nine Mile Canyon ATV ride
Kitchen shelves
Back home I installed the kitchen shelves I built when we were last here for Memorial Day weekend. They're made of the same fir floor boards I used to make the kitchen counters.
Trail 16 from Bad Tom Mountain
John worked on his house all morning. He sprayed moss-out on the roof, cleaned out the gutters, and John and Natalie raked up all the needles from around the back of the house. I came over and installed a dual-gang outdoor box up under the roof so they'd have a neat installation for powering heat tape for the roof (to prevent ice dams in the winter). Around 1:30pm we went on a ride, heading up to Moon Pass then to Slate Creek Saddle, to Placer Peak, and to Bad Tom Mountain. From there we could see the trail ahead. What a trail!
John on Trail 16
Trail 16 is ATV-wide so it was comfortable for us on our two-wheelers.
Looking back down the trail
I really enjoy these open ridge trails.
Snow at Striped Peak
Eventually we ran into snow around Striped Peak. Turning around at this point would be a long back-track. Checking the map/GPS on my phone I could see the trail we wanted to take was only a couple hundred feet ahead. We parked our bikes and hoofed it to the turnoff. The trail we needed to take also had snow, but was heading downhill. We decided to take our chances and go forward, powering our bikes through the snow.
John with Striped Peak behind him
The trail wraps around the north side of Striped Peak and in the woods so we had to ride through snow for a mile. Eventually it popped out in the sun.
Trail up and over Striped Peak
There used to be a lookout on top of Striped Peak so I've got to go up there and check it out. John was spared the detour on this trip because the trail is under snow. I like this sign. Someone must have had an unpleasant experience on this trail and come back and bolted a black diamond - most difficult indicator to the sign.
Mt. Pulaski
The trail dumped us out on a wide logging road and we rode it up to the top of Mt. Pulaski.
View of the road to Moon Pass far below
We started this ride many miles ago on the dirt road far below.
The town of Silverton?
From the top of Mt. Pulaski we could see several towns but not Wallace. It was too close to the base of the mountain.
Old lookout location
There used to be a 50' lookout tower here. It was built in 1934 and abandoned in 1946. All that remains are the four footings and some guy wire.
John and Tom
GPS track
The side trip on the track is the ride to Mt. Pulaski. We followed the road back down to Osburn and rode the old highway home.
Altitude chart
Wallace pool
The kids spent time at the pool each day. Eric is the guy in the pool with the basketball. I took this photo from the road to John's house. His house is only about a block uphill from the pool.
Sixth Street Melodrama
That evening all eight of us went to see the play at the Sixth Street Melodrama. We tried to go last night, but the small theater was sold out. This particular building has some notoriety because it was the only building at this end of town that didn't go up in flames in the 1910 fire.
The cast
The melodrama begins with instructions for audience participation. It was enjoyable. We all saw Eric laugh.
Taking a break along the St. Joe River
On Saturday morning Carolyn and I helped set up cones and barriers for the Silver Spokes bike criterium that afternoon. John worked on his house and buttoned up the final projects. Then we went on the last ride of the vacation. Eric went with us on the 150. We rode over Moon Pass and down to Pearson, the end of the Hiawatha Trail, and onto the old road that was used to ferry materials to build the Milwaukee railroad in the early 1900's. Most of our rides have been on ridge tops, but this one was deep in a canyon along a river. John mentioned the beauty of the ride.
Old railroad across the St. Joe River
Milwaukee Road trestle
The railroad bed is now the road for cars. On our way back, we planned to ride down the river until we could get on the rail path and ride back on the other side through tunnels and over trestles.
Dead battery - getting a tow
The destination for this ride was Arid Peak Lookout, a restored lookout available for nightly rentals from the Forest Service. We're probably the first dirt bikes to venture out this way this year because the trail was blocked with fallen logs in many locations. Sometimes we were able to lift the trees and push them out of the way. Other times we were able to ride over them, but mostly we had to detour through the woods around the fallen trees. John's new KTM has a problem where the engine will stall after letting off the gas when the engine has revved to clear an obstacle such as a rock or log. As a result, John was constantly draining the battery in order to restart the bike. Eventually, the battery was so weak the engine wouldn't crank over fast enough to start. At this point, my GPS indicated we weren't too far from the lookout. I wanted to pull a Cortez, abandon the bikes, and walk the rest of the way to the lookout. The ever practical John said, "Hey, I have to leave for the airport at 4pm [it's 1:30pm right now] and I have no idea how we're going to get my bike out of here." Luckily I had a length of climbing rope in my backpack. I carried it in case my old Kawasaki died and had to be towed home. Oh the irony. I tied the cord to my 250 and to John's bike and we were able to pull it uphill until John was able to restart his bike rolling downhill. Once started, we switched bikes and I rode John's bike without stalling to the end of the single-track. By then the battery was charged enough so the bike would start on its own. Here's a description of the event from John's point of view:
"I don’t know how you can remember all those details of our rides! To me, it’s mostly all one big blur. Except that I don’t think you really captured the drama of being way down a big hill on a singletrack trail with a dead battery in the middle of nowhere, and a plane to catch in less than 3 hours. I was totally panicked. It was amazing how you kept your cool and then got us safely out of there. Being towed up the hill by rope was one of the most difficult things I’ve done on a motorcycle, since the rope was tied only to one fork and the bike pulled hard to the left, and it was extremely difficult to keep it on the trail. On top of that was the psychological pressure of knowing that if I fell over you were going to keep going and drag the bike along. (I actually did fall at one point and bruised my knee, which is finally starting to feel better only today.) At one point I was ready to push my new motorcycle off the cliff. It’s in the shop having all the emissions equipment removed and the ECU remapped in the hope that will fix the stalling problem."
A view of the trail
Wipeout
Eric fell going over a log. The bike was up high and he went to put his foot down and there was nothing but air. When he picked up the motorcycle the clutch lever was hanging loose. It had broken off. We all rotated bikes again. I rode the 150 thirty miles home with no clutch and without stopping.
GPS track of the ride
After downloading the GPS track, it showed we were about a quarter mile from the lookout when we turned around. I'm going to have to go back. Hopefully, Carolyn and I will be able to rent the lookout for the night. John didn't really like this ride, mostly because of bike troubles, but Eric and I enjoyed the challenge.
Elevation chart of the ride
Back home, John washed his bike and made arrangements for me to drop it off at the dealer in Moses Lake on my way home. Then Natalie drove him to Missoula for his flight home. Daniel stayed with us.
The last race
We went to the Smokehouse BBQ for dinner, just as the last race of the day was taking place. This picture makes the riders look like they were taking a leisurely ride, but they were really flying at this point.
It's hot near Moses Lake
On Sunday morning Allison left for Rexburg. We went to church and when we got home, packed up the car and headed home. Carolyn and Gypsy stayed behind in Wallace. I'll be back in a week for the ATV Jamboree. Overall, this was probably the all-time best 4th of July. Four days of dirt bike riding and having the family there was great. Sorry that Paige, Chris, and Fox couldn't have been there.
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