Carolyn painting the woodwork
I woke up Saturday morning at 4am with a headache. It hurt laying there so I got up and masked all the woodwork in the bathroom. In the morning Carolyn brushed on two coats of gloss white. Meanwhile, Ryan showed up around 8am, we prepped our gear, walked to the gas station and mixed up two tanks of two-stroke gas. Back at the house we filled up our motorcycles, put on our gear, and took off for the trails.
Summit of Bad Tom Mountain
We rode up Cranky Gulch to Trail 16 and then to the top of Bad Tom Mountain at 5,613'.
Ryan on Bad Tom looking down the ridge to Placer Peak
Ridge down to Slate Creek
Our next destination was Slate Creek. We planned to take a trail down this ridge before switchbacking down to the bottom of the valley beyond. When we went to get back on our bikes, I noticed my GPS was missing from its mount. I had a small chainsaw bungeed to the motorcycle's front forks and while coming up the rough trail, the bouncing saw must have knocked the GPS from its mount. Ryan and I rode slowly several miles back down Trail 16 to the top of the Cranky Gulch trail without finding the GPS. I didn't want to spend our precious riding hours looking for the GPS so we turned around and headed back up to Bad Tom Mountain.
Problems
Along the way Ryan's bike coughed and died. He thought he might have a fuel problem but when he disconnected the carb's fuel hose, free flowing gas poured out. Ryan quoted his grandpa, "Fuel and spark, that's all you need." In order to get to the spark plug we had to remove the seat and the tank. Even then, there wasn't room for the spark plug wrench. Ryan had to use a pair of needle nose pliers to loosen the spark plug. At the beginning of this riding season, he replaced the old spark plug with a new one. Fortunately, he kept the old plug in his tool bag. He replaced the spark plug with the old one, we put the bike back together and it started right up. From Bad Tom Mountain we rode several steep miles down 15 switchbacks to Slate Creek 2,300' below.
Upper Slate Creek trail
We rode about 4 miles along the banks of Slate Creek heading up-river. The trail was smooth and easy.
Checking our bearings
My GPS wasn't a catastrophic loss. I only use it for recording my tracks. For directions and maps I carry a Nexus 7 in my backpack. Its large screen, excellent mapping software (Backcountry Navigator), and the ability to easily zoom in or out and pan around, makes it far easier to use than my GPS. It also can record tracks and I used it the rest of the day to record our route. At this trail junction we continued on Upper Slate Creek trail, but would end up looping back down from Mastodon Mountain on the return trip on the Flume Creek trail to this point.
Trail junction
The Flume Creek trail comes in from the left, crossing Slate Creek. The Upper Slate Creek trail continues straight ahead and that's the route we took.
Crossing Slate Creek
A mile farther we reached the junction of the Dam Ridge Trail, 573. We rode across Slate Creek and headed up the trail.
Crossing Dam Creek
A quarter mile later we crossed Dam Creek.
Heading up the valley
While most of Dam Creek was contained within steep canyon walls, there were several places where the valley opened up. These parts were nice breaks from the concentration required riding on the canyon's side walls.
Ryan stuck on the slick rocks
We rode over some incredibly challenging obstacles all day, so it was surprising when we both got stuck on these relatively mild, but slick rocks. Ryan gunned his bike and pushed up and over the rocks.
Giving me a hand
Ryan parked his bike and came back and pulled my front wheel up and over the obstacle. All morning we followed the fresh track of a bike with a rear trials tire. We never heard or saw the bike or rider.
Riding along the side hill with the open valley below
We rode several miles up this valley until it ended and we switched backed up the trail a couple of miles until we climbed out on a ridge.
The remains of the Mastodon Mountain lookout
From the ridge we rode a steep rocky trail up the shoulder of Mastodon Mountain to the summit at 5,905'.
The lookout back in its prime
The info I found for the Mastodon lookout reads, "Established as a camp in 1926, a shake cupola cabin was constructed in 1929. It was replaced in 1963 with a 10' concrete base topped by an R-6 flat cab was removed in 1978."
Tom and Ryan among the lookout's carnage
We had to make a decision how we'd get home. We could take the known and fairly easy ATV trail back to Striped Peak, but we'd be riding on exposed ridges for miles and miles. With the storm building behind us, that didn't seem to be such a safe route. On the other hand, taking our planned route down the Flume Creek singletrack might get us into something over our heads and we'd have to turn around. We decided to take the unknown Flume Creek trail back to Slate Creek.
Ryan trying to remove one of the guy wire anchors
Ryan looks like Buzz Aldrin collecting a soil sample on the moon.
View down Flume Creek
We'd end up dropping down into Flume Creek and riding out to Slate Creek in the far distance.
Another view of Flume Creek
Riding down the Flume Creek trail
Back to Slate Creek
After descending down the Flume Creek canyon, the 5 mile trail took us back to Slate Creek. We crossed the creek and rode the trail back to the dirt road that took us back up to the Slate Creek Saddle.
A recovery operation
From Slate Peak Saddle we had to decide whether to take the most direct way back to Wallace or ride up Trail 16 to Bad Tom Mountain again and go back down the way we came up, looking for my missing GPS. We saw no lightning nor heard any thunder so we took the trail up the ridge. We met an older gentleman looking off the trail down the mountainside. Next to him was a bent up ATV rack and a torn up Polaris seat. That's never a good sign. We stopped to see if he was ok and offer help. Here's the story. Last Saturday his 36 year old son was riding this man's ATV on this trail. One of the ATV's front tires hit the rock sticking out behind the man's feet and jerked the handlebars so the son steered off the mountain. The son bailed off the machine and the ATV tumbled out of sight down the mountain. The old man called his insurance company and they were prepared to helicopter out the wrecked machine, but the man's son wanted to try and recover the machine with a chainsaw winch. At that moment, the son was down the mountain somewhere, but we couldn't see him. Occasionally we'd hear the chainsaw. Even if they were able to winch the wreck, tree-by-tree, back onto the trail, how would they get the machine the several miles back to Slate Creek Saddle? Towing it with another ATV would be difficult. If the wheels are bent or missing, it would be nearly impossible.
The wrecked ATV is somewhere down there
We continued on Trail 16 and rode down Cranky Gulch trail looking for my GPS. Several times I thought I saw it on the trail, but each time it turned out to be bear scat. The trail is only 12 inches wide. If the GPS bounced even an inch off the trail into the brush, I'd never find it. I never found it. We parked our bikes at the house. That ride took us about 5 hours and we rode 47 miles and it was now 2pm. We then went with Carolyn to Angie's for meatball sandwiches.
Steep rocky trail
After lunch we poured the rest of the pre-mixed gas into our tanks and took off at 3pm. There was only enough gas to fill my tank about 4 inches from the top. We rode up to Slate Peak Saddle and then Trail 16 to the Slate Peak Divide. From there we rode the Cedar Mountain trail with the goal of reaching Arid Peak Lookout. John and I tried riding this trail last 4th of July, but we gave up because of a scary side hill and snow on Peak 6162.
Side hilling it
Last 4th of July and not knowing what was ahead and whether there'd be a spot to turn around, we parked our bikes here and walked this trail to find out what was ahead (snow). This time Ryan and I rode the trail and my eyes were zeroed in on the trail right in front of me. This was no place to mess up.
Inching along
Still not getting easier
Cresting Point 6162
When we explored this on the 4th of July, the trail here was still under 10' of snow.
Riding Slate Creek Divide
Now we're up on the ridge and following the contours of the mountain.
Hey, look at that!
More ridge riding
Still on the ridge
Point 6183
Hmmm, this looks interesting. I hope I can squeeze around this. Remember that bike with the trials tire we had been following on this morning's ride? Well, we saw the same fresh track on this trail, too. In fact, while crossing these rocks, there was a fresh wet tire print on a flat rock. Who is this mysterious rider that always seems to be minutes ahead of us, yet never spotted?
Beautiful fall views at Point 5887
The trail is looking good
Eyes glued to the trail here
Throw in an obstacle ahead
It looks like my head (with the GoPro on top) is tilted slightly to the right. I must be tilting my head right to compensate for my body tilting left, trying to hug the mountain. At various trail junctions I'd check the maps and GPS on my Nexus 7 to choose the trail that would take us to Arid Peak Lookout.
Arid Peak Lookout
Eventually we reached the lookout on an easy trail. Two summers ago, John, Eric, and I struggled on this trail, encountering one log after another. This time was a different story. There wasn't a single log and it was smooth riding. The skinny on the lookout is, "Arid Peak Lookout is a 1934 20' L-4, originally built to watch for fires from the Milwaukee Railroad as it came down Loop Creek from the Montana line to the North Fork of the St. Joe River near Avery, Idaho. In 1969 the legs of the tower were replaced, but the lookout was not used again. In 1996 and 1997, the Idaho Chapter of the FFLA and the St. Joe Ranger District joined in a restoration project; all of the beams atop the legs and underneath the cab were replaced, as were the stairs which had collapsed in 1970. The fully-restored lookout is now on the rental program, as it sits overlooking a companion project, "The Route of the Hiawatha", a rail-trail being developed over the trestles and through the tunnels of the abandoned Milwaukee line. The tower is on the National Historic Lookout Register." The lookout is available as an overnight rental for $25/night. There was no sign of anyone at the lookout, such as a stove, a backpack, or a drying coat. I called up to the lookout and asked if anyone was there. No one answered.
View inside the lookout
I climbed up the stairs and looked in the window. Clearly there were guests. I wonder where they were?
Needs a fresh coat of paint
Trail to water
I wandered around the perimeter and spotted a trail to water. Perhaps the renters were down the mountain collecting water.
Ryan resting at Arid Peak
1910 railroad trestle
We rode 3 miles from the Arid Peak Lookout to a dirt access road. There we saw the renter's car where they backpacked to the lookout from. We headed down the road to the North Fork of the St. Joe River (between Ryan and the trestle). We rode to Pearson and then on the old Milwaukee railroad through a couple of tunnels until we were up on the trestle in this photo. By this time the sun was starting to go down, even earlier in these deep canyons. We had 21 miles to ride over Moon Pass to get back to Wallace. It started to get cold. I bet those folks at Arid Peak Lookout were thinking their sleeping bags were mighty thin once the sun went down. I considered taking Ryan on a more exciting route home rather than the boring dirt road, but I talked myself out of it.
Almost on fumes
We arrived home at 7pm with the sun just going down behind the mountains. When I opened my gas cap to pour in Sta-bil in the tank for the winter, I was surprised to see I only had a few tablespoons of gas remaining in the tank. Good thing we didn't take any side trips home or we would have been stranded.
Morning ride in red. Afternoon ride in blue.
Our afternoon ride was 50 miles. We rode just under a hundred miles today, most of it singletrack. We were riding for about 9 hours, coming back to Wallace in between rides for fuel and food. We took showers, cleaned up, and the three of us went out to dinner. I was so sleepy I could barely talk. After dinner Ryan loaded up his bike and headed off for the long drive back to Boise. He stays awake on Pepsi and dill-flavored sun flower seeds.
On Sunday morning we went to church. It was the Wallace branch's Branch Conference. The chapel was packed with various folks from the stake in Hayden Lake. After church we went on a walk and checked on John's house. We stuck around until 5pm and headed home, late enough to miss the traffic over Snoqualmie Pass. It was pouring rain over the pass and driving that section was scarier than any of the motorcycling riding we did on Saturday. It was a quick and short trip to Wallace this weekend, but we made the most of it by riding all day on Saturday. The Forest Service booklet I have is called, "Ultimate Motorcycle Loops of the St. Joe River Country." We only rode a few of the trails out of 28 pages of trails (many trails listed per page). We need to go back and ride some more.
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