July 16-23 2017 Emigration Canyon, Idaho

Sunday the 16^th was a travel day. Ralph left first around 8:30, then Lyon, JD and Raydonia and finally us.  We hadn’t done any packing the night before so we took a little longer. But when you aren’t going far and everyone needs the same services? It means we usually run into each other along the way.  We saw JD and Raydonia at the park where the RV dump and fresh water was available. Lyon followed us into the parking lot of the grocery store, the closed grocery store.  I had forgotten what it is like to be in Mormon country on Sunday, nothing is open.  All three grocery stores on our route were closed.  Good thing we didn’t need much. After checking out the campground at Emigration Pass, we decided to stay at the trail head.  It was a little busy, but it was Sunday after all, and we knew they would all be leaving by dinner time.

In the morning, our group was cut in half as Ralph and JD decided that they would rather go north to Challis. We stayed with Lyon to explore the area on the dirt roads.  I made a GPS route that we wanted to follow, but that turned out to be a bust as right away the road I planned to use disappeared over a cliff. We back tracked to the Copenhagen Basin Rd and headed south. At the first intersection was a group of about 10 boy scouts, along with their leader headed out on a week long hiking trip. Right after we left them, we stopped to look at a moose in the meadow.

As we watched, it began to rain so we put on rain gear.  We also got to see her baby who had been hiding in the tall grass, but moved behind mom as soon as I got my camera back out.

We continued down to the Highline Trail, an ATV trail that runs the length of this area.

 We went through many meadows

 Wayne calls these KTM flowers, for their orange color

 At times we were on these great little 2 track roads

 We saw the roof of this warming hut through the trees and at first thought it was someone's cabin.

Nice set up for snowmobiles

We took the two-track over to the German Dugway.  We have been on this road before and thought about taking it up to the Paris Ice Cave, but decided to have lunch first then we continued down to where it eventually becomes a single track which I don’t do any more. We by passed that and hit the gravel roads up to the Ice Cave from the opposite direction.

We then headed north back to camp.  We tried to find some cut-off routes but they hadn’t been cleared in years so we decided to hit the pavement and get back to camp. That evening the rain came!!  We like the rain, it’s like having a water truck come by to wet the ground and knock down the dust!

Tuesday was a street bike day. We took HWY 36 to the town of Liberty where we took a farm road down to HWY 89 and around Bear Lake. This is a very large lake that is divided in half by the Idaho-Utah state line.

 Wayne getting educated 

 Bear Lake

Water is a little high in the lake this year

We continued around the lake and returned up the Wyoming side. We stopped in Cokeville for lunch and then continued northwest on HWY 30 towards Montpelier.

Here we stopped to see another moose, this time a young bull.  Wayne spotted him when he was fully exposed to the road, but by the time we got turned around to get pictures he had turned north, showing us his south end!

We stopped in Montpelier because now the stores were all open.  I went to the grocery store while Wayne and Lyon hit the hardware store.  Then we stopped for photos on Main street.

 I didn't realize that Butch Cassidy had been in this area

Love the benches!

Then it was about 20 miles up to camp and another great ride in the books.

Wednesday is another dirt day, this time the boys went looking for single track.  They took the quickest route down to the far end of the area where the single track is located which was to head down the pavement. Once there they found the trail head right where the map indicated and had a great day in the woods riding.  They put in 73 miles on a combination of pavement, dirt roads, ATV and motorcycle trails. A true dual sport ride.

 They found this in the woods

It's an old boiler.  How did it get out here???

Lyon’s time with us has come to an end Thursday morning.  He headed back home to Oregon to prepare for the August street ride to San Diego.  We decided to go on the longest ride of the trip, 273 miles.
We started by going around the north end of Bear Lake on Hwys 89 and 30 to the town of Cokeville WY. Here we turned off on a county road that paralleled US 30 on the west side of the Cokeville Meadows Wildlife Preserve. We crossed Utah State Route 30 and headed south to SR 39. We took a quick stop at the Monte Cristo campground before continuing up and over the 8900’ pass that takes us to the Odgen side of the mountains.

 Monte Cristo Campground

 A long and winding road

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Lunch stop

Then we went over the Ogden ridge and through the neighborhoods to catch US 89 north to Logan. After getting gas in town we headed up the beautiful Logan Canyon. At the top the land opens up and winds through valleys and over small hills until it starts to drop down to Bear Lake.  At the overlook, the view is outstanding!!

 

 Bear Lake

Then it was down to the lake and back to camp. After putting the bikes away we sat on in the shade and enjoyed the pleasant weather, right up to when the rain began. We also enjoyed the huge thunder and rain that followed, this time from inside the coach!!

Friday was also a road ride day.  We started by going west almost to Preston where we turned north to Soda Springs. This was a normal stop on the Oregon Trail where travelers liked to try the effervescing water from this collection of springs.  I found it interesting that fur traders (who came before the wagon trains) called this Beer Springs because one of the springs tasted like Lager Beer, only flat.

 

From here we waited through 2 different road construction units before finally getting back up to speed.  We passed by Blackfoot Reservoir and Grays lake. Earlier in the trip we were on the opposite side of the lake on a dual sport ride. That shows how close together these areas really are.  Then it was down past Tin Cup Creek and into Thayne WY.

 Bill and Kris have an unusual place

This little cabin was originally down on the lower part of the property, but they moved it here and made a guest house of it

The little cabin is really little, so they built an outhouse for it.  This Doctor Seuss house fully plumbed...

After a nice visit with Bill and Kris we headed back to camp via the highways.

On Saturday Wayne and I got the dirt bikes back out and went for a dual sport ride. We crossed Highway 36 and headed north to ride the dirt roads between here and Soda Springs. We crossed Highway 30 and rode the Wood, Trail and Georgetown canyons. Then it was back across Hwy 30 and through the jeep roads back to camp.

 We rode a variety of roads

 Wayne checking the forest map

 After crossing highway 30 we took this little 2 track and saw something in the distance

 Out in the middle of no where were these signs

 This is one of the springs of Soda Springs

 Check out the water

 Then it was off down the two tracks 

 Until it connected with some real roads

Of course it wouldn't be an adventure ride with out ending up on the wrong side of a locked gate. Luckily there was an easy way around this one.

This has been a great trip.  We enjoyed both new areas we explored. Now it is time to head back to the PNW to get ready for the August street ride. San Diego here we come!!

July 10-16, 2017 Fall Creek, Idaho

FINALLY!! It’s time to go camping! Each year we get together with friends for a camping trip in the mountains of Idaho.  This year we decided to go somewhere new. We have traveled much farther east than we usually do, heading for Fall Creek. Fall Creek is located on the Snake River in that area between I-15 and the Wyoming border.  Although we have heard about this area for many years, probably close to 20, we have never gone because we thought it would be too hot and dry in July.  But this year is a very wet year everywhere in the West so we thought we’d try.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon to find Lyon and Rick had already found us a great campsite. Although the weather is still hot, the grass is green and the flowers are in bloom.  Shortly after we pulled in Ralph and then JD and Raydonia arrived as well.

Day 1 was spent going on a dual sport ride to see the area.

We started on the Snake River Rd going by the Fall Creek Falls.       

 Fall Creek Falls

The Snake River

We stayed on the river road but when we got to the Palisades reservoir we turned right on the Bear Creek Rd to continue down the west side of the reservoir.  At the McCoy Road, we turned left so we could see more of the lake.  We took a quick break on the point past McCoy Creek.

 Swans on the reservoir

 Palisades Reservoir

 Rick and JD at the break

 After going the full length and getting to Highway 89 we then turned around and headed back down the McCoy Creek Road stopping for lunch at Iowa Creek.

 Lunch

Lunch at Iowa Creek

After lunch, we headed for Grays Lake where we turned right and caught the Brockman Road.  We missed a turn and ended up back on the McCoy road where we turned around and went back to Forest Road 75 which we had missed on the way out. This took us up to the top of the ridge. 

 The ridge road

A view from the top

At the intersection of the ridge road and Fall Creek road we met a group of 12 BMW adventure riders out having a great time. After a quick visit we headed down to our camp.

Day two and three saw the boys going out to ride some of the trails while Raydonia and I took the van for road trips.  The first was to Thayne Wyoming.

 We stopped at the Palisades Dam.  Palisades Dam is an earth-fill dam on the Snake River In Bonneville County, Idaho.  The dam was completed in 1957 and provides irrigation water, flood control and recreation; it features a four-turbine hydroelectric power plant.

      

We saw this large bird sitting on the out building at the park.  From the size we thought maybe a juvenile or female eagle.  The bird was huge!

We went to Thayne to see if my friends Bill and Kris were home.  No such luck, we’ll have to try another day.  The second day we went to Jackson Hole and drove over Teton Pass.

The next ride I took was a street ride with Wayne, Lyon and Rick. We did a modified version of what I had done with Raydonia the day before. We began on Highway 26 going down the far side of the river to the dam.  This time, no bird. Then we took a left on Highway 89 heading to Jackson. At the Table Creek float-boat put-in we took a quick break.

 Ready to float

Rick learning about catch and release fishing

Next stop was Jackson Wyoming. We spent about an hour looking in some of the galleries and t-shirt shops.

 Lyon had to call some friends to let them know that he was in Wyoming

 The town park has these arches at all four corners

 I'd have to win the lottery to afford something like this!!!

Lyon and his moose friend 

When we left town, we tried to avoid the highway by taking the Spring Gulch Rd.  Unfortunately at the 5 mile mark the bridge had collapsed and we had to turn around. We ended up taking the highway up to the Moose entrance to Tetons National Park. We had to go into the visitors center because Wayne now qualifies for his Senior Pass.  Ten bucks for a pass that is good for life? How can you pass that up!  I have to wait until August to get mine, but no more $80 per year for a park pass, and the senior pass also gives us half-price camping at a lot of the forest campgrounds.

Same guy, different moose!

We then went through the park on the Moose-Wilson Road. We stopped for lunch in Wilson before going over Tetons Pass with its 10% grades on each side and its 8100’ elevation.  The second pass was only 6500’ but still beautiful.  Then is was down to the river valley and a stop at the Ice Cream shop in Swan Valley, because Lyon needed his ice cream fix.

The boys rode a couple more days, then it was time to hit the road and head to Emigration Canyon and the Copenhagen Basin snow park.  That’s the next stop!!