May and June 2017- Idaho City

Last year Wayne and I spent the prime riding season on a road trip to Alaska.  This year Wayne requested we spend May and June in Idaho trail riding.  So that is where we are now, in Idaho City. Our friends JD and Raydonia have a summer home here which gives Wayne someone to trail ride with and me someone to hang out with while they are gone!  We call this area The Big Back Yard.  With countless trails, logging and mining roads and very curvy paved roads, there is something to do everyday.

 We try to walk every morning for at least an hour.  This guy was hanging out in the road.  He was about the size of my fist.

We also came across this fox one morning.  He sat an watched us for awhile before wandering off to do fox things.

 On Mothers day we went for a street ride to see how the snow level was in the 

Stanley Basin.  This is the road into Bull Trout Lake. As you can see it is still blocked with snow!!

This is the same location 16 days later!!!  It's getting closer.

 We took a trip to Orofino Idaho to attend a wedding, the first of three we'll attend this year. It was  on private property up above the Dworshak Reservoir. What a beautiful spot. 

 

 Wayne checking out some historical signs

 In June we took a dual sport ride with my 80 year old friend ElRae.  I want to be her when I grow up!!

c

 JD, ElRae and Wayne in front of the lunch stop in Crouch, ID.

Locals say the Arrowrock spillway hasn't needed to be open for at least 15 years. 

One of the issues we have been dealing with all spring has been the large amount of water in this area.  The spring snow melt has been fast and furious, as you will see later.  Boise has 3 reservoirs that protect it from washing away in the spring. The first is on the south fork of the Boise River-Anderson Ranch Reservoir. That feeds into Arrowrock Reservoir on the middle fork which in turn feeds into Lucky Peak Reservoir just out of town.  For almost a month all the reservoirs were at 98% or higher and they were releasing enough water into the river to keep it at low flood stage through town.

 It looks like a big puddle in the road.  What Wayne didn't know was that the river next to the road had cut a deep trough across the road.  He hit that and the front end dove into it and the big BMW's engine died.  I thought he was going to tip over, but he managed to save it!  And the great news was that the bike started up and he was able to get to the other side, turn around and get back through it without any problems.

Wayne likes his new waterproof boots, but when you put your foot down in thigh deep water, it just runs in through the top.  He says it's like wearing buckets on his feet!

 The up side of all the water?  Flowers!!!

 We had friends from Bend come and visit for a week.  Dave, Loretta and Steve had never been dirt riding in Idaho before. We took one day to all jump in the van, along with Bob and Cindy who showed up on their street bikes, and show them some of what we feel are the most beautiful places in Idaho.  This was lunch on the Salmon River in Stanley Idaho.

 Speaking of snow melt damage, we found this on our way to Archie Creek Road.

 There must have been an ice dam or other clog up above to cause the water to completely expose and move this culvert when it burst.

 It also took out a fair piece of the near side of the road as well.

The boys enjoying the view. 

This winter in Arizona Dave had a few flat tires, looks like that trend is continuing! 

This is part of a huge fire that could have been avoided. The USFS had 2 crews ready to put this out right away, but the Forest Supervisor told them to stand down and just watch it. It burned 188,000 acres and cost more than $94 million. They should fire that supervisor. 

We had a great time riding in Idaho this year. We took one additional trip before we movd to eastern Idaho to camp for 2 weeks but that will come next!