Friday: Move Day
We moved from the Pine Flats campground to our friends place in
Idaho City. We took our usual spot in
the front yard; Bob is out in the back. We are really lucky to have such good
friends. Each time we are in Idaho we
always spend several weeks with JD and Raydonia. Sometimes we come 3 or 4 times a year. The four of us have been riding together for more than 30
years. About 8 years ago they bought a
home in Idaho City where they spend roughly 6 months each year, arriving
sometime after Easter and returning to their place in the San Juan Islands just
before Halloween. Since I’ve retired I
think we have spent as much time at their Idaho City place as we did at ours in
Salt Lake during that same time.
Saturday:
Ricky came for a dual sport ride today. We went to check out the Trinity Ridge fire
area, as much as they would let us. After
starting up and over Rabbit Creek we went up-river along the North Fork of the
Boise River. We had planned to use the Barber Flats road to get into the next
drainage, the Middle Fork. Surprise! We could not cross the Barber Flats Bridge. Fire suppression and repair work was still
going on there.
So we by passed it and went up to Swanholm. The fire was visible is some places. Most of the time it looked like it roared
through at ground level, just burning up the underbrush. Other places looked like it settled in and
burned everything, turning the ground into black space dust. At the Phifer Road
Bridge, we took a break and saw this tree that had exploded.
See on the hillside?
Bet that made a big noise!
From there we rode up the Middle Fork road to Queens River
where we turned north and went up to the China Basin road. This primitive road goes up and over the
ridge to the mining town of Atlanta. We stopped at the Riverside Campground for
lunch.
What kind of nest is
this???
After lunch and a quick tour through Atlanta, we went up the
James Creek Road to Rocky Bar. Rocky Bar
has a population of about 4. They are trying to restore as many of the
remaining buildings as they can. The
fire could have taken everything from them.
Firefighters saved the town by reducing the fuel around the buildings
and setting back fires in the area. All
this work makes Rocky Bar look better than it ever has and very well-tended. Featherville was also saved, and looks much
the same as always. From there we went
to Prairie for a beverage and played with the Border collie Rosie. We came back to Idaho City via Long Gulch, Cottonwood
and Minneha.
Tuesday: Afternoon Dual Sport:
The next ride I took was with Wayne. He has always wanted to ride on the Clear Creek Road. We started down Highway 21 and turned off at
Robie Creek road and headed to Clear Creek. We got distracted and decided to turn on Tollgate
Rd and went out to a ridge that overlooks Boise.
We connected this with the Bogus Basin Road, and then the
Boise Ridge Rd. From there we went down
Pine Creek Rd to the Grimes Creek Rd.
When we got there Wayne still hadn’t been on the Clear Creek Rd, so we
took a right and ended our day where we began, on the Robie Creek Rd.
Saturday: Trail/Road
Ride
Wayne, JD and Bob have been trail riding every day this week. Saturday was a trail and road ride with Norm,
Ricky and John. They came back with more
details of the burn area. They think
Sheep Mountain has a chance of recovering, but not so much for some of Brown’s
Creek and some of the other trails in that area. We heard on the news that the Boise National
Forest was given about $5 million for recovery uses, including reclaiming roads
and trails. We hope some of that money
goes to trails we ride.
Thursday: Town Day and bike ride
“And now, for something
completely different” – Monty Python’s Flying Circus
One of my favorite quotes to
use, but it does kinds of date me… But
that was what we did today, something completely different for us. We went for a bike ride, of the pedal
variety. Boise has a great Greenbelt
Trail system that parrallels the river on both sides in places. We road on the north pathway, starting at
Veterns Memorial Park going east to the Lucky Peak/Barber Park ‘T’. With the
return trip according to the milage painted on the path, we went more than 16
miles. Took us 2 hours, but I am slow
and out of shape. However my post
surgery knee (meniscus and arthritis issues) loves it when I ride my bike. So I
guess I have to look at it as physical therapy.
The path was paved, and every
road crossing was done with a tunnel under the car roads. It was really nice, no stopping to wait for
traffic lights. There were all sorts of
different people on the trail, moms and/or dads
with kids walking and riding, the lunch crowd out for a lunchbreak walk
in the sun and lots of other bicycles. 
We road through many parks
with huge old trees. Many of them are
starting to show their fall colors. It
is much warmer at night in Boise than in Idaho City. The night time lows have been in the teens
for most of a week in IC, barely freezing even once in the valley. It shows.
One park we went through on Warm Springs road is the site of the old
Boise Nat. It was a spa and health club
of the 1900’s variety. It was no where
to be seen now, but the park was still open.
Saturday: Dual Sport
The Forest Service has opened more of the Trinity Ridge Fire
area to recreational use. Just in time
for the opening day of hunting season.
We went out to see more of the burn area. So did a lot of other people. All the roads
had traffic on them, even the one we found that was open at the top, but
barricaded at the bottom. Go figure.
Back at Barber Flats Bridge
We started the same way we did two weeks ago, Over the
Rabbit Creek road and up the North Fork to the Barber Flats Bridge. This time the tape and signs were gone, so up
we went to look at the damage.
As we went up the pass, we could look through the burn area
down to the North Fork-Boise.
Evidence of the fire was everywhere.
Black sticks are all that is left of the underbrush in some
areas
The fire was very spotty in some places.
Once on the Middle Fork Rd, we headed upstream to the Phifer
Rd. This road goes up to the ridge that
takes you to the heart of the Trinity Lakes fire. It was very stark in places.
Roaring River Road was open at the top and it was beginning
to snow, so we changed our original plans that had included going higher in
elevation (to where it really was snowing) to heading down the canyon. We found this little creek that was previously hidden in
the brush, none of us had even known it was there before and some of us have
ridden this road for more than 15 years.
It will look fantastic next spring when the grasses and fireweed start
to grow. The green is such a great
contrast with the black of the ground and tree trunks. This
is the road from which the Sheep Mountain Trail starts. The area we could see from the road is
grasslands and yes it looks like the fire raced through there too, but the boys
say the trail is still in good shape.
Makes me and my lady riding friends happy, it is one of our favorite
rides. When we got down to the bridge
across the Middle Fork, we found the road barricaded, but not signed as
closed. I guess the car we saw on the
road must have moved them in order to cross.
Hidden stream uncovered by fire
It doesn’t take long for the land to start to recover; the
fire is less than a month old at this point.
We followed the Middle Fork down river to the Cottonwood
road, then up to Thorn Butte and over the ridge and down to Idaho City via old
roads, ATV trails and some single track trails.
It was a great, true dual sport ride.
Evidence of a much older fire
More really old fire
A great day
This is the end of our riding in Idaho City this year. We head for San Diego on Wednesday. We have about 3 weeks to get there so we are
taking the long way around, through Redmond Oregon to visit friends, and then
we will go south on Highway 395 through Oregon and California. We hope to drive one day and explore the
next. It should be beautiful, if we
don’t get snowed out!
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