The cats love to be
parked out front; they can spend more time on the porch, while still keeping
our house in sight.
Wednesday was our
first opportunity to ride; the rain had stopped and we didn’t have any errands
to run in Boise. Wayne and I decided to
go check out the damage done by this year’s fires. As this was all roads he
finally got a chance to ride his new-to-him DRZ 400.
This is the bike he will ride when we take
our coast to coast ride next summer.
Getting ready to go
Wayne always checks
the bikes and takes care of issues before they happen
We left Idaho City in clear but cold conditions (barely 40
degrees) and headed south on Highway 21, taking a left on Thorn Creek
Road. At the saddle we continued down
the other side past Cottonwood Campground.
Here we turned upriver along the Middle Fork of the Boise River.
Arrowrock Dam has
created this reservoir
Check out the Eagle
Wayne up ahead, I stop to warm my hands
The colors look out
of place here with all the gray earth and scrub brush
This hints at what
the river must have been like before the dam
We followed the river to the first bridge across. This take us up Slide Gulch and eventually
over the top and into Long Gulch. Did I say it was cold??
Looking back down
Long Gulch
Long Gulch takes us to the small town of Prairie, ID, the
location of the Elk complex fire. The
Elk Fire resulted from several lightning fires burning together on the night of
August 8th. It burned 131,258 acres in
the Prairie, Falls Creek, and Pine area.
We had large fires last year in this general area, but they appear to be
very spotty compared to this guy. We
left Prairie and it seemed as if town ended and the fire began. And it was a
huge, hot fire. I’ve never seen so many
miles of this level of damage. It was
very sad to see.
Burnt Creek is on the
east end of town, pretty prophetic if you ask me
On the same road
Burn in the distance
and all around Wayne
We climbed up the
House Mountain Rd and saw this along the way.
That is not water, but sand that has washed into the creek bottom. Imagine what it will be like after a rainy
season…
Even in a badly
damaged area like this, Mother Nature starts over again
We followed the road
down to the Fall Creek area
Fall Creek was hit really hard by the fire. Thirty eight residences and
43 outbuildings in the Fall Creek area were destroyed by the Elk Complex of
fires. The route we usually ride takes
us right through their little neighborhood.
Today, only one house was still standing and it looked like someone had
wrapped it in one of those fire retardant wrappings they sometime use. It was pristine while everything else was
burned to the ground, leaving only stone fireplaces and melted equipment.
We continued to ride through horrible fire ravaged areas and past a
Forest Work Station that was saved. The
area around it was not.
Shortly past the Forest Service Work
station
From the distance you can see the living,
the dead and the dying trees
We went through some additional damage on private land before we got to
Anderson Ranch Reservoir. It was interesting to see that here as well as in
Fall Creek, the land owners are logging out the damaged trees that will either
cause problems down the road as well as those that are worth some money at this
point. You know they won’t be worth
much down the road.
Anderson Ranch Reservoir is so low that
only the river remains at this point
We continued along the reservoir, heading to Pine. Once on the pavement
we continued to see damage. The large
homes in this area were saved, but damage is still evident. One house had a 2 rail fence, obviously of
vinyl based on how loopy and melted it was.
The old (and still in use) one room school house was saved, but the fire
came all the way down to the road across from it. We rode north to Featherville for lunch,
checking out the fire damage along the way.
Lunch at the café, hot food and warmth,
boy did we need it! Did I mention it was
COLD!!!
Look!
A matched set!
From Featherville we back-tracked a bit to the Trinity Mountain Road
and headed back to Idaho City. This road
winds around and up creek drainages to eventually ‘T’ into the Trinity Ridge
Road. We were surprised to find the Forest Service logging along this road;
they never seem to be that proactive. It
was nice to see them taking a lot of burned trees off the uphill side of the
road. That means less will fall on the
road.
This area looks like to may have burned
both last year and this year
This trail will need a lot of help
Snow on the Trinities, did I tell you we
were cold?
Yes we were very cold
Burr!!!!
The Trinity Ridge Road took us to the Roaring River Road. This area burned last year.
You never used to be able to see the road
in the distance, last year’s fire made that possible
Steel Mountain got some snow
This creek is making a comeback after
last year’s fire
The road is in very good condition
despite the fire
The Roaring River Road ends at the Middle Fork of the Boise, and we
went down stream, until we got to Alexander Flats. This is where the old road to Barber Flats on
the North Fork takes off.
Looking down into the North Fork drainage.
We follow the North Fork for about 5 miles, until the road turns up
Rabbit Creek and crosses the summit.
This puts us going down into the Morse Creek drainage, Highway 21 and
home.
Rabbit Creek Summit
We got back to the motorhome about 5 PM after going 161 miles and
seeing a ton of devastation. It was at times very cold, but always interesting
and fun.
