I've got a special love affair with Idaho. Yes, you heard me right. Idaho. Home of the Sawtooths, the White Clouds, and the most soakable hot springs of anywhere in the U.S (about 130 soakable out of 340). I fell in love with Idaho when the Adventure Cycling Association debuted the Idaho Hot Springs Route eight years ago as its first dirt road and mountain bike route... and I had been itching to get back there ever since. So when I found three of my favorite people who were willing to go, I couldn't turn the opportunity down!
There's not much to say that hasn't been said before, so I'll just say "Daaaaang, Idaho, you good lookin'!"
Empty dirt roads and so many rivers.
Trail magic in the form of a cold beer at the last summit of a blazing hot day.
Featherville has changed since the last time I was there... the kindly gentleman who lovingly made me pizza before retired and the community has gotten more polarized.
Late summer rain makes for some glowing green camping spots.
Shitty views.
Mule ears for days and endless views of the Sawtooths.
Our own private hot springs just a short distance from camp.
Escape from the hot asphalt onto glorious doubletrack.
Are we the photoshoot for an outdoors magazine?
Singletrack to one of many summits.
Fuck yea, Idaho!
Private hot springs bath.
A few tips for bike tourists:
- Everything you need to know, the Adventure Cycling Association has put together and it's well worth the money to buy their paper and digital maps. I imported the digital map into RidewithGPS and then made a route that fit the time we had. The actual GPX tracks are not posted here because I promised ACA I wouldn't, so you get this zoomed out screenshot.
- Our route started in Lowman, went southeast towards Featherville, east to Ketchum, and north to Stanley, and then back to Lowman. We had about 6.5 days of riding and created a counterclockwise loop on southern section of the official route. This would allow us to get the most remote and challenging riding out of the way early, and allow us to enjoy Ketchum and all its amenities to its fullest. We tried to average about 45 miles a day and stick to the golden ratio of climbing (no more than 1000 feet of climbing per 10 miles).
- The whole NW of the U.S. experienced an abnormally rainy early summer, which made for amazing dirt road conditions. We got extremely lucky with cool clouds, sunny skies, and no rain. This route has wildly fluctuating temperatures due to the elevation. In a late summer year like this one, there was still snow on some of the route near the Galena summit, and so its best to check in at the Galena Lodge about conditions and whether or not the route is clear.
- While as a queer woman of color, I had heard that Featherville had changed since I last passed through there from other trip reports... it was one of my favorite stops back in 2015, where the kindly owner regaled us with stories and lovingly made me one of the best pizzas of my life. This time around, there were new owners, and I felt uncomfortable, though not unsafe (it helped I was traveling with 3 cis white folks).
- Go to the pupusa train car in Ketchum for amazing Salvadoran food. If anything, it felt amazing to bathe in a pocket of brown people.
- We loved the Galena Lodge... from the breakfast at the lodge to the bike shop, they were so welcoming! They also have really great intel on good dispersed camping near tourist hot spots like Red Fish Lake with views, and nearby access to water.
- The Bonneville campground and hot springs may have a "campground full" sign up, but for people arriving by bike, just know that there are some amazing walk-in campsites that rarely fill up. We were told that the camp host puts that sign up to keep the riffraff out... he welcomed us in on a busy weekend day.
