Idaho State of Mind

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.

Day 4: Three Forks to Antelope Reservoir (and then to Crane Hot Springs)

With the full badassed Bend biker babes convened, we decided to race the rainclouds as a team. On a day like this, misery loves company, because of course, our entire route to get back to the safety of our cars was straight into a headwind. We took turns drafting each other, telling stories, and being stoic in silence.

The crew after we made it to the top of Donkey Bitch.

The overlook into the canyon made for an amazing lunch spot.

We found the naked dude from the hot springs at the overlook and he took our picture. 

Riding into the storm.

We made it! Marnel and I drank some whiskey in the bathroom to hide from the rain at the Antelope Reservoir while Ani drove Patti to grab her car from Jordan Valley.

We had no idea what time we would get back to the car, but we knew our original plan to camp at the reservoir wouldn't be good since the rain started right as we got back. So we checked the weather (I had two bars with my ATT service, and no one else seemed to have service there), and saw that the weather would be okay (if a bit windy) closer to home... so we decided to camp out at the Crane Hot Springs and rinse off the grit of the road. I truly believe every bike tour should end with hot springs!

Over and out.

A few tips for bike tourists:

• Slow and steady does it on the climb out of Three Forks. It's only about a mile, you'll make it even if you have to walk the whole thing. 
• The road out of Three Forks is long and unforgiving when confronted by a storm and a headwind... and bulls. :).
• Buuuuut, the best views on this trip were on this section... do NOT skip the overlook. 
• The worst part of the whole trip was having to ride the 95 back to the turnoff for the reservoir. Traffic is fast and relatively heavy for these parts and there was no bike lane, just a shitty shoulder with the rumble strip on the wrong side of the white line. We stayed close and put on all our blinky lights and made fast work of it.

Day 3: Deep Creek to Three Forks

The riding from Deep Creek to Three Forks is an exercise in extremes -- one one hand, we had wildflowers galore, perfect graded dirt roads that rode like pavement, cheery birds, and stunning views -- one the other hand, we had some of the longest boring bumpy miles between those sections from just past the North Fork campground to the descent into Three Forks. My biggest takeaway is that if I didn't have the threat of a storm coming in, it's worth it to have a full day or two to enjoy the Three Forks area. 

Meadows of mule ears for days.

I love signs!

Cheery flowers greeting us as we descent into our lunch spot at North Fork.

Look at this perfectly and freshly graded road. We literally rode right behind the machine grading it.

That tiny speck is Ani descending into the North Fork campground where we had lunch. Also a good spot to top off water.

Somewhere along here, we bumped into another group of cyclists who mentioned there were two other gals also bikepacking from Bend. Ani and I looked at each other with joy... we knew our friends Marnel and Patti were doing a similar but shorter route than we were around this time, but that our schedules were several days off from each other. But the impending stormy rainy weather had caused BOTH of us to shift our plans towards each other and now we were on the same schedule for the next day or so. 

Ani looking down as she contemplates our crazy steep descent into Three Forks. We saw two other bikepackers hike-a-biking out.

Aaaaand we made it.

And we found Patti and Marnel!

There is something joyful about finding friends in the middle of nowhere. And making new friends. There was a group of older guys that had made it down on motorcycles who helped supplement our happy hour with Tennessee Honey and ice! They were also from Bend, as it happened. 

A few tips for bike tourists:

• There are hot springs at Three Forks about 3 miles from the campground. You can get a bike most of the way and the part of the river you have to cross closer in is totally doable even in the spring. Just know that if you are facing the river, the hot springs are to the left and there are pools on BOTH sides of the river so you don't have to do the more dangerous water crossing.
• We drank the water at Three Forks and were fine... it's not the cleanest water source on this route, but it'll do with a good filter. 
• We dubbed the climb out "Donkey Bitch"... strong climbers will be able to ride 90% of it. Weenies like me will only ride about 50% of it, but really, it wasn't that bad.

Day 2: Boulder Creek to Deep Creek

After a peaceful night sans mormon crickets (and wondering where they go at night), we set out for another day of on-again-off-again plagues of red "jumpies" (as Ani liked to call them). We also had some navigation challenges as it turned out that my quick revision to the RideWith GPS map took us through a gated private community instead of the route I had highlighted on my paper map. That led to a hilarious back-and-forth...

How many times did we come back to this intersection?

Somewhere along the way, we bumped into a woman on an ATV who was busy checking that the weekend crowds had shut the cattle fences behind them. Turns out she owns the ranch right next to where we camped. She was super nice, shared some stories about helping other bikepackers out, and off we went... only to turn around one more time. 

Good dirt road turns to sandy double track.

Sandy double track turns to rocky hike-a-bike.

Unexpected reservoir.

Mormon cricket carnage on Ani's pannier.

This section of our route was remote, beautiful, with vast open views and lots o' cows. And praying for another campsite with no mormon crickets. We had some intel on a good dispersed site at Deep Creek and lo and behold, when we got there, it was just about perfect. We went upstream a bit to find a good swimming hole (which was possible this time of year, but would guess not so much in the fall) and a better place to filter water. While a few mormon crickets lingered, it really wasn't that bad and they seemed to subside and hide out as the sun went down. 

Camp.

A few tips for bike tourists:

• This dispersed site is to SW of the bridge and really a lovely spot, tucked away from the road.  
• The water at this site was not nearly as clear or nice as Boulder Creek, but it gets the job done, and reports from Dirty Freehub show that it runs all the way through fall as a reliable water source. 
• We did note there was another less picturesque dispersed site shortly after this one at Current Creek, but more exposed to the road... but it would do in a pinch if this site is already occupied.

Days 0 and 1: Antelope Reservoir to Boulder Creek via Antelope Ridge

We had planned to park the car at the Antelope Reservoir for the duration of our bike tour, which we felt was out of the way, safe, and would be a great spot to organize all our gear and camp out at on each end of the bike tour. It would also solve the issue of not having drinkable water, as our research showed that the water in the reservoir is toxic due to mining runoff. So we made sure to bring our own water for each end. 

As we drove through Jordan Valley (as we were coming back from a longer trip east to Colorado), we saw hoards of people in cowboy boots and hats. Literally hundreds, maybe thousands, of people swarmed the tiny town. Turns out, we showed up right during a huge rodeo. We started thinking about a Plan B for camping as we could not imagine that during a huge rodeo and on a Saturday afternoon, there would be any dispersed camping at the reservoir... but lo and behold, we drove by the 4 sites with picnic tables and there was a gem of a dispersed site with no picnic table, but set far enough back that we couldn't see anyone else! 

We biked along the reservoir until we ran out of road.

We settled in quickly, dug all our gear out and started packing our panniers. We explored further down the road along the reservoir and while there were other campable spots, we got the best non-official dispersed site. We saw two or three other vehicles come by to look for camping and they all left.  

The reservoir was really beautiful, with hundreds of birds that stop over (and seem not to impacted by the mining runoff). The only noise were the birds who will definitely let you know when the sun is rising. Ha. We got an early start and schemed a way to avoid having to bike back through Jordan Valley, which added a bunch o' miles on dirt, and it was worth every extra calorie burned.  

Views towards Silver City...

Hot hot hot climbing for days.

The day took us through bucolic farmland where Ani got to do a ton of birding and dry hot exposed BLM land. It turns out that the hundreds of acres of junipers were recently cut down to preserve the sage grouse mating habitat... because get this -- sage grouse will only mate in historical mating spots and refuse to mate if there is anything taller than they are. Hence, juniper trees get taller than them, they stop reproducing. We also got to experience the joy of millions of mormon crickets, which periodically were so thick on the road that they would spring away from our bike wheels such that it looked like we were parting the Red Sea. There were so many that we were a little worried that we would be forced to make camp in a swarm of them.

This picture does not do justice to exactly how many mormon crickets there actually were.

But thank goodness, the spot along Boulder Creek that we thought would have safe enough water to treat, indeed, had grass, shade, and water... and no mormon crickets. While this day of riding was not the most beautiful we would have, we met some of the nicest folks, whether they were stopping to make sure we had enough water, or curious locals who wanted to stop and chat. Bill, a well known local, shared with us that we were the first cyclists he had seen and had some hilarious stories about another local breaking into his house and eating his ribeye and drinking his whiskey.

A faint double track road along Boulder Creek led to several dispersed campsites... until you reach this sign. We made sure to camp right before the fence and sign.

Dispersed camping doesn't really get better than this!

A few tips for bike tourists:

• Jordan Valley is the only place to restock food on this whole loop. There is no potable water and depending on the time of year, many of the creeks may not be running or running very low. Even when they are running, you have to be really careful about agricultural and mining runoff. 
• We carried 4 liters of water each just in case so we could dry camp if needed given the lack of intel we had due to our last minute route change. This section is also extremely exposed due to the juniper cut.
• Boulder Creek was the only water we felt was safe to drink from between Jordan Valley and Deep Creek (and the Boulder Creek water definitely tasted better than the Deep Creek water). If you do this loop clockwise, as you coast downhill towards Boulder Creek, your heart may sink because you will see ranch land on the right side of the road, but if you keep your eyes peeled left, you will see a faint double track back into a grassy area along the creek and there are several great dispersed sites.
• We actually met the ranch owner the next day and she was really nice (and has helped out bike tourists in the past). 
• Be careful for snakes sunning themselves in the road. In my efforts to find dispersed camping, I ran over a poor snake with my bike. :(

Owyhee Canyonlands! The Planning... and Re-planning... and Re-re-planning...

I have been dreaming of exploring the Owhyee Canyonlands on two wheels for years, but it always seemed like it was too far away, or the wrong time of year, or I had too many other adventures planned. One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that it has narrowed my wanderings to be closer to home, so when we saw that the amazing folks over at Dirty Freehub had curated an Owhyee bikepacking trip, I knew I had to make it happen this year.

My bike touring partner in crime Ani and I threw some dates on the calendar for mid-May, did some research, created a route based off the Dirty Freehub route, crossed our fingers about the weather, and then patiently waited. In order to avoid the Memorial Day crowds, we took a calculated risk that the route would be snow free given the low snow year. The wild card was the pass near Silver City which sits at over 6000 feet... we had done some research and realized that the hotel and shop in Silver City generally opens Memorial Day weekend each year, and we were going to be over a week early. 

As we got closer to our departure date, we decided to dig deeper and try to get some better intel on what exactly the road conditions might be. Would it be similar to the McKenzie Pass which gets a single lane plowed through and then allowed to melt out? Would we just have a short hike-a-bike? We called the museum/library in Murphy, ID (the county seat of Owhyee county), and the nice employee said they thought it may be possible to pass by bicycle. We tried to call the road department but they only are open Monday - Thursday and well, it was a Friday. We also emailed the Idaho Hotel, and they had the best intel... we were told some ATVs and a few cyclists made it through, but that there was a big snow drift to navigate... less than a football field big. So we decided we would give it a go, and worst case scenario, we would need to turn around.

And then, after one last weather check, we saw that we would only have about 3.5 days of good weather before a massive cold front moved in with rain and snow. Our intel told us we did not want to get stuck in the Owyhee backcountry on wet muddy mucky roads. That it would be that awful clay that well... just don't do it! We had planned our route to be a leisurely 6 days and 5 nights. But even merging our two short days together didn't quite get us there.

Dorky paper map I make for all my bike tours, but sure made it easy to revision our trip...

Sooooo, we saw a cutoff road on the map that ended up being one of the recommended mountain bike rides in the Owhyee Canyonlands guidebook I had bought, and figured out a way to make it more rigorous 4 days and 3 nights. The big wildcard was that we had no idea what creeks would be running off that cutoff road as we had no intel for that section. We just chose a big looking creek (at least big looking from what the gazetteer showed) and made sure it wasn't downstream from one of the many mines that pollute water sources in this area... our backup plan was to carry extra water just in case, with each of us carrying 4 liters!

Here is what our final route looked like! We purposely avoided Jordan Valley due a huge rodeo that weekend and we felt uncomfortable riding through it. 

I still have the Silver City ride on my radar as an out-and-back... another time!

A few notes for bike tourists:

• The best intel on the area is from Dirty Freehub and the Owyhee Canyonlands guidebook. I also created a hard copy map using the Benchmark gazetteer for Idaho, which helps you identify which water sources have mines upstream and where there may be big enough creeks to camp by or filter water from.
• This is remote backcountry that requires folks to be fully self-sufficient and to carry water for an entire day. Our campsite on Day 1 seems like it would run year round, but we can't vouch for that and there were no other safe water sources that day (the only creek running came straight off a mine).
• Chubbier tires are better. Ani did fine on 46s and my 50s also did just fine. All other cyclists we saw were running much bigger or suspension. 
• Be prepared for some fun hike-a-bike! Nothing too crazy, but there are sections that have big chunky loose rock.