Bangtail Divide Trail

Well it was finally not raining here when we got up, WOO HOO! Our plan was to check in with another bike shop to get an opinion on the Bangtail Divide trail, if it would be dry enough to ride. So into town we went, stopping at the Bangtail Bike Shop. These guys really know their stuff, bikes and trails. They assured us we would be go to go on the trail, it would have some grease spots and be a little muddy in spots but it would be a good ride and we wouldn't do any damage to the trail. We made a quick stop at the oil change place to prep the truck for the big ride back then up the road to the final trail head. One of the guys at the shop suggested doing the road portion first and that made sense to us. It was 8 miles to the start of the single track, a bit of climb up the first couple miles then downhill for the next 4 and up a dirt road for less than a mile, total of just 30 minutes riding. We ran into some chick with about 10 dogs at the trail head, the bus she was driving said something about doggy hiking program or something, she also happend to be orginially from Pittsburgh. So up we went, a series of over 20 switchbacks then more straight stuff, total climb of a little over 2000 feet in 5 miles, all graded that kept us on the bikes. The next bunch of miles was up and down, through meadows, forested sections, and the occational amazing view, sometimes almost 360 degrees.


We were only upto about 8000 feet at our highest but we saw a number of ranges in the distance that were obviously a good bit higher since they had a bunch of new snow on them. The track was in really great condition for having had some much rain lately, just the occational puddle and some of the high forested stuff was still a little soft.
About 19 miles after we started on the single track we hit the final downhill, about 4 miles of well graded benchcut fun back to the truck losing about 1600 feet, thats like doing Sassafrass from Kettle down to rag hollow rd twice in a row. Total millage about 33 including the 8 road miles and we were out about 5.5 hours.

The Weekend - more rain

Well we made it to Bozeman MT yesterday, deciding not to try the ride that was on the way since it was wet and the clouds above the mountains did not look promising. By the time we got out towards a ride near here it started to rain so we headed into town for a bit, checking out one of the bike shops, looking for some info on how the trails dry out after the rains they have had. We woke up to more rain this morning so we just hung out at the trailer, howie made omlettes, and we are watching some NFL football on the one over the air channel we get, CBS. I also did some video editing and uploaded them here.
http://vimeo.com/1684972

Well 2 days ago we woke up to a slight drizzle here in town. The radar didn't show much so we decided to head up to the trailhead to see what was up. The rain picked up as we headed north but we figured we would check things out. We headed back the dirt road as the weather started to clear and by the time we got to the trail, we were really thinking we could get the ride in, that was until we checked out the trail tread, two steps on the dirt and we knew we were done as the mud stuck to our shoes like peanut butter. We headed back to town and went into the park and finished up the northern loop that we had started the day before. It had rained more up in the mountains that night so we decided to head into the park yesterday and do the southern loop. This is the one with Old Faithful as well as a couple of amazing waterfalls on the Yellowtone river, and most of the thermal activity. Its an amazing place, I would highly recommend anybody that has a chance to check it out to do so.
Today we wanted to give the northern stuff a bit more time to dry out and we will also be going right by it on our way to Bozeman tomorrow and theres enough room to leave the truck and trailer at the trailhead. So today we checked out the Continental Divide Trail that crossed Rt 20 just south of West Yellowstone. The plan was to do an out n back, 10 miles each way to the high point. It started as jeep trail, then down to an old double track, nice views but a few quarter mile hike-a-bikes. There were some nice views but not alot of sun.
After about 7 miles the trail turned to singletrack, climbing at a reasonable grade, across meadows and through forested sections. At just about the 10 mile point we hit a first for the trip, some snow flurries. Our altitude wasn't what the one guide book said it should be, I think they re-routed it since the book was published, but we got to about 10.25 miles in and the trail started down a bit so we stopped to re-evaluate. As Howie was eating his fluffer nutter, he spied a critter down below us in the meadows. I thought at first it was just another mule deer but got out the video camera and Howie his camera. We both came to the same conclusion, it was the first moose we had seen this trip. Just after that, the flurries picked up and we decided that we should really start back. So on went the jackets, I had already gone with warmer gloves.
The way back was pretty uneventful, the flurries waxing and waning for a while then quiting all together. All told, a bit over 20 miles with somewhere in the neighborhood of 3500 feet of climbing.

Yellowstone, day 1

no ride today, a trip up from Victor ID to West Yellowstone, WY. Drive was uneventful, a bit of mountain to deal with but nothing like Teton pass or anything. We got set up in the park, right in town, a small place but everything is really good, flat spot with plenty of room for the slide out, good water, clean bathrooms, internet connection rocks. We got set up, took a quick walk through town to the post office, grabbed some lunch on the way back, a quick stop at the grocery for some cheese and crackers for later, then headed out to Yellowstone National park. We headed up the northwest side for a "short loop." We caught a glimpse of a bull elk with a heck of a rack across a meadow. We stopped at a waterfall then a hot spring sorta place then up to the artists paint pots, see the first picture. Pretty cool spot, with all these different colored hot spring holes.

Next stop was Mamouth Springs, a series of hot springs with a board walk through the area. Really amazing spot, as with all these the pictures don't really don't do it justice but the different colors and the blue water with the mountains in the background is pretty darn cool. The trip back down gave us a few more critter sightings, first a buffalo literally right along side of the road, then another one marching up the other lane of the two lane road, leading a parade of a half dozen cars. A few more buffalo in the next field as well. We also saw a bunch of cars parked along side the road where we saw the bull elk earlier and stopped. The field was littered with elk, a few right near the road, but no bulls.
Howie caught this sunset along the Madison River on our way out to the west entrance.
Tomorrow is another potential epic, but I had nothing to do with route finding, so maybe this one will work better, cross your fingers.

Aspen Trail

Well the forecast for today was pretty miserable and there was rain on the radar in just about every direction except a bit to the north of us. As the clouds lifted off the mountains we could see it had snowed up there. We were debating on whether to ride at all but since howie did have this Aspen trail on his spreadsheet and it was in the area that it was not raining and it was on the low side, not getting above 7000 feet we decided to give it a go. We drove the few miles down towards Driggs then cut towards the mountains just before town. The ride starts up a creek canyon but works its way back out and follows a contour more or less about 600 feet or so above the valley floor. We knew it was not going to be a particularly scenic trail so howie left the big camera at home and we made due with my little guy. The space in the packs were taken up with foul weather gear including rain pants incase the skies let loose on us. The mountains in back are pretty washed out but those are all storm clouds above it. You can also see the circular nature of the planting patterns that correspond with the rotating sprinklers. For having had so much rain, the trail was in great shape, only a couple of soft spots. There were a few small rock gardens to keep things interesting and just a lot of fun to ride. It was only 10 miles but it was certainly better than nothing. We started the ride at about 44 degrees and finished at the same temperature. We went through Driggs on the way back, its a bit bigger than Victor, it actually has a red light, not just a blinking yellow. We stopped in at an outdoor store as well as a bike shop that were open, and howie found another ride map that he didn't have.

Phillips Canyon

Well today was to be another Jackson Hole Classic, the Phillips Canyon ride. The ride directions had us starting at the same place we did for the Black Canyon, the start of the old pass road, but that was a couple miles and a couple hundred feet above where the the single track finshed outside of Wilson, so howie's suggestion was to park in wilson and get all the climbing outta the way first. So thats what we did, parking at the rodeo/park grounds in wilson then climbing the couple hundred feet along the highway on the bike path to the old pass road. Then the climbing started, i started feeling a little bonky so i stopped to ingest a few gummy bears and get the blood sugar back up where it should be but that gave howie a bit of a gap on me. Feeling better i kept pace with him but unable to gain. As I rounded the last switch back before the turn to Phillips, I saw him standing there with a hot looking blond. Not sure how it all happend but by the time i got there he had asked her if she wanted to join us as she was alone. She certainly did not look like she had a baby 7 months ago and certainly didn't look like nor as we found out later decended like she was 43 years old, she also has great taste in vehicles. (also great taste in bikes, same blur as mine, and gloves, same AXO gloves i used to have that they don't make anymore). Anyways, this mariage and baby thing had put a bit of a damper on her riding lately not that it showed. After a few more gummie bears, we headed up toward phillisps canyon, i owe don one for turning me on to those treats. Just after passing the highway, we picked up a brand new trail that the boyscouts had just put in a month or so ago, not on our maps and im sure we would not have had the courage to explore without our local riding diva. So up we went on Arrow trail, basically parralleling the dirt road we would have been on otherwise, great piece of track. We continued to follow it, I think ending up bypassing a bit of the orginal Phillis Canyon trail, but this trail was SWEET, great grade, really fast, just plain fun. Julia was not quite up to her prime climbing state(although she never slowed us down a bit) and i was in front on the Arrow trail as it climbed then started down, with her right behind me, keeping up a conversation. After a stop to wait up for howie, she started out in front and I only caught her due to a slight mishap in a creek crossing, as i found her sitting in it as i rounded the corner. She has some major skill. We continued down this relatively buff, gradual down hill, me starting out on her wheel and soon loosing it, damn was she good. We met up with the old Phillips downhill and she let me go first, I think mainly to make sure she survived to feed her darling baby, as she had not ridden this trail in a while and I could tell she had the potential to take it really fast. After another stop she couldn't take my lame downhilling skills and took the lead again, leaving me in the dust after a few hundred yards, but it was a lot of fun to follow her until i lost her, the girls has game. The bottom mile or so was a bit of up and down, still alot of fun then it all ended as we hit the paved road back to Wilson where we parked and she lives. She invited us back to her place where we decided to go grab some mexican at the corner, and have her husband and son meet us (they were up buying their skiing season passes, even the 7 mo old got one, they start early in Jackson Hole). What a great family, it was really a pleasure to hang out and get to know them for a bit before they needed to head out and we back over the mountain to Victor. Sorry for no pictures, this ride was all about the ride, not so much about the views. We do have to change our lexicon a bit, no longer can we refer to not doing something hard or technical as putting our pretty pink skirts, because Julia had on a great pretty pink skirt and schooled us on everything technical, tough, and fast today.

The Abandoned Epic

Well the plan was for an epic ride today, starting out at Mail Cabin Canyon and work our way up to the Center Stock Drive trail then down into Mosquito Creek valley, then up that valley and back the way we came down Mail Cabin. The first 2.5 miles up Mail Cabin were really nice, running along the stream at a very reasonable grade. Then the dreaded half mile hike-a-bike we knew was coming hit. It really was not that bad, but there was certainly no riding up it, but at least we figured we could ride down it on the way back. Even after that was done, we still had a bit of hiking before we hit the intersection with Mike Harris trail. It took a minute to figure out which way we wanted to go especially since there were no bike tracks heading our way. The next mile was pretty beat up with horses having been up there last time it was wet. We were now up on the ridge and this trail really wanted to stay on the ridge as much as possible. We hit a section of exposed bench cut that horses had really done a number on, there wasn't a whole lot of bench left. We picked up the center stock drive trail at Mosquito pass and started a series of hike-a-bikes as the trail followed this up and down ridge. We were only about 7.5 miles into this 30 mile ride and it had already taken us over 3.5 hours. We did some calculations on time and figured there was decent chance that we were not gonna finish this before dark so after eating our fluffler nutter sandwiches at this point, we started back. You can see Grand Teton Peak all the way in the back.


The mile between Mosquito pass and where we picked up the downhill into Mail Cabin was alot of hike-a-bike then doing the exposed beat up bench cut. We actually missed the turn but I was keeping an eye on the GPS and realized we missed it pretty quickly so a quick back track and we were headed down, big time.

The last couple miles along Mail Cabin Creek were a very pleasant way to end a not so great ride. Total of about 15 miles in close to 6 six hours. We stopped for a pizza in Victor, it was really just a take out place but had picnic tables and Adirondack chairs out side and the weather was so pleasant we just sat there, waited for the pizza, then ate it there.