Head East 2011 Ride Report
Wednesday 8/10 through Saturday 8/13
The purpose of this ride was to visit all of the Idaho Adventure Motorcycle Club 2011 challenge points across central and eastern Idaho and Montana
I was joined on the ride by another club member "Boise Mike" Wineke.
My adventure started Wednesday afternoon. Mike had left earlier in the day and we planned to meet in Stanley, ID
My first break on the way to Stanley was along the South Fork of the Payette River.
The river is still running pretty high for this time of year.
I took another short break at the Grand Jean Overlook
As I approached Stanley, the Sawtooth Mountains came into view
I arrived in Stanley about 4:30. Mike arrived about a half hour later. We had dinner in town before heading to our first campsite.
Our first campsite was Hindman Lake, about 20 miles north of Stanley. This was my first challenge point of the ride.
When we arrived, the lake was covered with a cloud of mosquitos hovering about 2 feet over the surface.
As sundown came, the mosquitos settled down on the water. That's when the fish came up for dinner. They were jumping and hitting all over the lake.
This would be a good place to come back to with a fishing pole!
The road in and out of Hindman Lake was a little rocky.
Thursday morning we woke to a beautiful view of the lake.
A couple of views of the Stanley Valley with the Sawtooth Mountians behind.
Our next challenge site is Black Rock Mine. There were a couple of creek crossings on the way in, which were a challenge site also.
The bike apparently liked the cool water and decided to take a nap.
Fortunately, the panniers and dry bag did their job and all of my gear stayed dry. Even my boots kept the water out.
The road to Black Rock Mine had a few rocks along the way also.
Black Rock Mine, the second challenge site.
The mountain in the background is called Bible Back Mountain.
Mike crossing Germania creek on the way out.
After Black Rock, we had a few highway miles south to Sun Valley, ID. From Sun Valley, we took a fairly fast dirt road across to Mackay, ID.
We passed through this canyon shortly after leaving Mackay.
Another view along the way.
The third challenge point is Barney Warm Springs. The water here is about 84 degrees, year round.
The spring supports a thriving population of small tropical fish, that someone stocked here years ago.
Not too far from the warm springs was our second camp site.
Friday morning we hit the trail again. Almost right away, we passed this sign.
There was good reason for that sign. The next section had a lot of loose shale rock on it.
An old cabin along the way.
Our next stop was another challenge site. They were the remnants of a bunch of charcoal kilns that were used for mining in the early 1900's.
Not much further up the road was another challenge site, Leadore, ID.
It's pronounced Lead (as in the metal they make bullets from) Ore (the way the lead comes out of the ground)
I'll bet you can guess what they mined around here.
On our way to the next stop, a large animal walked out into the road in front of me.
At first, I thought it was a horse... Nope, it was a moose! She had two young ones with her.
Our next challenge site was Bannack City, Montana, an old ghost town.
In camp Friday evening, we had a visitor.
Preparing to cook dinner. No it's not the rabbit!
We woke up Saturday morning to a couple other visitors in camp.
An old barn along the way.
The next challenge site is Red Rock Lakes game refuge in Montana.
A bunch of Antelope running around. They move too fast to get a good close picture.
These guys seemed a little more willing to pose for a picture.
Lookout tower at Red Rock Lakes headquarters.
The next challenge site is Mesa Falls, ID.
After Mesa Falls, the ride consisted of a lot of highway miles. About 340 of them, but who's counting.
The last challenge site of the ride was Craters of the Moon. A large area with a lot of old lava flow rock.
It's actually a fairly scenic area, but I was pretty tired of the highway miles and didn't take time to stop for many pictures.
I did get the challenge picture at the visitor's center. If you want to see the craters, you'll have to come to Idaho.
I got back to Boise at about 7:00PM Saturday evening. It was a really fun ride that went by way too fast, but I was happy to be home!
Thanks to Boise Mike for sharing the adventure with me!