Boise ride this weekend...

A decade+ ago a buddy and I took Jeeps up there. His Jeep got a flat tire and my Jeep's manual fuel pump couldn't siphon gas out of the take on the last steep climb to the top (so we made an IV for the carbuerator).

I just finished watching ALL 16 of your videos. Man, you have sure drawn a line in the sand for me! Now that I know (and have seen) a gs1200 get up there I *must* do it! (No one said I ain't crazy.)

One comment: I love your videos BUT I'd prefer if they were more like 5 min each. Just as I'm getting into what you are doing the video ends. :-(

I see a challenge brewing here. Could call it something like the Jason Abbott Boulder Basin Big Bike challenge. Who's gonna make the T-shirts?

Count me and the White Rhino in! Where is this place anyway? Scared straight up!!!!
Heath can lead, I will offer him up

43.845939° -114.514207°

Here's our route. Worked pretty good: http://goo.gl/maps/nmtL3

Google says it is a 4 hr trip...

Yea that part of the country is closed right now, fires and such. I wonder what the smoke situation is up there right now?

This would be the toughest off road I will have done on the big GSA.

Which fire?...... There is nothing showing on inciweb

The route we took went through Featherville to the South Fork, a direction now closed for the Trinity Ridge fire.

It's been a long while but thought to ping this after I tripped over the news of Bob's son's misfortune and that the dealership is no longer KTM, or no longer in business? I'd be interested in how they are doing. I met Bob in 1996 in some itteration of his shops, while on a biz trip to Boise. Here I sit home in NY as I write this, my wife and older son are in Boise just for fun (I had to stay behind), got me thinking about having her track the shop and Bob down.

Any comments/info?

Would a 650 qualify for the big bike challenge? If so I would be willing to ride this! No T-shirt required even.

Gotcha..... I was focused only on the Boulder Basin area....... Good ride ...... Thx for taking the time to publish the vids.

If not we will load you up with extra gear.

Just shows that there is always options.

Big bike challenge? You know I'm in! Jason invited me to go, and I would have, but I've got a ton of stuff going on right now.

Hi guys, sorry for the hijack-- This is our first summer in the McCall area, found Louie Lake one night after work this week after getting a hint from your past ride reports. I can't believe you got the big bikes up there!! Especially the last little section at the top -- there is a V-shaped section with a rut right down the middle and huge steps on either side. We had our little bikes (DR and XT), which was a piece of cake, but even a KLR would be a handful getting up there without some carnage. All I can say is my hat is off to you... wow!!

That is a wonderful place, indeed. Glad you found it. Ya, the 650+ bikes are quite a handful to get them into the lake, but well worth the trip!

Got to get out with Heath this weekend, for a single-track and hot spring weekend. My DR was in the shop, so I swiped dad's XT225, which is right at home in this stuff. The nice thing about the Giant Loop, it it'll go right from my DR to another bike... it about 60 seconds. So, we loaded up our gear and headed out.








There were a lot of downed trees to get around... but we made it work.











Threw up our 'camp' (anyone who's ridden with Heath, knows to travel light) at the end of the trail, and got our hot spring gear ready to roll.




Lots of great hot springs in the area...







But the best one is tucked away in the back...



Had to move the piping around a bit... but it heated up the deep pool in a real hurry.




There's so much hot water coming off the springs, it makes the stream luke-warm and gives it a green bottom.




We went to bed LATE, and woke up late. It was lovely. The next morning, though, the winds had shifted, and put all the Pine/Featherville smoke in the valley we were in.




None the less, we had a great 2nd day of riding as well.








The night before, Heath and I were having a good laugh remembering how Thane buried his 690 trying to get it through this meadow (2 years ago, when I was feeling like a fool for taking my 650 on this trail, we ran across Thane on his 690). He buried his bike so deep here, it took all 3 of us to get it out. Now, there's a bridge! Some group did a tremendous about of bridge work on trail this year. around 10 new bridges total.




















You'll want to be paying attention on this section. It would 'take you a while' to get your loaded Dual Sport back on the trail if you were to take a tumble here....








The washed-out section was looking a lot better this year!




This is how it looked, last time we came through...

Looks like you guy's relived some old times. A little skinny for my ride. Maybe I can track me down a used xt for a few $$$.

you two out and about







We haven't been riding much with all we have going on this summer but next year we will be set and ready to tag along if we can keep up.