2020 Unexpected ID-UT-NV Loop

Hi Ladybug,

Glad you found this report. Remember there is more than 1 way to get most places. If you see someplace you really are interested in seeing, there may be another way.

And thanks from me and SJMC. It is very rewarding to be part of all those good experiences folks young and old have at the D100. I can't wait for the next one.

Wow, just caught up on days one and two...I want to go riding so bad...lol. @MasterMarine - what are you using for paper maps shown in the day one post? I have the recreation and public land atlases for both OR and NV; looks like it might be from one of those?

Simply amazing scenery and pics man, absolutely love the shot from the first day where you're camped above the clouds/fog (at least that's what it looks like). And man - the water crossing from the 2nd day and the mountainous pics as you crossed ID are frickin' amazing. Tackling single track like that is what I like to do, though I think my little mule would struggle being fully loaded.

And @ugo1st - I lost my tent poles on the very last day of riding when I did my one and only trip (thus far) in Baja in '18; still pissed about that as that tent was one of my favs and I can't get poles for it any longer (and having poles "made" cost more than getting a whole new tent). Sounds like you were able to find yours, which is good - sleeping in a tent without poles doesn't sound like much fun

MM - glad you chose to post this. As you're likely well aware, the relatively cold, dark winter months in the PNW can be damn depressing.

Look forward to seeing what the 2nd page brings.

I made 11x17 color copies of the appropriate pages from my NV, ID, and UT Benchmark atlases. Then I drew the routes on the copies with the same color highlighters as they were in the gps files I had built earlier. I also wrote what page number was the next one on the perimeter of the pages that adjoined pages from other states to make it easier to find the next page as the route went from one state to another. This made life better as all 3 states have different scales and overlap differently into their adjoining states. Then I made color 2 sided copies for all 4 of us so we would have less pages to carry around. I have an old Wolfman Enduro tank bag and I use a large map pocket that holds a standard 8 1/2 x 11 sheet to hold the map. It just hangs off the sides of the tank bag but isn't really an issue.





About not losing tent poles, I had @corrado113 at Storm Industries make me a bag to hold my tent poles. He did the ladder chain strap on both sides so I can put my straps thru them and the bag can't slide out. I also keep a spare blade for my Silky Big Boy saw in there wrapped in cardboard. This works great and keep me from having to put the long straight sharp poles inside of either my curved Giant Loop Coyote or my Altrider Hemisphere main bag. I also put the pole bag under the rear of the other bag which helps to keep them from sagging onto my muffler.

I wasn't going to carry the yellow roll top but at the last second I decided to because it was easier. It has my freeze dried food in it. In this photo, we were further into the trip so it is mostly empty. It also looks like my 2 straps over the back may have been a little loose. Anyway you can see how the tent pole bag is up under there to help give some support to the Hemisphere. Normally it is a little further up under there.

Great stuff!

Thanks for posting, I'm in!

Enjoying this. Do continue.

Hi Bonnie & Clyde. There is so much to see out there. Thanks for following along.

Hey dammitdave.

Hi Pete Pilot. More is coming soon...

Thanks for the link, hadn't been to that site before - cool stuff! It's great finding folks doing small business like that; I prefer supporting them. I was searching for something after losing mine back in '18 and found an inexpensive bag by Sea to Summit (I like their camp gear). It has loops for the velcro straps in my Mosko setup, though it's been abused and the nylon material is showing wear and tear - think I'll reach out when mine finally gives up the ghost.

Funny - I did the same thing with maps from the rec atlases for the NV trip last year - still have the copies since we had to bail on the trip.

Look forward to the next update man

Great start to what will undoubtedly be an awesome story. I really enjoy your reports. I/we are all glad you decided to take the time to put this up. Thanks for taking the time.

Day 3
July 5, 2020

We were all surprised the campground had not turned into a 4th of July fireworks fest the night before. Well at least if it had, we all slept thru it. The night before we had all done some laundry in the little stream running past camp and had even cleaned ourselves up too. We filtered some water and topped off our Camelbaks.

We awoke early and headed back out past Sublett Reservoir. The morning was filled with great 2 track right from the start. There was a little ATV trail mixed in too as we made our way to Rockland for fuel and lunch.

Packing up and getting headed out in the am.




The first sections of road and 2 track in the crisp, cool morning air were fabulous!




Signs of a great time to come!




Views for miles!!




More ridge riding.




With trips down into the valleys too. You can see that my pink ribbon collection has been growing over the last couple days. As the ride leader, I had come up with this grand idea to give out pink ribbons to each rider if they did something dumb or had a fall. I gave my self full discretion to determine when ribbons should be handed out. The idea was that whoever had the most pink ribbons tied on their bike would have to do something for the group like buy dinner or something worse as a penalty. I still hadn't come up with something appropriate yet. The rules were pretty wishy washy for getting a pink ribbon and evolved as the days went by to include things such as losing stuff on the trail or forgetting important camping gear. Anyway, I thought since I controlled the Roll of Ribbon, that I would definitely not have the most at the end.






Heading back up




A fun little twisty uphill ATV trail.








We made our way to Rockland and topped up with fuel and food. We had burgers and ice cold drinks with our meals. MMM! Surprisingly, the folks at the restaurant remembered us from our trip years prior when we holed up in the local town legion hall after the mayor came to our rescue. Stories for another ride report... Luckily the weather was great today and we had no such issues.

On our last trip, we had skipped a section of ATV trail called Sand Hollow going over the Bannock Range because of the deluge. This year we were going to do it. We started out on gravel road and the path reduced down to an ATV trail.




It was a fun rip up a valley on a seldom used trail. As we got nearer to the ridgeline, there was a loose grade where I got knocked off line and stopped. I got some video of the others as the chugged their way up the hill.






The funny thing is that once everyone was up above, I got ready to get started again up the hill. Suddenly there was something pushing the trees around right across the trail from me. Of course I thought it had to be some predator coming for me so I ripped up the hill. I am sure it was probably just a cow but I never saw. It sure got me excited.

We climbed up the remaining grade and were rewarded with a fantastic ridgeline to explore. The flowers were out and it was amazing. We went as far north as we dared and then stopped and took a break before dropping down the east side. The day had warmed up and we enjoyed the views from the shade along the ridge.








Earlier in the day we were in the mountain range off in the distance. The day before we were going over the mountain even further away over on the left hand side of this picture of Scott.














Sorry for the picture overload. That section was awesome!! Next we dropped down the eastside on another ATV trail and worked our way south and then east across the valley.

I stopped for a bit to let everyone catch back up.

Looking back across the valley at where we had come from.




And then the direction we were headed.




An abandoned homestead nearby.




A cool old dam we came across.






Where the water used to be.




Another old ranch house.






We hit some sweet singletrack not long after this gate that took us up north.






Stopped at this intersection for a break and to filter some water out of the stream before continuing north on the ATV trail. It was pretty warm and the water was nice and cool.






We climbed up higher and started looking for a camp spot. The ATV trail was rough and rocky. We found some old equipment on this spur.










We pressed on and rode more ATV trails while looking for a camp. There wasn't much flat ground to choose from as we were mostly descending the east side of the range. Eventually we got close to Mill Creek CG. We decided to head up stream and look for some dispersed camping. If we couldn't find a good spot, we would hit the official CG. After a little searching, we decided on a dispersed creek front camp spot and settled in for the night. There is a popular mill ruin not far from where we camped.








108 miles of fun today! Lots of good single track and rough rocky ATV trails.

Thanks for following along. Definitely more to come...

As far as I'm concerned, no such thing as picture overload when it comes to scenery and riding like that. Not sure why, but I'm really surprised at how green everything is - especially given the time of year you're riding. I remember being amazed at how green things were when I was riding toward the Owyhee, the tracks and views you snapped are frickin' awesome man.

Curious as to how long you guys were on the bikes covering that 108 miles? I typically try to keep mileage around 150ish so there's plenty of time to stop for pics, get the goofy drone out and curse at it for awhile, and just take it in.

Look forward to the next update @MasterMarine - seeing this ride of yours unfold is making me want to plan something big for '21. Hitting the big five-oh this coming year, think it'd be good to knock out a ride that's a little on the crazy side

Day 4
July 6, 2020

We woke up and found our tents were a little wet from the dew so we took a little more time this am to get things dried out in the sun. Here we are getting packed up.






The trails were great again this morning.






We came to a turn onto a shortcut single track trail which was difficult to find. After several minutes of searching, I found it and started honking my horn so the others could home in on my position. The trail had obviously not been ridden for a while and was quite overgrown. I continued on breaking thru low hanging trees and following the trail until I came to a tricky looking uphill. I jumped off my bike and headed up the hill clearing with my Silky Big Boy as I went. The trail climbed up a grade with some rock steps, logs on the ground and a nasty root ball to go around. I picked up what I could and headed back down to my bike. The rest of the group had gathered so I went for it. I got hung up on the root and left my bike laying there while we did some more trail rehab.

Looking down the trail from my bike.




The trail continues past Bill parallel to the log.




Scott making his way up after more rehab had been done and my bike had been wrestled up.












By the time we were done getting the 4 bikes up this grade, the trail was in pretty good shape. From here it wasn't too bad other than a rocky section to where we came out back onto the same trail we had turned off of.

You know what they say about a shortcut. It is the longest distance between 2 points. We all earned some pink ribbons on that shortcut!

Here comes a rider from the shortcut trail section.




From there we were on 2 track all the way down to Malad City. We fueled up, hit the grocery store and had a great lunch. Scott found a reading glass lens on the floor so was using his monocle to check up on his Facebook.




After we ate, Scott had to go on an errand so the rest of us waited in the shade for him to get back. It was getting pretty warm.

We left Malad City and crossed under I-15.




You can see that Mark was pretty warm while we waited for Scott and Bill.




Another gate that needs to be closed.




Fun 2 track. It was pretty warm tho.




I am waiting in the shade of a bush for the next rider to come up behind me at an intersection.










We stopped at Dry Creek Campground for a break in the shade. Some butterflies were checking in on our route.








The trail went around the north side of the campground and meandered around. Lots of fun 2 track!








It turned into a challenging single track and then we came to a difficult intersection to find. Eventually I found it and used my horn to bring in the rest of the group. This trail was really unused and eventually dropped us down into an old pasture. We took a break in some tall grass in the shade and then continued down toward I-15 again.






At the base of the hill was an unexpected treat. A brand new gas station along the interstate. I headed over and got some supplies including several ice cream bars and a couple Gatorades. The other riders arrived and told me that they were stopped by someone who let them know that we had just come thru some private property. Oops! I had thought we were on an official ORV trail. I need to look into that.

After the break we headed west across the valley to the next mountain range we were going over. It was a rough climb on the rocky road but was a blast!

Looking back down the road.




Looking around.




Looking up the road where we were headed.




The mountain range we had come thru earlier on the other side of I-15 is in the distance.






Continuing on...




For some reason, there were a lot of thistles in this area. I am pretty sure these are noxious weeds up here in WA.

The border of Utah and Idaho.






We rode on a gravel road right on the border for a while. I stopped at this intersection and waited for a long time but nobody came. I was just about to turn back and then I saw the group coming.








When they arrived, Mark told me his clutch was dead. It was hot and late in the day so I looked at the map. We were not too far from Snowville, UT so we cut out some of the intended route and hit many miles of gravel and then pavement to get to Snowville. The plan was to look for a place to stay and work on the bike.

We stayed in a run down little place near the truck stops. We went in, cranked the AC inside the room to the MAX, changed clothes and got to work on the clutch. The master cylinder was empty of fluid other than some ickky black gunk in the bottom so Mark cleaned and flushed it out with new brake fluid from the truck stop next door.




We all worked together to get it bled and he was back in business. We ate across the street and enjoyed staying under a roof for the night. It was nice to have a shower and enjoy some AC.


108 miles today

On most other rides like this, we seem to average about 150-170 miles a day on typical 2 track Dual Sport style roads. More than 170 usually leads to discussions of mutiny inside the group.

We were doing a lot higher percentage of more difficult ATV and single track trails on this ride (at least they were harder with loaded bikes) so this slowed us down. The time below is from when we started riding to when we stopped riding and includes stops along the day.

• D1 142 miles / 13.5 hrs / Max Elev 8316 ft
• D2 70 miles / 7.75 hrs / Max Elev 9050 ft
• D3 106 miles / 8.5 hrs / Max Elev 8193 ft
• D4 107 miles / 10.75 hrs / Max Elev 7389 ft
• D5 148 miles / 10.25 hrs / Max Elev 9552 ft
• D6 76 miles / 4.25 hrs / Max Elev 7260 ft
• D7 155 miles / 9.5 hrs / Max Elev 7737 ft
• D8 189 miles / 11.5 hrs / Max Elev 8032 ft
• D9 85 miles / 4.5 hrs / Max Elev 8524 ft

Damn man, what a day! Tackling that single track on loaded bikes looks like a ton of work, especially as you had to do trail maintenance along the way. Might be a dumb question, but was the reward worth the work? Laughed pretty hard about a short cut being the longest distance between two points. Have run into that so many times while out riding.

Glad you guys were able to get the clutch sorted! Any ideas what happened to the fluid? At least it wasn't a snapped cable, that's always something that worries me about being out on the little mule, don't pack a spare.

Great set of pictures on the day, what killer scenery. What were the temps like? Imagine you guys were going through tons of water trying to stay hydrated - were there streams or other sources along the way you could filter from (besides that spot on day 3)?

Look forward to the next one @MasterMarine!

I don't know if the reward was worth the work specifically but it is definitely part of the trip we will all remember. I passed the start of the trail and had to turn back before we all started searching around for it. It wasn't really that technical. It was just overgrown and unused. It created a bit of "team building" and definitely some memories. According to the track, it took us about 1 hour to find the trail, bushwhack thru, fix the trail, get all 4 bikes up, bushwhack the rest and then come out the other side. So I am glad we did it.

Here is a screenshot of my tracks with a scale to show the distance. You can see that if we had continued on the main track it would have looped us around to the next intersection in just a few minutes of quick riding.




I don't know where the clutch fluid went. Maybe Mark will chime in with an update on his clutch.

We were able to find water all over the place. We filtered at creeks we ran across if we were low and at creeks near some camp spots. I have a Platypus gravity filter which works great. I don't bother with the clean bag and just pull the bite valve off my hydration bag, hook up the filter output hose up to it, pull the bladder out of the backpack so it can expand and then lift up the dirty bag to start filtering right into my bladder. We also filled up with water at gas stations or restaurants when we were passing thru towns.

It was warm in the afternoons with temps in valleys near 100. We were up in high mountains and down in desert valleys so there was quite a temp swing thru the day. We tried to camp high up but that didn't always happen.

Great ride report especially during winter of the covid year. A great anti-depressant! Hoping to use some of your work for a 2021 trip.

The clutch fluid on my old 640 disappeared on a ride one day. I could never find the leak, I refilled and bled it and it was fine from then on...

Nice! Thanks for posting that shot; did you guys talk about staying on the existing track and hooking up to where it connected again, or just find the track and forge ahead?

Looks like there might have been a stream running near the track - was that the case in real life?

@MasterMarine - look forward to the next update. Sitting on my arse reading riding reports helps make it through the winter doldrums.