Craters of the Moon

 Finally, on our way back to our trucks.  Stopped in Darby, a quaint town in Montana with lots of coffee shops, shopping, and people.  The best cappuccino in town was deep inside a mega-candy store ?!?

Later on closer I ran into the Craters of the Moon National Monument - a vast area with frozen lava flows and mountain and craters.  Very weird and unique.  Reminded me of parts on Iceland.

Also went through Shoshone and realized that a huge Mexican community lives in these parts to support the vast industrial scale agriculture going on in southern Idaho.  Seemed like everybody in town spoke Spanish : )

Arrived at the hotel and loaded the bike on the truck for the return home.  What a trip.  What a great adventure.  Epic. 

Searching for a cappuccino in the candy store in Darby

The Craters of the Moon National Monument

Exploring the craters

In Utah on my way to Dallas the following day

Decompressing from 2 wheels into 4 with my friend Fleetwood at his place in Pagosa Springs

A final view from the SPOT Satellite Tracker of the whole trip

The Run to Canada

 Got up and went to breakfast to the bar and grill down the street.  We met Chris who sat at our table and a young couple (she was wearing a gun on her thigh ready to shoot anybody) with Apollo, an amazing German shepherd that when you did "bang, bang, bang" he would drop dead : )

Headed north out of town and into the woods to visit two interesting sites: Char Falls and the Lunch Mountain Lookout. Both sites worth the stops and detours.  Hard riding to get up to the Lunch Mountain Lookout.  Very rocky but the view from up there made you forget everything.  Wow.

The rest of the ride to the border was uneventful. Beautiful valleys with lots of agriculture all the way to Canada. What looks like grapes ended up being hops being grown for Budweiser.

Made it to the Canadian border which was closed as expected. Rode closer to the Canadian side to take a picture and were quickly told to go back to the USA. Ooops. Getting back into the USA was a bit more complicated even though we only went 100 feet into the no-mans land between the 2 posts.  ID checks, woodshed sessions : )

As it was early afternoon, we decided to start our journey back to our trucks in Burley (800 miles away) by going to lunch at the Kootenai Brewing Co. Bar and Grill in Bonners Ferry.  Pavement never felt so good.  Great stop. Had an amazing salmon sandwich.

As we continued south, I decided to stop in the Thmpson Falls Conservation Area in Montana to camp and the rest decided to make it back to Hamilton for a night at a hotel which was non-existent so they had to go to Missoula for the night.

The campsite at Thompson Falls was as pristine and idillic as it could be overlooking the Salmon River.  Went for a nice swim in the river and went to bed.  A great night.

And I got to use the very last of my dehydrated food meals! Talk about planning. And empty pannier boxes : )

Having breakfast in Clark Fork with our new friend Chris

The famous Lunch Mountain Lookout - Wow.

Getting close to the Canadian border - lots of agriculture

At last, Canada!!!

Campsite at Thompson Falls

The Salmon River view from the campsite

The last campsite of the trip

A Quirky Silver Mining Town

We picked up camp and headed to Wallace.  A quirky silver mining town with a lot of history.  First time we cross a highway in a while.  This highway was actually built on stilts on the side of the mountain to bypass and safeguard the historic town.

In Wallace we had some coffee, loaded gas, and chilled for a while watching people go by.  

We then headed to the mountains for another session of hard dual sport riding. Went by rivers, people on the banks of the rivers having fun, and on the rivers which were shallow with lots of river round rocks.  Looked like fun.

We stopped for lunch in a lost valley in between two mountain ranges with a nice grass air landing strip.  Nice shade under the trees.  Even had time for a small nap.

We lost Andy for a while (took a wrong turn somewhere up in the mountains) but he eventually caught up with us.  Chuck stayed in Wallace to finish some calls only to discover that his front tire was loosing air from the bent rim.  He banged it into place to fix the problem and eventually caught up with the group.

We had a nice ride to Clark Fork. The excitement of reaching the Canadian border after so many days is beginning to build. Mike and Charles went ahead to secure camping place at the Sam Owens National Refuge 7 miles out of town which is on the banks of Lake Pen O'Reille while we waited for Chuck.  To pass the time, I ordered a delicious Hawaiian Pizza : )

By the way, it is interesting that almost nobody wears masks in Idaho. Could it be related to all the Trump 2020 signs we have seen? : )

We were unable to secure a campsite (Saturday is a busy time around here) so we secured rooms at The Lodge in town.  Met Bill and Shirley, the owners of the lodge who were from Pittsburgh and NM and had a good conversation about life and this area.

Everybody crashed early. I managed to go for a walk in the woods around The Lodge and saw a couple of deer. A nice combination of development and nature co-existing.

The mining town of Wallace - a spaceship in front of our coffee place

The view of what we have done so far on a Garmin map

The Blue Cabin

After breakfast and a nice fire after a very cold night, we rode the rest of the Lolo trail down to meet Charles and Mike at Pierce. 

Now we know that they rode highway 12 on pavement to about past half way the Lolo trail and went up to meet it to catch up with us not realizing that we were still behind them at the Indian Post Office.

They got to Rocky Ridge Lake earlier than us and thought we went on so they left and kept going.

Once in Pierce, we loaded gas, water, and some snacks and head out to the trails. Chuck fell on the highway right before Pierce. A nice simple slide across the road with no issues.

The ride today was awesome as always. Up to the blue cabin. A nice cabin with some cots, small kitchen, and an outhouse for travelers to use when the owners are not around.  We had a nice lunch there. 

Chuck lost the bindings on one of his bags and managed to grind it against the rear wheel right before the cabin. No yard sale, but it required a lot of duct tape.

We arrived to Avery a nice historical town with a fully restored old dining train car, a jail bix, an old post office and a nice restaurant and bar with a great patio. Lots of people around enjoying the sun and a beautiful day.  

Chuck, Andy and I had some drinks and chicken wings as we waited for Charles and Mike.  Charles showed up (he took the wrong trail and ended up going around the mountain) but Mike was nowhere to be found.

Andy and I decided to go ahead to secure a campsite at Loop Creek while Charles and Chuck waited for Mike.  It is Friday after all and the locals are out for a day of fun in nature.  Good campsites could be hard to find. 

Eventually Mike showed up (he had gone up hill to look for Charles unsuccessfully) and headed to our campsite for the night.

We secured a great site by the creek.  Had a great dinner by the fire. Dunked in the river. Recounted the day's adventures and mishaps and went to bed. 

To fend off the cold, I got a silver reflective sheet out of my medical kit and wrapped my cot on it.  Magic!

Leaving the campsite at Rocky Ridge Lake

The Blue Cabin in the mountains

Oops - a parking mister and a tumble

The old jail in Avery

The train station

The restored dining car 

A nice plunge after a long and hot day of riding

The Indian Post Office

Great morning ride through dirt, rocks, twists, a little bit of pavement, sun, rivers, mountains.

I left my campsite and went to meet the guys at Darby.  I did not know they had to go to Hamilton to find a hotel so I met them there.

Mike had gone to Missoula to get his skid plate soldered and fixed and Charles went with him to buy some things also.  And and I went to have a great cappuccino and an amazing breakfast bagel with Pesto at Zoxam.

Andy, Chuck and I went ahead heading West on 12 to meet the beginning of the Lolo trail also known as the road Lewis and Clark took on their way West.  Mike and Charles would catch up later.

Wow. What a great paved road.  Scrapping pegs on TKC-80 tires! Once the dirt started the challenge began.  Lots of rocks and steep. Almost lost it once.

Managed to get to the summit to what is called the Indian Post Office at 7,000 ft.

We were greeted by the most expansive, impactful, view of the whole area below and mountain ranges around.  We decided to have a coffee and a snack break there and enjoy the sight.  

We finally made it to our campsite for the night at Rocky Ridge Lake in the middle of the Lolo trail.  What an idillic setting.

Set up camp and borrowed a saw from a campsite neighbor to get wood for the fires.  A great wood chopping adventure.  Always looking for bears.  

We waited for Mike and Charles to join us until we finally received a satellite message that they were in Pierce at the end of the trail at a hotel and that they would meet us there in the morning.

Great fire, great dinner (beef stroganoff), great conversation as always.  Nice dip in the lake and off to bed. 

I saw this contraption at the campsite this morning - is it to keep food away from bears?

A great expansive view of everything from here

Having lattes and coffee in the Lolo trail

Our campsite for the night at Rocky Ridge Lake

A Bus Riddled with Bullets

In the morning we rode a nice stretch next to a river with great sandbar beaches were people and families were picnicking, camping, and playing volleyball in what looked like a professional court.

Nights have been surprisingly cold.  My sleeping bag and wearing multiple layers do not seem to do the trick so I bought thermal underwear and a sweatshirt with a hoodie in Elk City thinking this will definitely do it.

 

Today, we crossed the famous Magruder corridor. A single track going from West to East connecting central Idaho to Montana.  

This single dirt corridor through the mountains has no bailouts or alternative routes.  A great ride riding the ridge of the mountain range with great views to both sides.

In the middle of the corridor, there is an "expert" steep road to the Burnt Know Fire Lookout.  So hard that after Charles almost goes over the cliff with motorcycle and all, we decided to turn around and go back down.  Chuck was the only one that made it all the way up ... at a price .... he managed to slice chunks off his tires' knobs and bend his front rim.

As we came over the other side in Montana, I decided to camp by the river and the rest went to look for a hotel in Darby which was still a couple of hours away.  I am beginning to love this camping business in nature (next to trees, rivers, etc.).  Once it started getting dark I realized I forgot to get something to protect myself against bears.  Oh well.

 

The rest found out that there were no hotels available in Darby (some movie filming event) so decided to head north to Hamilton.

Should I jump? Is it deep enough?

An abandoned bus used for target practice by the locals

Oops - bike is balancing on its cylinder head - a close call

The Magruder riders

Only for experts - nasty

A view from the campsite

A 6,000 ft. Drop

After our usual morning fire and breakfast, we picked up camp and hit the road.  

 

Today was a day of climbing.  From 5,000ft to 7,000ft to 5000ft to 8700ft to 3000ft.  All on unpaved mountain roads with incredible variations of terrain.

 

Mike had a little mishap and hit and uprooted a small pine tree going a bit too fast on a turn with deep sand. No issues. 

 

We went through a well preserved but uninhabited mining town. Ate a nice big burrito at Yellow Pine (a town of 30 people) and loaded gas out of a big tank at the general store.

 

We had a nice break under a bridge over the Salmor River under a great canopy of pine trees.

 

When coming down from the Elk Summit at 8700 to 3000ft on very steep downhill roads, I rode behind a guy on a mountain bicycle wearing only shorts and going downhill like a bat out of hell.  I could hardly keep up.  Amazing.

 

At the bottom, I talked to him and his wife and kids for a while who were waiting for him at the bottom. Crazy.

 

We finally arrived at our destination for camping at the famous Burgdorf hot springs area.  Unfortunately, the lodge with cabins and a big hot spring pool was closed because of the virus but we managed to take a walk and see the place. interesting.

 

We found a nice camping site next to a babbling brook tucked in the woods.  A long, hard, and fun day again.  Built a fire, cooked dinner, “bathed” in the brook, and went to sleep.

Picking up camp at the reservoir talking to our neighbor at the campsite

Yellow Pine, population 30.

Lunch and chilling under the bridge

Our campsite for the night in the Burgdorf area

The renowned hot springs pool at the Burgdorf lodge

Just a view at the very moment before the sun hid behind the mountains