2023 Idaho Trip Ride Report

[Larry M]

58 Mile Checkout Ride Day Zero

Rode a nearby loop just to make sure all was well before we make the 800 mile loop. The only thing I forgot was sunglasses. Call me crazy, but the sunlight seems brighter here in Idaho.



Below are videos during our checkout ride. We got to an elevation of 8,900 feet. We averageed 20.1 miles per hour. Absolutely awesome views.







The temperature gauge shows 89 degrees, but doesn't feel close to that.

Its just Tom, Tim, and I. Tomorrow, Charlie will join us.

More pictures and video at the link below.

larrymccallie.smugmug.com/2023-Idaho-Trip

Larry

[Lonnie W]

Nice pictures Larry, you guy's ride safe please.

[Larry M]

We are in Darby, Montana now. Traveled 120 miles. We got as high as 8,697 feet and average speed was 17.5 mph, but there was a 25 mile stretch where we went 50mph on paved road. Had to stay on the road. There was no way on trails. Saw some petroglyphs. Went up to Blue Nose Lookout.



Here are a few pics and vids.



















Larry

[David B]

Thx for letting us ride along

[Larry M]

2023 Idaho Trip Day 2

We are near Elk City, Idaho now. Got some discouraging news. Charlie's Yamaha Wolverine RMAX transmission locked up just 4.6 miles from where we will be staying for the night. Tried pulling him with my tow rope, but all I did was drag his machine closer to the side of the road. Front wheels will roll, but his back wheels just skidded when I pulled it. Now on to the good news and today's ride report. When we got to South Fork Junction, which is the name our cabin and restaurant for the night, Charlie talked to the owner of the establishment. And lo and behold, the owner said he would pick up Charlie's RMax off the side of the road and bring it to a secure location at his fine establishment. Even better, the owner is willing to take Charlie all the way back to Salmon, ID where his truck and trailer is located. We are 381 miles on the road from Salmon. How about that for hospitality. We hate that Charlie won't be with us for the rest of the trip, but he has a way to get him and his SxS back home. You won't believe how far in the boonies we are. The nearest towing outfit is 30 miles away. All around I think Charlie got some luck with a bad roll of the dice.

Here's today's ride report. We traveled 144 miles to the only gas station in the town of Elk City. Its not a city, its not even a town. Is at most one block of buildings. But there is gas! Why the exclamation mark you ask? Because I had no idea I would be able to go 144 miles on a tank of gas on my SxS. I have 8 gallons of gas packs in the back of my SxS, but I didn't have to use it. Nobody ran out of gas. We all made it without going to the extra gas we were carrying.

We did make one side trip on our journey today. That was to Trappers Peak which added 16 miles to our trip. We also came across one incident. A group of 3 motorcycle riders were stopped alongside the trail and flagged us down. One motorcycle rider had hit a rock and knocked a piece of his oil pan off. He lost all his oil. The guy had some JB Weld which he used to glue the piece of oil pan back on. However, no one in the group had any extra oil. So Tom and I each gave him our two quarts of oil. They were very very grateful. When we got back into Elk City, which is not a city, we also bought oil in addition to filling up with gas. We averaged 16.6 miles per hour. Below are videos and pictures of our ride today. Absolutely awesome and stark views. You'll see.



This is Tim. He's sitting on an outcrop with a view of Trapper's Peak. Trapper's Peak elevation is 10,157 feet. We got as high as 8,131 feet today. I didn't get on the outcrop because I was too chicken. There was a crack in the rock, so I said nope nope nope. I'm waiting for Tim to send me a picture of Trapper's Peak, because I did not get on the outcrop, but Tim did.

[Larry M]

2023 Idaho Trip Day 3

Arrived in Riggins, Idaho, which by the way has no drug store, no hardware store, and no eyewear clinic. The little screws on my eyeglasses are very loose. The arms of the glasses wiggle badly. Used a pencil eraser to tighten the screws. I think it'll hold out till we get to the town of Stanley two days from now. Cross fingers. Anyway, we traveled 135 miles. We saw old growth forests and some of the deepest canyons of the whole trip.



Below are sites we saw.

[Bob T]

Sorry to hear about Charlie, he drove a long way.

[Nelson B]

That does suck for Charlie!!

Reading your report and looking at the pics sure does make me jealous! Idaho was my favorite scenic riding yet and I cannot wait to return!

You guys stay safe and don't let the grizzlies or mountain lions get you!

[Randy_R]

Definitely jealous of your trip. Hate it for Charlie. Yamaha really needs to work on RMAX - too many tranny and differential issues. I would hate to think about 381 miles back to truck and broken down. I would have tried to ride with one of y’all then pick up SxS once trip is over.

Thanks for ride reports.

[David B]

Larry, You are doing a wonderful job of documenting the trip! Your vids are great. Keep it up.

[Larry M]

2023 Idaho Trip Day 4

Didn't have Wi-Fi nor cell phone service in Wapiti. Did this report is a day late.

Today, we rode 155 miles from Riggins, ID to Wapiti Meadow Ranch where we will stay for night. On the way out, we stopped at a rest area. At the rest area, there was a plum tree. I ate a few of the plums. I liked them so much I filled up a large ziplock bag and snacked on them throughout the ride. I saw several elk as we were leaving Riggins. They were in a fenced area so I guess those elk aren't considered wildlife.

We had three excursions this time. First excursion was to California Lake. On the way back to the main trail, we came across our second excursion, a manned ranger station. The Ranger station was named WarEagle. One elderly gentleman and his dog manned the outpost. He said he had been there since June 22, 2023, almost 3 months. He let us walk around the wraparound catwalk upstairs. That's where a took one of the videos.

Next stop was lunch at Stage Stop Food and Gas. I got 3 gallons of gas at $10 a gallon. Tim got 4 gallons and Tom got 4.5 gallons.

Our third excursion was a mountain top called Outlook which has an elevation of 9,101 feet, which currently is the highest point we've been to so far.

We then stopped for dinner in a small dirt road community called Yellow Pine. We arrived at 4:59pm. The store which is the only place that has gas closes at 5:00pm. We got lucky. Gas here is $9 a gallon. It took 5.1 gallons to fill my tank.

As I mentioned, we are staying at Wapiti Meadow Ranch. We saw mule deer along the route and they are in the meadow where we are staying. Oh, and I did see either a weasel or a small badger.





















Larry

[Larry M]

2023 Idaho Trip Day 5

We are in Stanley, Id now. No scenic pictures today. It rained all day. Clouds obscured everything. Stanley has a view of the Sawtooth Mountains, but not today. Temperatures were in the low 50s and stayed that way the whole trip. I had an insulated rainsuit, but still got thoroughly wet. Had to change into dry clothes when we got into the cabin. Went only 115 miles today. We had one side trip which was to Warm Lake. The lake was not warm. But we did find a cafe serving breakfast. Wapiti, our last night's stay had on food whatsoever.



Larry

[Nelson B]

Too bad about the rain on your day in Stanley...the views of the Sawtooth Mtns. is amazing! Several miles outside of that small town is one of the two overnight places that Carver and I camped. View of the Sawtooths, night sky and wolves howling overnight were memorable. I loved Stanley!!

[Nelson B]

Talked with Tom yesterday. Unfortunately, Tom's oldest dog (Montana?) is very sick and they headed home as he feels he may have to have the dog put down. They have skipped the Wyoming portion of the trip. That's tough!

[Larry M]

We are home now. Didn't have time post anything until now.

2023 Idaho Trip Day 6
We are back at Syringa Lodge in Salmon, Idaho. We travelled a whopping 206 miles. We intended to stay in Challis, ID, then on to Salmon the next day. Instead, we got gas in Challis and kept going. Leaving Stanley, the clouds lifted just enough to take a picture of the Sawtooth Mountain range.  The clouds and rain then closed in as we began climbing up mountain sides.  As we reached close to 10,000 feet, gale force winds and sleet threatened to blow us off the trail.  We came upon around 30 dead trees across our trail.  We were able to drive over or around most.  We got out several times to push the trees off the trail.  Nine trees were too big.  We got out my chainsaw and cut them off the trail.  Tim is now a certified lumberjack.  It took us 3 hours to go 20 miles.  Sometimes, we could only travel a hundred yards, before we came up on another downed dead tree.  We considered turning back, but figured we'd have to cut our way back to Stanley on newly downed trees.  At one point, we actually saw a tree come down.  That's how bad the wind was howling and blowing.  We just kept going and hoped for the best. We finally got onto the other side of the mountain and started going downhill. We made a short side trip to an old mining camp and stopped for lunch. When we got to Challis, we gassed up and kept going. This is the last post for our trip. Can't wait to go back and do it all over again....except for maybe the trail with all the downed trees. There were hundreds of side trails that we could have explored.

[davyw]

Thanks Larry for such an amazing job with your reporting and pictures and videos.... This trip is definitelyon my bucket list.... Travel safe on your way back to NC..