Gros Ventre River behind Gros Ventre Campground
As we got into the car, we noticed a man walking down the road carrying a fully set up tent. He was walking down the center of the road like he was a vehicle and didn't even move when we got behind him. We snapped pictures as we creeped along behind him. Then he turned off the road and into the woods. I have no idea where he was going, but the campground "traffic" had us laughing as we pulled out and headed for Idaho.
Campground traffic
We passed through Jackson and over Teton Pass again, dropping back down into Victor, ID for the second time this week. We stopped for milkshakes again at the Victor Emporium, then drove further north to the town of Driggs. We then turned west toward the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. Our destination for the day was the Horseshoe Canyon trails inside the national forest. It was my first time to ride in Idaho and I was pretty excited about it. We had some trouble finding the parking area. Once we did find a parking lot, there were no signs or anything mentioning mountain biking, only a list of rules for snowmobiling on a sign riddled with bullets. We finally saw some other mountain bikers and some dirt bike riders. One of the dirt bike guys told me to climb up the gravel road out of the parking lot and it would take me to the trails. It didn't look exactly like the map I had printed off of a random mountain bike trail website, but it was close enough that I went with it and began climbing. Again, I went out first to scout and then planned to come back and take Shannon on the more tame trails that I found if there were any.
Just after entering the Caribou-Targhee National Forest
My map wasn't the best, but I could tell that something wasn't right. I climbed for two miles and saw no signs of anything resembling a trail. Then I came up to a doubletrack path going off to my right, which is the direction where I thought the singletrack should be. I saw a few mountain bike tire tracks, so I opted to try this path. It quickly turned into the steepest trail I have ever encountered, going straight up the side of the mountain. I was able to ride most of the climb, but then it became so rocky that I had to get off and hike-a-bike for a while. When I got to the top, all I could see was more double track crossing the ridge. No singletrack anywhere. The wind was howling at about 30 mph across the top of this mountain. I rode another mile and then called Shannon to inform her I was lost and frustrated. I gave her a general idea of where I was, then continued down the doubletrack, hoping to run into the trails or the road we drove in on. I came across a dead cow skeleton at one point which was kind of creepy.
Doubletrack on the ridge
That was a cow...
I finally found another doubletrack trail to the right and I took it. It was a fast descent with many huge rollers that were perfect for jumping. Finally, I found a reason to smile on this ride! Then things got even better. This doubletrack dumped me out in a parking lot where the real trailhead was. It turns out we parked at the wrong place. The real parking lot was up a nasty gravel road that I thought no way would have been a road to the trailhead. There is no way our car could have driven up that road. A trail map was posted at the start of the Bovine trail and I was able to orient myself correctly.
I climbed up Bovine for several miles to get back up onto the same ridge I had been on before. Turns out that if I had continued down the first doubletrack road on the ridge, I would have run into the singletrack trails in another half-mile. I cruised around Sodbuster and Cody's trail. Both were fun, but very tough with a lot of climbing. There was one section on Cody's that was a super flowy stretch through some huge pines. That was one of the best sections of trail I have ever ridden. There was also a lot of cows on Cody's as this area is full of free-range cattle. There are hundreds of cattle on that mountain.
Looking toward Driggs and the backside of the Tetons from the top of Bovine
I came to a crossroads of multiple trails at the end of Cody's. I hoped to make a loop on the north end of the trail system, then take the popular Shark's Belly trail back toward the car. I got lost yet again due to some poor trail marking on that north section and had to back-track to the trail junction. I was tired now after so much difficult climbing at high elevation. I decided to just take Shark's Belly back to Bovine and end this ride.
Shark's Belly was awesome! The trail was mostly descending from Cody's to Bovine, providing some fast, flowing singletrack deep in the woods. Some sections of the trail were covered in pine needles, but they still had good grip. This was probably the most fun trail I have ever ridden. It's just some good, flowing singletrack. No berms, no jumps and no over-benching. Just classic trail in the forest. The descent down Bovine was also very fun, but there were a lot of hikers coming up so I had to hold back a bit as sight is limited in several spots. There were a few other trails I would like to have ridden, but I was too tired and out of time after being lost for most of the ride. There was nothing for Shannon to ride here, so my day was done. The climbing here is much too difficult for her to enjoy the ride.
Some wood on Shark's Belly
Below is a video of some of the trails around Horseshoe Canyon filmed from my GoPro mounted on my handlebar.
Video: Handlebar cam from Horseshoe Canyon
We took the scenic route from Horseshoe Canyon south toward the Utah border on our way to Gma's house in South Jordan. We visited another part of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest between Victor and Swan Valley on Hwy. 31. We then made our way southeast through Palisades and past the huge Palisades Reservoir and Dam, which is filled by the Snake River. We continued on backroads through southern Idaho past the small towns of Wayan and Soda Springs, passing many free-range cattle areas and the Blackfoot Reservoir. There were cattle in the road in some places. You really have to be on your toes when you drive here.
Golden fields in southern Idaho
Palisades Reservoir
Our goal was to get to Bear Lake before dark, but it was dusk as we arrived. We didn't get to see it clearly, but I could still see it is a huge lake. Bear Lake straddles the state line of Idaho and Utah. We drove the western side of the lake, then traveled down the twisting canyon road of Hwy. 89 into Logan, UT. It took us forever to get to Logan. We were tired by this point and the last hour and a half to reach Gma's house felt like an eternity. Thankfully, we had college football on the radio to keep us occupied. Amber was at the BYU-UCLA game in Provo so we listened to it as we finished our drive under a huge full moon. We rolled into the house really late, but everyone was still up to greet us. Shannon's mom flew out to spend the week with us as well. We were worn out and happy to be sleeping in a real bed in a warm house for the first time in over a week!
Evening near the Idaho-Utah border
Sunday was a day of rest and catching up with the family. Utah felt so nice after dealing with the harsh weather we had in parts of Wyoming. It was sunny and in the 80s. It felt good to be back somewhere we are familiar with and I couldn't wait to get on my bike and hit up some good trails! I had one week until my target race for the end of the season at the Snowbird Ultra Hill Climb.
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