W Yellowstone Sunday Ride Report

Saturday's ride was just a pre-amble to the amble (ok, not so much of an amble but it was a 'pre' to whatever it is we did on Sunday).  Sunday's ride ranks right up there with Curly Lake in terms of both the physical nature (more climbing than Curly) and the scenic views.

Sunday's ride included over 25 miles of riding at elevation, peaking at 10,000 ft, gaining over 6,000ft in total elevation, and bushwhacking/trailfinding.  The diversity of the landscape we went through was pretty spectacular...it included typical drainage riding with birch, aspen, pine...some above tree line riding, some old growth riding, some meadow riding, some scary steep descent riding, some cow path riding, some creek crossings, some grizz country poop your pants riding, etc.....now that I think about it, it was just another day in the saddle in Montana country...buck up there cowboy!  The profile looked a little something like:

There were two major climbs for the day and the first came right off the bat, soon after you clipped into your pedals.  The trail worked its way up the mile creek drainage via a countless number of switchbacks (stopped counting at 20 - ok ok, truth be told that I ran out of fingers and toes after that) that eventually put you on the saddle where it also linked up with the CDT:

If you stepped to the right side of the sign you were officially in Idaho....if you stepped to the left, you were in Montana, if you straddled the line you were in Montaho (not to be confused with Mount a Ho') and yet I digress.....The grind up to the saddle did not mean the climbing was yet over as there was still another 800 ft of elevation gain to get to the Targhee Divide which sits right around 10,000 ft.  This junction in the picture above provided a great opportunity to see just where you started earlier in the day.  We started all the way down in the Valley almost 3,000 ft below - big views with amazing vista's (from the department of redundancy department)

The picture above is looking west into Montana.  The picture below is looking southwest into Idaho:

The trail snaked its way up to the Targhee Divide which opened up into guess what??? great views:

We were right at tree line which made for some open views looking north towards Hebgen Lake and the Targhee drainage (drainage heading from left to right in the pic).  The good news is that we were about to start a nice long hard earned descent.  What was amazing is that you could see all the way over to the Tetons and make out their distinct silhouette off in the distance...you could also see Yellowstone, the Gallatin Range (and probably a lot more if I knew what else I was looking at).

Looking back in the direction that we came from, it was neat to see the singletrack working its way up the mountain to the divide (might have to enlarge the pic below to see the trail working its way from the lower left of the pic to the upper right).

The start of the descent included multiple tight switchbacks through some very striated sandstone looking rock that reminded me a lot of Calico Basin in Red Rocks, Nevada - crazy that there was such a mixture of rock in that area...from this sandstone to limestone to granite

We descended for about 1500 ft before we came through this great meadow that made me think of old western movies (although I have to admit it felt a little like being grizzly bait on the proverbial fishing pole through some of these meadows)...

I did have my trusty bear spray just in case but continue to hold out hope that it will never have to be used...instead the I try the loud biker approach so as not to startle them if they are in the area...there had been some grizz action through this trail earlier in the year when the Forest Service shut the trail down for a bit...some dead cows that died naturally served as yummy appetizers for a hungry grizz and the Forest Service eventually went in and as the legend goes, they TNT'd (and I don't mean blaring the AC/DC tune) the carcasses...flying carcass notwithstanding, we did not see any bear (although I did see some bear scat).
I was hoping to catch the last of the fall foliage but it appeared as though the peak had come and gone, although there were a couple of spots where the aspen were in full effect:

This was partially up the last 2,500 ft climb of the day...which led you into a meadow up high where the trail totally disappeared and once again it felt like grizzly bait:

After following the gut up and through the meadow, it took a while to find the trail at the other side of the meadow that would eventually lead to the promised land that I like to call 'downhill'.  At this point the shadows were getting long and it was time to get moving...

The downhill was a little scary...it was STEEP, narrow, and off camber...the switchbacks were so tight that there was no way to ride them...at all!!!  For the next series of switchbacks I would ride to the switchback, have to dismount, turn my bike around and ride to the next one...it was super sketch...anyone in their right mind would have walked it considering if you accidentally fell off your bike, you would not stop rolling for about 100 ft.  The approach to the downhill was also a little eerie.  You came on it and it just dropped off the side of the mountain and all you saw immediately in front of you was what looked like a huge abyss - it was in part an optical illusion because that mountain on the other side of the valley was in the shade but it was definitely not a place for someone with agoraphobia.