MTB Guacamole Trail Video

Below is a GOPRO video of our excursion to Hurricane, Utah where we rode the Guacamole trail.  Good weather, great views, fun riding.

MTB Guacamole Hurricane from Tiago on Vimeo.

Mountain Biking in S Utah - Guacamole Trail outside of Hurricane/Zion

On another note, the phattie is built and ready for her glamor shots....updates to follow tomorrow.

MTB Hurricane Guac

Day 2 our of mini vacation took down to Hurricane where we rented a bike from Over the Edge and heading up to the mesa north of Gooseberry to ride the Guacamole trail.  The rental was a nice Rocky Mountain with lots of cush.  It was heavy as a tank but did not ride as heavy as it weighed...you can perhaps say it was big boned....

We headed up to the mesa and took turns riding/watching the dogs.  We got up there and had the mesa to ourselves - by the time we got done riding, we had lots of company.  The strangest might have been when I returned from my ride to find the missus hanging with the dogs and a mormon family in the same area cutting down firewood.  It was strange because at the time there was no one else up at the mesa but they had to choose the same location to crank up two loud chainsaws.  The weirdest thing of all though was what they said when they pulled up....the asked the missus if she minded if they stopped there for a picnic.  Apparently 'picnic' is mormon code for busting out chainsaws and increasing the decibel levels for a while.  When I got back from my ride and heard the chainsaw action, we quickly got in the car and re-located down the road where the chainsaws were at least muffled a little more.  Ahhh, the sweet sounds of the outdoors.  Mental note:  must learn mormon code mo' betta'

The weather was still amazing (perhaps even perfect) and we were treated to some great riding and phenomenal views overlooking Zion.  The riding on the Guacamole trail was not as technical as Gooseberry or Gander but was certainly still enough to keep you thoroughly engaged and on your tek game - any lapse in focus or judgement could make for a bad day as there could be consequences.  It too had some exposed riding near the rim edges but not nearly as exposed as you felt on parts of Gooseberry.

The riding generally felt like it had a little more flow but you had to pay particular attention to the cairns that marked the way because it was super easy to get off track and not see where the trail went.  All in all, it was a big thumbs up - the missus and I both got some riding in and the dogs got in another great round of play.  By the end of the day, they would be exhausted.

Some pix of the Guac trail:
looking towards Zion:

 The mesa was rockier than at first glance:

 it looked like there had been a recent burn too:

not a shabby way to spend the turkey mini holiday.....

MTB: Big Hole Video

Video of the ride on another segment of the Bitterroot CDT

Big views, rugged terrain and rough riding.

MTB: BItterroot Pix 2

More pix from the ride on Sat:

at the saddle after some serious hike a bike - 360 degree views

 at the saddle - looking north

 saddle looking west

 saddle looking south

 descending - snow on some north facing slopes - great alpine views

 looking west on the descent

 getting ready to climb out of the trough again

 hard to keep the eyes on the trail with so much scenery!

 morning light

MTB: Bitterroot Pix 1

Below are some pix from our ride on Saturday - will post more tomorrow considering there were so many keepers!

The 'Roots' from afar....

 one of the many alpine lakes we went by on our first climb

 very peaceful and serene....the steep climbing soon to begin...

 after the first set of tightie, steep switchies looking back at the lake we just left:

 Hike a Bike - super steep hike a bike to gain the saddle:

 Looking back down the trail we just hiked up - wildflowers in full regalia!

 and what would it be without a good panoramic shot?

 Beautiful views helped to off-set the steep hike a bike action

part 2 of pix to follow tomorrow...also working on a vid of the day...

BC Bike Race - Photog Pix

The wifer surprised me a while back and purchased some of the pix taken by the BCBR photogs...here they be:

MTB: Sula Nat Forest

The upside of taking a few wrong turns on Saturday was that we got to see and ride a lot more than what we had planned originally.  We were originally going to stay in the same area to ride but we ended up riding most of what was on our original plans on Saturday as opposed to over 2 days.  There is tons more riding to explore in the area but we wanted to taste something a little different without having to commit to a big climb or big loop.

We ended up heading back over to the Chief Joseph Pass area and did an out & back where we hooked into the trail junction to the CDT.  We meandered along a creek for a few miles and then the trail veered off to the right and got steep!  It was a stroll in the park until the pitch kicked up and put the hammer down.  The grade was not un-rideable, but the combo trail and trail state made a couple of spots rather difficult to ride and ended up resorting to a little hike a bike.

Along the way we checked out the USFS cabin in the meadow and then continued on up the trail.  Fall is in the air and the colors of the leaves are changing.  It will be prime time over the next couple of weeks as the days get shorter.

After our lost medley day on Saturday, it was nice to do an easy out/back with not turns to worry about and no route to figure out.  It definitely got me geeked about going back and exploring more though - there is just so much to check out that way.

We ran into several hikers who were all super chatty.  We also ran into a Forest Service lady who was super nice and told us the last person to stay at the cabin in the meadow saw a moose & bear so the critters are definitely around.

Here is the junction to the CDT:

 heading down towards the Pass:

 heading back up from the Pass direction:

 along the creek:

 one of the little meadows along the creek:

MTB: Bitterroot Video

A little video from Saturday's excursion:

MTB: Bitteroot Lost Medley

As the Fall closes in on us, the mad scramble to squeeze every ounce of good weather and daylight is on! We loaded up the Airstream on Friday and busted out to the Bitterroot Valley to explore some riding in the area.  I had been looking at maps and talking to to folks to get beta and there seem to be a lot of great riding to be had.

Shortly after the wifer got home, we were on the road and like the Blues Brothers, we were on a mission, albeit a different one than theirs.  Fortunately, the camping area was really quiet and we were able to find a site all to ourselves with no neighbors around so it gave the dogs plenty of space to run around and tree squirrels all weekend.  I think the change in weather has deterred people from going out because the campsites were not busy and the trails even less so.  We did talk to some equestrians and one other biker but if felt like we had to the trails to ourselves once again.

It worked out well because it was cool enough that we were able to leave the dogs in the airstream while we rode and when we got done the weather and recent frosts had pretty much eliminated all signs of mosquitoes.

We headed out on Saturday with the intention of going on a ride for about 16-20 miles....We missed a couple of trail markers (that were not exactly well placed - as in, under some branches after a critical junction - as opposed to at a junction) and the ride turned into a 34 mile jaunt through most of the trails in the immediate area.  The benefit was that we got to see a tick off a bunch of awesome riding!  I call it the Lost Medley due to all the back-tracking we did but it was worth all the epicness that ensued!

The views were just spectacular.  The low point of the ride was around 4,400 ft while the high point took us to about 7,700 ft.  There was a lot of climbing on the day (around 5,300 ft) and some of it was of the steep butt kicking type! 

We started along a creek-bed for a few miles...rocky and a little tekkie in places - snaked up the valley

 ran into this USFS cabin about 6 miles in

 continued up the valley

 back into the trees - that slope must stay really wet based on the lichen on the trees

 gained the summit saddle (where we missed our turn for our original laid out ride)

 rode through some burn areas:

 then eventually back-tracked over to where we were supposed to go

 and the descent was ON

 great Fall colors through the burn - amazing how lush the undergrowth was in the burn areas!

 Gotta' love a trail that you can see winding below you...WOOHOO

All in all, it was a long, but very good day...enough to want to go back and explore some more.  We got a lot of riding in but there is TONS more to be had...

MTB: Bangtail Divide

On the menu for the ride agenda for Saturday was a trip over to Bozeman to ride the much talked about Bangtail Divide trail.  It is a 31 mile loop (or 23 miles if you do it as a shuttle).  I opted for the loop since the return was around 7-8 miles on a paved road...once you got done with a little climb, it was mostly downhill back to the car.

The excitement of the day was seeing a bear barreling through the brush as I was bombing downhill and apparently spooked him/her.  I decided to keep the foot on the gas as it was on the uphill side of me and trying to run away.   As it turned out it was running sorta' parallel to me and going uphill at the same time to get away.  It stayed with me for a good few seconds and I kept watching as it hauled booty up the hill.  I was probably going close to 20 mph at that downhill section so he must have been going slightly faster to be busting off at an angle going uphill while more or less keeping pace.  Pretty damn cool!  I figured it was a good idea not to linger because I had no idea how big it was and whether it was young and mama bear was lurking somewhere....don't think I could have outridden a pissed off mama bear!

The Bangtail Divide trail parallels the Bridger range so once you gain the crest, it opens up into amazing views of the Bridgiers, with views of the Crazy's in the background too.

Looking West at the Bridgers

 looking South and capturing the Sotuh end of the Bridgers:

 Looking North and capturing the North end of the Bridgers:

 Obligatory bike portrait with the North end of the Bridgers:

Details of the ride:

I decided to do the route from south to north (or counter-clockwise) as this seem to be the way everyone recommended.  The ride starts with a 2000 ft climb up to the ridge where you roll along the ridgeline for a while and then get a really fun and fast downhill.  The uphill had many switchies but the trail was not all that steep or technical so it made the climbing plesant.  

Rumor has it that this was built as a bike specific trail but unfortunately, you can tell that moto's have been on it and have trashed sections of the trail with deep craters where they throttle it through the mud when conditions are still wet.  You had to pay particular attention to the downhills because you would scream around a corner and have to dodge pot-holes that would toss you off your bike in a NY minute.

 As can be seen from the topo below, there are killer views of the Bridgers (range snaking from bottom left to top left - or north to south in this case).