So I'm trying to get as much riding as I can this fall before Joycie gives birth to JJ. To that end, I went riding with my buddy Ron last weekend north of Avery, ID and this weekend he offered to show me around the area east of Sandpoint, ID. We rode up Trestle Creek Road to the very end, which winds up into the mountains and peaks out at Lunch Peak. There's a really cool lookout there, which Ron says can be rented. Can you imagine waking up to this view?
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| Lunch Peak in the morning sun... |
See that little road in the valley? That's Lightening Creek road, which we will be going down to find the trail leading to Porcupine Lake. Dipshit that I am, I ruined this perfect picture with the damn date...I be a little pizissed about it...maybe I can photoshop it out?
On the way, we took a small detour to Char Falls...
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| Upper Char Falls |
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| The main water fall (150 ft?) |
...finally realized the date stamp was turned on... doh!
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| Lower Char Falls |
Ridin' the road to Lightening Creek...this is the road we saw from Lunch Peak earlier that morning.
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| Lightening Creek Road |
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| Lightening Creek |
This is the beginning of the trail...yes is starts off as a 'creek' crossing. This is looking back at the trail head, which is about 100 yards beyond that trail marker in the middle of the rock bed. I have to admit, I got my feet wet...there are some mighty slick rocks under that foot of water! Ron was telling me that he used to be able to drive into this lake, but after the spring runoff destroyed half a dozen bridges over the years it's designated as a trail now. This must be one gnarly river in the spring...
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| Ron on the Pogostick |
So this is where it got REALLY rocky. I'm starting to understand that any old road or trail in or around Montana is granite rocky, beat-the-shit out of you rough. To make it worse on Ron, he's riding a '95 XR200 that he bought brand new. There is ZERO oil left in the rear shock and I'm pretty sure there's not much left in the two front ones. But the rest of the bike looks great! I have to chuckle a little bit when I follow him...the rear fender looks like it's hooked to a paint-shaker...can't imagine what that does to a guy's tush...
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| Porcupine Lake |
After an equally rocky return down the trail back to Lightening Creek Road, we decided to check out Wellington Creek road, which Ron hadn't been on before. This 'road' was also extremely rocky. I couldn't decide if it was smoother the faster I went or not...all I know is my hands fell asleep from holding on so tight! I really need to get some grips too...there's ZERO cush left in them...
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| Ron bouncing up Wellington Creek Road |
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| View from Wellington Creek Road |
At the top, we saw two really promising trails calling our names and I had a good 30 miles left of gas. But we also saw two un-manned 4-wheelers...one of which had a plastic rifle case bolted to it. I thought for sure rifle season hadn't started yet, and we were only packing a pistol and revolver. I didn't like our odds...so we headed down the 489 trail to Avery. Guess we'll just have to come back and check it out another day!
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| Lake Pend Oreille from the trail |
the trail down was strictly 4-wheeler and motorcycle trail, so it was pretty good. It was also steep enough that I was able to coast down most the way. At the end of the ride, I found that I probably had enough gas for another 20-30 miles. Really makes me wish we would have taken a few more trails! Oh well...more for next time...
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| Track of loop |
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