Kade's Bonus Day & Curly Battle Ride

I felt a bit bad Kade really only got half a day of fun Wednesday, so when it was just him and me Saturday morning I decided we'd do the other stuff I had planned.

First up, Donut Falls. I'd never been there. It's a short hike. The falls aren't impressive, but it's a pleasant alpine setting with a stream. Kade and I scrambled around on the rocks below the falls. Then we floated stick boats and threw rocks. Simple stuff, but he loved it.



Plenty of flowers along the hike. I don't think I've seen this one before:



Next we drove up to Silver Lake. I expected the typical deep mountain lake surrounded by rock. But Silver Lake is shallow and marshy. There is a boardwalk loop around the lake. We watched these ducks for a while:



Then out on one of the fishing platforms we saw a large bird of prey flying over the lake. With it's white head I wondered for a moment if it was a Bald Eagle. One of the fishermen said it was an Osprey. It perched on the tip top of a large pine tree near the lake. I kept an eye on it. A few minutes later it dropped from the tree top and soared over the lake. Then it tucked it's wings and plunged into the lake and took off with a fish in it's talons. It amazed me that, so near civilization with people all around and opportune timing, we were able to watch this. I took a photo, but the camera only has 3x zoom so it just looks like a splash.



Back in the car we drove over Guardsman Pass then over to The Canyons to see Jolene at the final ICup race of the season. It was fun to see and chat with many MTB friends. Rain forced us inside for the awards.

Kade liked the gondola ride.




Curly Battle Ride

Back home I went for a mountain bike ride.

I've been wanting to do this ride for a while - I call it the Curly Battle loop. Starting from the firing range trail head, up Water Tank road, up Betty then left on 051, drop into Dry Canyon then climb out the other side, climb past Curly Springs and around the front of Big Baldy, drop down into Battle Creek Canyon, descend Battle Creek then take BST back to the trail head.

13 miles and 3000 feet of climbing. Took me 2.5 - 3 hours.



051 north of Dry Canyon is a good climb, but the recent rain (and water running down the trail) made it more loose than usual.

I've gone up 051 out of Battle Creek, but never descended it. It's steep, but surprisingly not that technical.

It's been years since I last went down Battle Creek. It's on par with Grove in terms of steepness, loose shale and technical features. I'll admit I walked a few places. Near the end my front brake started squealing and it sounded funny the rest of the ride (looks like the pads were worn out).

The BST climb hurt more, and I took it slower, than usual. The rest was mostly downhill and good fun.

I enjoyed this loop. The climbing is grunty but doable. The downhill is sweet, and with the addition of Battle Creek, more technical. The higher altitude and Battle Creek add to the scenery factor.

Kade's Day

I took Wednesday off to watch Kade since Jamie had to work, and Jolene and the other girls are at camp this week. So it was to be a guys day.

Started early (5:30 AM) being woken up by a Thunderstorm. The clouds were low and the lightning struck near and often. Here's a short video of a few lightning flashes. The one at the end was close and loud.



Slept in a little then a leisurely breakfast.

Turned on the computer to discover the internet was out. Turns out the access point was fried. Headed out to buy a new one.

On the way back I asked Kade what he wanted to do, he chose golf. We had a good time at the miniature golf course at Cascade.





Then it was lunch time. He chose Carl's Jr., for the playground. He played in the rat maze for an hour while I played games on my phone. He was having fun so I rolled with it.



I had planned to take Kade to Big Cottonwood Canyon to see Donut Falls and Silver Lake, but the rain was back and I needed to help my neighbor replace his fried DSL modem - that storm did some damage.

Finished the day with pizza and movies at my neighbor's house.

It was fun to spend a day with my boy.


It's been a while since my last update. I've been out riding - a few morning rides, more evening rides (MTB and road). Helping my wife get ready for camp took some time. Saw Inception, it's been many months since I've seen a movie that good. Went out to dinner with friends. You know, the usual stuff. Life if good.

Report From Kade's Teacher

Looking for something on the counter I came across this note from Kade's teacher:



I'm pleased he's "one of the nicest students" and "not once did anyone complain of Kade hitting them, etc." (etc. ?).

A bit concerned that hitting was a problem.

I'm amused the teacher concluded that because no one hit Kade it means everyone likes him. I'll take that. Even though guys prize toughness, in practice it's better to avoid a fight altogether.

A "great sense of humor" I can believe. He's often clowning around at home making us laugh. (He excels at PBF humor, and belching.)

"He is also courageous". Uh, really? Did he lead the charge in dodgeball? Defend a girl's honor? Probably not. This is 1st grade. Perhaps he stood up for himself or a classmate, or simply walked up to the front of the class when the teacher asked him to. I'd like to ask Mrs. Greene about this.

Kade reads quite a bit so I'm not surprised he's doing well. But math, don't all kids hate math? I guess if he dislikes it he's still good at it.

I found a few things in this note amusing but overall I'm glad Mrs. Greene took the time to gives us some feedback. Teaching is a noble profession and teachers don't get enough accolades. Thank you, Mrs. Greene, for instructing my son.

Update: Watcher caught the misuse of the word confidant. Funny.

Darth Vader Falls On Hard Times

One minute you’re the 2nd most powerful man in the universe, the next minute you’re robbing banks on some primitive planet called Earth way out in the boonies.


But you've still got force choke.



Hang in there, Vader.

Sun Valley, Day 4 - Elk Mountain

After four days of riding we were getting worn down so we wanted a light ride before heading home. Elk Mountain was was the perfect last ride.

We drove to Stanley Lake and leisurely climbed the 450 feet of dirt road up to the trail head. From here it was a gentle down slope through trees and glades with enough rocks and roots to keep it interesting.



Then we emerged into a large and lovely meadow sprinkled with wildflowers and bounded by tree-covered hills and mountains.



We turned right and followed the edge of the meadow and then followed a picturesque stream for a ways.



Then the trail rolled along the forested north skirt of Elk Mountain until we crossed another fairly-large meadow. The trail here was downhill and fast as we flew across the meadow.



With a fantastic view of McGown Peak.



The last few miles of double-track were anti-climatic, but worth it for all the good single-track that preceded it. Back at the car we changed and headed for home.


Sun Valley Summary

I read lots of good reports about Sun Valley. It seemed like a sure bet, but you never know for sure. I'm happy to say that we really enjoyed the trails we rode in Sun Valley / Stanley.

Redfish Lake was our least favorite because we had to push our bikes uphill a lot. But the settings is amazing. Alex rode it and reported that if we had gone the other direction the climb was fine for bikes. So my bad for not going the direction the guidebook suggested.

Andy told me he was disappointed that many of the trails were loose and chewed up from motorcycles. We did see two motos in Greenhorn Gulch - they were courteous. And of all the trails Greenhorn seemed the most chewed up by motos. It was kinda loose and had some trenches and whoops from the motos, but it wasn't bad and I still enjoyed riding there. There was some impact from motos on Potato Mountain, but it didn't degrade the ride much. The other rides were fine.

I was a little disappointed that I couldn't do the big ride I had planned: from 4th of July Lake, down Warm Springs, up Pigtail and down Williams. There was too much snow on the high ridge the trail crosses and Warm Springs Creek was so swollen with runoff that 8 big guys had to lock arms to cross it. Perhaps I can squeeze this ride in later this Summer. Because every trail we rode was good my slight disappointment vanished.

There is good riding in the Sun Valley area, but I feel the best trails are up north 60 miles in the Stanley area. The Sawtooth mountains add a dramatic backdrop to almost every ride. The rides feel bigger and more "out there". And the trails tend to be more rugged and varied. I'm glad we spent more time riding in Stanley, although the trails near Sun Valley are good.

I'm very happy with our Sun Valley / Stanley trip and would go back again.

Sun Valley, Day 3 - Redfish Lake

(Sorry for the break in the Sun Valley reports - things have been busy lately.)

After the Fisher Creek ride we ate lunch and relaxed for a while at Redfish Lake. It's a beautiful place and the lodge and beach are nice.

Reading the guidebook I was concerned we weren't up to the whole loop. So I came up with the idea of taking a shuttle boat to the south end of the lake and riding half of the loop back. Sounded good.

The guys at the marina debated a bit if there should be an extra charge for bikes, but in the end they took us for the regular $8 / person price. We've never transported our bikes by boat before - gave it the novelty factor.



Dramatic views from the lake.



The usual route is clockwise, but the west half of the loop is reported to have some bad trail so we did the east half. We hadn't gone far when the trail got rough, lots of rocks and roots. But it was pretty.



The climb up to the east ridge was technical and steep. We walked a lot. And it was long. At least 1000 feet of climbing. Lots of mosquitoes too (and I forgot the bug repellent). This was not a fun section for us.



Finally made it up, but we were both pretty worked over. Can you tell?



The ridge was good. It's one rock garden after another but most were rideable.



The final downhill was fun.



The trail ended in a campground. We took the road back to the lodge and had one more refill of lemonade. Loaded up the bikes and headed back to our room in Stanley.

Day 4 was Elk Mountain - I'll get the post up soon.

Timpooneke Plus Mud and Mill

I'm knackered.

Met up with TallSteve to do Timpooneke with a twist - add Mud Springs and Mill Canyon. For some silly reason I thought it would be just a little harder. Not.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good ride. Mud Springs is in good shape and was a fun descent. Mill is scenic and the new trail reroute is a reasonable grade to climb, it's just long.

And I also believed riding the Ridge from Mill to Tibble would be mostly downhill and easier. Wrong again. There are 2-3 steep little climbs sprinkled with rocks.

Joy (Deer Creek South Fork) was a blast, as always. Well, except Steve narrowly avoiding a head-on with a motorcycle. Lots of motos out tonight, more than I've ever encountered before.

Didn't have the usual juice going up DCSF, but made it OK.

At the summit the sun was going down fast so we went down Willow then a shortcut on the road and finished with single-track back to Timpooneke.

A fine and pleasant thrashing that seemed to have twice as much climbing to downhill. I'll sleep sound tonight.

Josh summed it up well.