I spent the past week working 12-14 hour days doing my normal daily
tasks and attending an application training session. By the time I got off
work I had virtually no time to blow off steam. And we have had some of the
most beautiful weather the past few weeks, perfect for any kind of outdoor
activity. If the kids did not have so many things going on right now, I
could have maybe got in a night ride or two. Oh well.
I told my riding partner Brad that no matter what, I was riding after
work on Friday and since the guy training me this week had a plane to catch
at 5:30, I knew that I would be free by 4:00 to get away. I told Brad to
meet me at Camelsback Park at 5:00 and headed home to get changed. It is a
nice 5 miles from home to the park so I got a good warm-up while enjoying
the
color of the trees and shrubs along Hill Rd.
Lot's of activity at the park, local area schools have their cross
country running teams out training and some alpine skiers doing bounding
workouts. Boy I remember how tough that is and was glad to be on my bike. We
decided on a tentative route, but also kept our options open since this area
offers so many trails to play on. We headed out on the trails around the
park and onto the Connector, which I think is the trail that Paladin calls
Uncle Stans. Many riders were out enjoying the late afternoon, but the
Connector is wide enough to allow passing in either direction.
Once we got to the top we decided to hang a right and make our way over
to the Military Reserve trails area. The Military Reserve Connector trail is
a fun and challenging trail. There are a lot of sandy sections that if you
are paying attention are a kick to blow through, however most of these
sections are trashed by folks who just don't get it. And the ruts created by
locked brakes have made this trail a prime candidate for repair work. When
we reach the Mountain Cove road, we take a left and follow the road to the
gate by the old Police shooting range.
This dirt road would take us up to the Curlew trail and the Shanes trail
loop. Curlew is a fun trail but the real treat is Shanes. Now both of these
trails appeared to have lot's of usage, but they were in excellent
condition. As Brad commented, "I felt like I was on rails", as we just flew
along Shanes. In the clockwise direction it is screaming fast and there were
no other riders on this section. When we got back to the Curlew
intersection, we headed back to the Mtn. Cove Rd and instead of heading up
trail #5 and over to Sidewinder, Brad wanted to head back and ride a few of
the Military Reserve trails.
Mtn. Cove is much more fun riding down then up, but we had the sun in
our eyes so we were blinded on a few of the corners, so keeping the speed
down was the wise choice. Back at the shooting range we jumped onto the
Ridge Crest trail and took a left up to the top of the ridge. Here the trial
meets up with Central Ridge which will take you down the middle of this
plateau, or you can drop down Ridge Crest and hook up with Eagle Ridge and
Cottonwood Creek trails. We head over to Eagle Ridge because the down hill
from Ridge Crest is a blast. You cut loose and hope that you do not come
around a corner and meet a hiker or biker coming up.
When we hit the bottom, we continue on to Eagle Ridge. The climb from
this side is a tough little bugger and again we have the sun right in our
eyes. I came up on a dog walker and did not even see him until he was about
5 feet away. But hey, I was moving real slow going up this section so no
harm and the trail is wide enough for all of us. There is a trail that cuts
off to the right just before you reach the top. We take this because, as you
probably guessed, it is so much fun. Nice twisty single track that zips us
over to a cover picnic area over looking the Cottonwood creek area. From
here we continue over to the Fort Boise side of the ridge and to a rocky out
cropping over looking Fort Boise and Boise itself. Pretty nice views even
though we have lot's of haze.
We take the trail on the left side of this area because it is relatively
mellow. Last year Brad took one hell of a header going down the trail on the
right and he did not want to do a repeat performance. At the bottom we skirt
the edge of the ridge back over to Cottonwood creek trail and follow this
beautiful wooded single track around until we hit the dirt road that is the
North border of this grove. This also puts us back at the trail head of
Central Ridge and we follow this back a ways until we hit the spur trail and
then back onto Mountain Grove road. We now do a reverse of the Military
Reserve Connector and back up to the Freeway. The connector make you work
for your supper!
Once on the Freeway Brad suggests that we head up to the Red Cliffs
trail(?) which is just above the Connector back to the Camelsback area.
Another cool trail with some steep downhills and great views. At the bottom
you come out next to the Red Cliffs and are greeted with loose sand, but
then you pop out on lower Hulls Gulch trail. Hulls Gulch is one of my
favorite night ride trails, just a cool place. Once off of Hulls we get onto
Fox Tail(?) and head back to Camelsback. A little over 16 miles of trail
riding, oh yeah!
The sun is almost down by now and as we load Brad's bike on his car we
see all these really whacked out people in assorted costumes riding an
assortment of bikes. I have to say that the guy in the pink pig outfit was
awesome on his cruiser. There must have been well over 20 people dressed up.
If I had not been so under dressed, I would have stopped over. Anyway I
headed home in the fading light feeling so much better.
Mike