The Dirt Biker Chronicles

I got to ride a lot of great trails in 2007. In reminiscence of the excellent riding, I decided to rank the top trails of the year. Criteria for selection included technical difficulty, scenic beauty, and overall fun.

Upper Lava Mountain Trail - The Upper Lava Mountain Trail is in the Boise National Forest about 15 miles from Pine, Idaho. The trail head is located off Forest Service Road #129, which is also known as Trinity Mountain Road.

The trail is Upper-Intermediate to Advanced in difficulty. It’s true forest single-track: tight, rocky, and technical.

What sets Upper Lava Mountain apart is the beautiful scenery. First you come to Smith Creek Lake, about 3.5 miles in. It’s a beautiful, crystal clear mountain lake teeming with trout.

From there the trail heads up and around a mountain toward North Star Lake. It’s a great ride between the two lakes; about 3 miles and the most difficult terrain the trail offers. When you are up on the ridge between the lakes the view is phenomenal. You can see for miles down to Prairie, Idaho and beyond to the Snake River plain and the Owyhee Mountains.

The trail ends after about 7 miles when it junctures with Lower Lava Mountain Trail and Bear Gulch Trail. Lower Lava Mountain goes down to Prairie and Bear Gulch heads deeper into the mountains, connecting with other remote, forest trails.

Lodge Pole Creek Trail - Lodge Pole Creek Trail is in the Boise National Forest about 25 miles from Cascade, Idaho. The trail head is approximately five miles South of Warm Lake off Stole Meadows Road.

The trail isn’t much more than 5 miles long, if it’s that long, but it’s almost all serious technical riding. Advanced Level only.

The trail climbs to the top of a mountain and is laced with a lot of tight, steep switchbacks and boulders. There are also some tough creek crossings. 

It is better to ride down it than up, but we rode up. It was hard work getting to the top because there are some boulders and tree roots that all but the best riders have to push the bike over. And it continually gets tougher as you climb the mountain, saving the nasty climax for the very last. 

The last two switchbacks are on a steep, rocky mountain face. You don’t want to wreck downhill there. Then comes the last climb to the top, the toughest of them all. It starts with a 90-degree turn at the end of the approach, which keeps you from getting a good run at it. Once you make the turn you have to hit the gas and navigate through boulders in loose, rocky soil. If you let off the gas, you’re done. If you choose a bad line, you’re done. If you go over a boulder, you’re done. In other words, you have to hit it just right. Out of the seven guys I know who rode up it, only one was able to ride up the last stretch with no pushing or help. That was Dave “Wrong Way” Gomez.

Once you make the top, there is a beautiful little meadow with a pond. It’s a great place to take a break and you’ll likely need one.

Sheep Creek Trail - Sheep Creek Trail is located in a remote section of the Boise National Forest, Northwest of Pine, Idaho. You can only get there by riding in from the William Pogue Trail, or Upper or Lower Lava Mountain Trails. There are no forest roads within miles, so this is one place you don’t want to break down.

The trail follows Sheep Creek through a deep valley covered with thick brush. It is very narrow in many spots and easy to slide off if you’re not on your game. There are are three tough crossings across the wide and rocky creek. The toughest one comes at a big washed out section where you have to cross over and back to get on the trail again. When the creek is running high, this is very treacherous.

The trail is about five miles long, and all technical. When you’re not dealing with rocks, creek crossings, or narrow sidehill, you’re plowing through brush. Hand guards and chest protectors are highly recommended for surviving the brush whipping.  

Sheep Creek is an Upper Intermediate trail that is slightly easier to go down than up. Though a big fire has gone through in recent years and burned most of the pine trees, there are still some awesome rock formations to see. I wondered if they used to be home to big horn sheep as it looks like their kind of terrain.

Roaring River Trail - Roaring River Trail is in the Boise National Forest, about 10 miles out of Featherville, Idaho. The trail head starts near Little Trinity Lake.

The trail has a long sidehill section that runs down the side of a steep mountain to a creek way at the bottom. It’s tough riding up or down, but going up is definitely harder. Riding up is a fight through brush, loose rocks and dirt. You have to keep the power on because getting started after a stall is difficult. There are also a couple of nice switchbacks thrown in for good measure.

Near the top the view is fantastic as it overlooks a beautiful forest valley. The section of the trail atop the ridge is a fun ride, and much easier than the sidehill part.

Roaring River is Upper Intermediate Level due to the sidehill climb. Going down isn’t exactly a picnic either. 

It’s about seven miles from the trail head to the bottom of the valley where you can choose to cut over to the William Pogue Trail, Sheep Mountain Trail, or take a forest road back.

Little Water Trail - Little Water Trail is in the Sawtooth National Forest, about eight miles out of Featherville, Idaho. The trail head is about 1/2-mile from the Baumgartner Campground turnoff.

Little Water runs from the bottom of a valley to the top of a mountain ridge. We rode this trail as part of a small 32-mile loop that entailed riding Skeleton Creek Trail up the mountain and Little Water Trail down.

At the top, Little Water Gulch runs along the ridge for a few miles before starting down the mountain. The ridge section has some really technical areas going through boulder fields. There are a couple of tough climbs that weave through some boulders and over others. It’s the kind of place where a crash could mean a broken bone. There is nothing to land on but rock. 

Finally you get to the downhill part where it’s a major descent to the bottom. It starts right off with a series of steep and tight switchbacks. This is why it’s highly recommended to ride down this trail instead of up. A lot of guys walk the bike through some of the switchbacks, and I’m not too proud to admit I did too. Unless you can lock your front brake and swing your rear tire around like David Knight, they’re almost too tight and steep to risk navigating.

After the first four or five switchbacks it starts to mellow out and the rest of the way down to the road isn’t too bad.

I’d rank this trail Advanced Level as much of it is highly technical.

Willow Creek Trail - The Willow Creek Trail is in the Sawtooth National Forest. The trailhead is about six miles outside of Featherville, Idaho on the road to Baumgartner campground.

The trail follows Willow Creek up a long valley to the mountain ridgeline, where it junctures with several other trails such as Decker Creek Trail and Little Water Trail. It makes up part of several possible loops you can ride in the Sawtooth and neighboring Boise NF; such as riding from Baumgartner to Atlanta and back. 

 If you take the trail all the way to it’s end you’ll come into Altiris Lake. Forest Service roads at Altiris Lake lead to State Highway 21, so you can use Willow Creek Trail to get from Featherville to Stanley if you have a street legal bike.

The trail is Mid to Upper Intermediate in difficulty. It doesn’t have many big climbs or descents, but it’s very rocky, narrow in spots, and has a few billy goat sidehill sections.

Willow Creek Trail offers a lot of exceptional scenery along the way. The creek itself is a beautiful mountain stream complete with trout.

Hoodoo Creek Trail - The Hoodoo Creek Trail is located in the Boise National Forest, about two miles out of Idaho City, Idaho. The trail starts about 200 yards up Granite Creek road.

The thing I love about Hoodoo Creek is the multiple climbs. From the start at the bottom, it’s up, up and up for about three miles to the top. There are a couple of parts where, if you blow it, you have to turn around and get another run. The trail also gets harder over the course of the summer as it gets ridden more and the dirt get’s dry and loose.

At the top there is a great panoramic view of mountains as far as the eye can see. From there it’s another mile or so riding along the ridge before the trail ends at Rabbit Creek Summit.

The trail has been used as part of the Idaho City ISDE Qualifier as recently as this year. Hoodoo Creek is Mid-Level Intermediate and a good trail for developing single-track climbing skills.

Shake Creek Trail - Shake Creek Trail is in the Sawtooth National Forest, about four miles out of Featherville, Idaho. The trailhead is off the road leading to Baumgartner campground.

We rode the trail as part of a loop from Baumgartner to Atlanta. Coming from the Atlanta end of the trail,it more or less begins at the boundary of the Boise and Sawtooth NF.

It is highly recommended to ride this trail down toward Baumgartner instead of up from Baumgartner. You can make it riding up, but there are several tight switchbacks over loose dirt, and you’ll just tear up the trail.

There’s a lot of downhill before you finally end up riding along the creek for the last half of the trail that leads out to the forest road. It’s Mid to Upper Intermediate in difficulty.

As with all Sawtooth NF trails, the scenery is magnificent, particularly at the top where you can see for miles in all directions.

Filed under: The Dirt Biker Chronicles on November 12th, 2007