After two solid days of driving and watching the elevation steadily increase, we finally rolled into Sun Valley. On the drive there, I started to wonder what we were in for when I saw a rather large scorpion cross the road just north of Boise (I didn’t know Idaho had scorpions) but after being assured by one of the Sun Valley locals that they don’t live in the mountains, we set off to find a place to camp. That’s when we saw a fox in town. First time I’d seen one of those too, and of course I didn’t have my camera handy to catch a photo of either one.
The next morning we awoke a bit late, not surprising after the long drive, so we took it easy and went into to town to get ourselves orientated. I had been told that Backwoods Mountain Sports was a good place to go for trail information and it was a good tip. They are all mountain bikers and extremely knowledgeable. We had a good chat with them and after purchasing a trail map, we started to plan where we wanted to ride.
One of our criteria for our first ride was something that didn’t have much in the way of climbing. Coming from sea level we knew we were going to be hurting as all of the trails started at 7000′ or more. We chose a 5 mile loop at the Galena Lodge Trails. With dark clouds looming overhead, we set off to find the trailhead.
The climb at the beginning although not steep, was sustained. It was a good grade for our intro to riding at elevation and the fire road was like the old logging roads we’re used to. After climbing for 30 minutes or so, we got to the beginning of the first trail called “Outhouse”. It was a fun little descent that helped us recover before climbing again to 7850′. This brought us to a trail called “Tilt-a-Whirl” which was a series of berms and switchbacks that took us back down to the lodge. The trails were rated intermediate and neither trail was technical. Both were lots of fun. Luckily the rain held off and we completed the ride in 1.5 hours with stops to take photos and catch our breath.
Galena Lodge, Idaho
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Sounds like a great day! I hope the rest of your trip is even better.
The trip was awesome! Just finally getting the time to update my blog
I should have the rest of it posted in the next few days.
Wow! Nice trails! More, more, more!
Holy cow, this just looks too nice. I’d love to ride in some terrain like that. But yo ho yo ho, it’s a desert rat’s life for me.
Cheap trip! You can camp for free in the National Forests
Awesome trails – I’m jealous ! Can’t wait to get out – it’s spring now (in Australia) – go away WINTER !!