Sunday, June 25, 2006

Cabin Creek Lakes Trail

On Friday we went on an awesome hike up Cabin Creek, just south of our cabin. This is a really cool hike if you haven't done it before. The trail head is on Alturas Lake Road in between Alturas Lake and the Valley View Cabin road. The hike is relatively easy until the last half of a mile, which is quite a grinder. Well worth it though as you can see below.




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Fisher Creek Loop - Still Awesome, but a little burnt

Ben, Kenton and I hit up Fisher Creek Loop this week. We were able to do it on a Thursday so we had it all to ourselves. Normally there are tons of people everywhere. The forest is completely charred after the fire, but the trail remains one of the best rides in Idaho. There are a few down trees on the second uphill (single track portion), but other than that, the trail is mostly clear. We took some pictures so you could see what it looks like after the fire.





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Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Hanging out with Kenton

My brother Kenton is in town for a week, so we have been going out and having fun every day. Yesterday we went on an amazing hike up the ridge to Soldier Mountain. I've never been up that far so it was a real treat for everyone. We also got some great downhill runs in on the mountain bikes. Here are a few pictures:




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Saturday, June 17, 2006





A view of the Ten Mile Range, lots of snow on the mountains.





















Lots and lots of snow. This is what I was going thru for miles.
















Me starting out from Waterton Canyon, the beginning of the Colorado Trail.



















Some cool rocks at Long Gulch in the Lost Creek Wilderness.









A huge meadow in the Lost Creek Wilderness

Sunday, June 11, 2006

News from the trail

Hey everyone I have made it to Frisco, Colorado! It has been a amazing past couple of days. It has also been a grueling past couple days. I have been walking about 10-12 miles everyday, which seems about right for me. My pack feels rather light now and I have been hiking at about the same pace as I do normally hiking with just a day pack on. My pack is weighing in at about 40 lbs which isn't too bad, it doesn't feel to bad now. It is very nice to wake up in the morning and know that the only thing you really have to do that day is just walk around in beautiful scenery all day and then camp in a amazing place. It seems a very simple, free of hassles existence and I enjoy it greatly. The only thing is it is freaking COLD at night. Two nights ago I camped on Georgia Pass which is the first time I got above 10000 feet. I got snowed on that night and the temperature dropped to 20 degrees. It was very uncomfortable. I was shivering in my sleeping bag, with all my clothes on, including my rain gear. It wasn't a very enjoyable night to say the least. The next day at timberline I encountered huge snowfields, they would have made a pretty good ski run, you could mostly detour around them and then pick the trail back up on the other side of them though. Descending the pass was another story though. Up in timberline the sun was able to melt the snow, in the trees on the north side the sun does not hit the snow and melt it. I battled through waist to chest deep snow all day. It took over 3 hours to walk 2 miles and that was just the worst part, there was roughly another 3 miles of snow to wade through till I got out of it all. Needless to say snowshoes would have been nice. The next day I got here to Frisco were I got a hotel room and am going to rest for today and then press on to Leadville. However the White Cloud Mountains, which is the next mountain range that I go over, have a lot more snow on them than the Kenosha Mountains that I just crossed. So I will have to determine if I can get through them. Any way I have been having a great time and taken many good pictures. I'll try to post them later. Hope every one is having a good time and I'll see you all in a month or so.
Ben

Friday, June 09, 2006

Soldier Mountain Sunset & Mountain Biking down Couch Summit Trail

I just had to share a few pictures since it has been a few days since I posted. The storm system going through Central Idaho right now is absolutely amazing. Especially when you mix in a little sunset like in the picture below. Amie & I took this last night on our way home from a Birthday Party.
This is a picture of me bombing down the Couch Summit Trail. REALLY fun downhill for those of you in to that sort of thing.