BlomFest'13

Return of the BlomFest
Blomfest returned to Salmon August 3-11. Many Salmon-folk participated and we were blessed to have visitors from far and wide.

We had 3 totally new rides on the itinerary for the B-Fest this year; Thunder Mtn/Henry Creek, Butcherknife/Ax Park, Bradley Gulch/Sheep Creek.

Look for another "unorganized" Blomfest again next year...Zombie Blomfest Attacks!!!!And more great rides. The pressure is on now to come up with 3 new rides.  We are not worried.

Here is a map and a rundown of the rides below it.
(Click the little arrow thingy on the map legend below to Zoom to that ride)

B.Bever Photo	Day One - Twelvemile to  Lime Creek 12.5 miles 2360'up 4660'down BluesBrewsBBQ too
	Day Two -  Thunder Mtn Trail to Henry Creek 14.5 miles 630'up 6000'down
	Day Three - Big Timber Creek; Trail Creek to Snowbank to  Cabin Creek 26.8 miles 4850'up 4850'down
S.Nieder photo	Day Four - Big Timber; Rocky Creek Loop 23 miles 3700'up 3700'down
	Day Five - Lower Stein Ridge to Wagonhammer 13.4 miles 1300'up 3500'down
	Day Six - Butcherknife Ridge to  Ax Park/Hughes Creek 15.5 miles 1800'up 5800'down
	Day Seven - CDT (Bradley Gulch) to Sheep Creek 13.5 miles 2100'up 5000'down
	Day Eight - Divide Trail to Twin Creek 15.6 miles 2700'up 5500'down
	Day Nine - CDT (Anderson Mtn) to Threemile Ridge 20.0 miles "All DH"but, 2980'up 5420'down

This is the video Stacey made from 2012 Blomfest footage.

Occupy Salmon 2012 from Doc Nieder on Vimeo.

Audio Live

Pod 1 - Podcast Loop Orientation. Pod 2 - Recreation and Travel Management. Pod 3 - History of Discovery Hill. Pod 4 - The Greater Sage Grouse. Pod 5 - Lewis and Clark on Discovery Hill. Pod 6 - The Peregrine Falcon.

Audio Pods for the Lewis and Clark Podcast loop are now available.

Check the Salmon Valley Stewardship Podcast page for descriptions and iTunes for downloads.

The six audio pods were written and recorded by students from the Carmen Charter School and Salmon High School.  Each audio segment is about 2 minutes in length and corresponds to the numbered trail-markers found along the trail.

This trail is 1.3 miles long and starts at the Bluff Overlook parking area. It also shares a section of trail coming from the Discovery Hill Trailhead so you can start there too.

Existing game trail was improved and connected to Disco singletrack to make a walkable (and ridable) loop last summer.  This dirt project was completed by the Salmon Savage Volleyball Team, the BLM, and members of your Salmon Id Mtn Bike Assoc. (Here is the Blog Post about that project.)

Check it out on the map below.

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Geschichte wäre anders gewesen, wenn ich Podcasts hören.
(Click to Translate)

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Rocky Canyon

Last spring several SalmonIDs ventured to Rocky Canyon in the southern Lemhi Mountains.  Rocky Canyon is in the Birch Creek Valley, just to the south of Meadow Canyon and to the north of prominent Diamond Peak and the booming metropolis of Lone Pine. This out-and-back ride is about 21 miles long to the head of Rocky's Left Fork, 23 if you add a jaunt up the Right Fork to the total.
The ride begins on a two track near mile marker 55 on ID28, 81 miles from Salmon and not too far north of Kaufman Guard Station.  Look for a random stop sign there marking the intersection with this road. After leaving the alluvial two track, a trail ascends the bottom of Rocky Canyon where singletrack climbs a gentle 1500' in the 7 miles to the base of The Brow Peak (11,005 feet). Remote. Scenic. Singletrack. Thanks to Mr. Hecker for the great photos.

Big Timber Creek Rides

Crossing the head of the Park Fork drainage.

There is some amazing singletrack in the southern Lemhi Mountains. Big Timber Creek accesses some of these trails with two great loops; Rocky Creek Loop and Trail Creek to Cabin Creek.

Both of these rides first climb on Road #105 south-west of Leadore. The mileages from the chart below are taken from near the end of the road, it is best to start riding a couple miles earlier as the road gets rough and slow.  The rides then drop down to the trail in Big Timber Creek on a loose ATV section. There is a gate closing ATV access once in the bottom of Big Timber Creek and it is all singletrack from there.

The Rocky Creek Loop briefly follows Big Timber Creek then climbs along Rocky Creek. The trail crosses two passes on the shoulders of Yellow Peak then descends 2500' in the next 8 miles.

Trail and Cabin Creek loop heads up Big Timber then crosses the creek and climbs up Trail Creek not quite to Timber Creek Pass. Then it head west across the top of the Lemhis for a little over a mile before dropping down Cabin Creek back to Big Timber.

The return to Road #105 from Big Timber is steep and both rides climb well over 3000' total. Expect some standard Idaho hike-a-bike, and don't let the relatively short mileages of both loops lead to thoughts of easy rides.

Included for reference on the map below is the Snowbank Loop. Snowbank and Trail-Cabin Loops share the trail along the divide between them. Snowbank Loop is accessed from the Little Lost River Valley, check out the Blog post from last September.

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Big Timber - Rocky Creek Loop:

18.3 miles. Singletrack. 3600' Up and Down. High 9710' and Low 7250'.

<GPX Download> (Rt. Click-Save As) <EveryTrail> <August 2011 Blog Post>	Mid climb in Rocky Creek

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Big Timber - Trail Creek - Cabin Creek Loop:

14.2 miles. Singletrack. 3300' Up and Down. High 9480' and Low 7250'.

<GPX Download> (Rt. Click-Save As)	Lake Creek is an Out and Back option.      (WHecker photo)

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Snowbank Trail Loop:

24.2 miles. Singletrack and twotrack. 5400' Up and Down. High 9600' and Low 6960'.

<GPX Download> (Rt. Click-Save As) <Sept 2011 Blog Post> <EveryTrail>

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Snow in July.

The cabin in Cabin Creek. (WHecker photo)

The climb back to Big Timber Creek

The top of the Rocky Creek Trail.

Somewhere along the Big Timber Creek trail.

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Old Bulls Cutoff

Old Bulls Cutoff is a trail that is about a mile long and not much more than a well trodden game trail.  Why should you care?

You should care because Old Bulls Cutoff connects the Continental Divide Trail with the Ruby and Butler Creek Trails. This one mile section of trail can be used to ride two loops along the CDT; a Ruby Creek Loop and a Stevenson Trail to May Creek Loop.

The 14.8 mile Ruby Creek Loop is best ridden clockwise from Big Hole Pass. There is about 4200' of climbing and descending.

Stevenson to May Creek Loop is about 20 miles and can be ridden from the May Creek Campground. Also 4200' of up and down.

These two loops are tough with all that climbing but you will have earned access to some beautiful high-country.

Check the new Chief Joseph Tab above for more trails in the area and info on the USFS rental cabins.
Below is a Trailforks map of the area in question centered on the Old Bulls Cutoff.


Chief Joseph Pass mountain biking trails

KPVI

Kris Millgate of KPVI was in town recently filming. Liz Townley hooked us up with her to do a spot on Mountain Biking in Salmon. This footage airs tonight at 10 or can be found on the TimeOut webpage (Video title is Pedal Playground).

Thanks Liz!

Kris and her camera man setting Max up with their GoPro.

Podcast Loop

There is a new loop on Discovery Hill.  The Podcast Loop.  This trail is 1.3 miles long and starts at the Bluff Overlook parking area.  It also shares a section of trail near the Discovery Hill Trailhead.


The BLM Recreation Dept. and Salmon Valley Stewardship have been busy working with Salmon's youth to create audio Pods.  There will be six of these Pods on subjects from wildlife to recreation to Lewis and Clark.  There are 6 numbered trailmarkers corresponding to these audio clips.  Students can then walk along the loop and listen to the Podcast...an outdoor audio tour!

The podcast will be finished soon.  It should be available from the Salmon Chamber, SVS, Lemhi County Historical Museum, and BLM...probably downloadable in the future from iTunes too.

The Salmon Savage Vollyballers volunteered to fix up the trails and install the trailmarkers.  They kicked butt!!  SVS is donating $500 to their program for their efforts.