epic xc ride

So a few weeks ago Michael from Peaked Sports (pronounced Peak-id) told me he was going for an epic xc ride from pole canyon to Mike Harris campground.  I said I was down, but I ended up missing their start from the Victor Velopark.  I decided to go do my own ride, starting at Mike Harris, meandering around, going over to and up Pole Canyon, and then back to Mike Harris via a trail on my map.  I wasn't planning more than three or four hours.  

Near the top of Pole Canyon I was coming around a corner after climbing for 45 minutes, saw a steep, rocky, loose ascent, and loudly exclaimed "aw, shit!"  To which Mike responded, "that's right you caught us!"  We finished up the climb and stopped at the top to get ready for the next leg.  Mike proposed we take this "other trail" on the map, one that he hasn't taken before.  He told us about the sheep herders out here in the Snake River range, and how he's run into them before and they are always happy to see people, because they herd their sheep into the middle of the range and don't see many folks...

So after a little more prep for the downhill we started on the "other" trail.  It was rough, but fun, and we descended for a half an hour or so.  Other trails split off, we passed horse and stock camps that were empty, and the trail began to degrade.  We hiked more, and soon enough our only trail indicators were an intermittent singletrack and yellow forest service signs that said "Stock driveway boundary" on either side of us.  We were on the sheep herder trails.  

We kept following the stock driveway, going in kind of the right direction we thought.  Mike admitted he wasn't really sure where we were...but we decided to get to a high spot, look at the map, and figure things out.  

The Snake River range, is composed primarily of stacked, well forested steep peaks with small open canyons.  Here's a picture from a different part of the range (this looks like the beginning of the ride but with no snow and taller grasses).  the picture is a lot more open than where we were when we got lost.  

So we got to our high spot around 4, and it is dark at 9.  No one has camping gear, lights, or a compass.  The sun isn't quite in a spot where we can use it for navigation.  Mike thinks we are here, pointing to the map, and that we need to go this way.  I take a look at the map, trying to fit the landscape to some contours, but it's a pretty rough map.  I do my best, and come up with the same conclusion as Mike.  We continue on.  

We reach the top of one of the ridgelines, and see nothing but more stacked ridgelines.  I think I see the Gros Ventre range in the distance, but Mike says that's unlikely.  No road, no trails, no water.  Mark is starting to get nervous, but Mike remains confident and that's enough for me to be pretty calm about the whole thing.  It's probably 5:30.  

We get to the next ridgeline following the intermittent trail of the stock driveway.  When there is trail we feel ok, when there isn't Mark gets real nervous.  By 6 Mark is convinced we need to turn around (we're 5 or 6 miles into the range following intermittent trail at this point, have no lights, no gear, so if we turn around we'll end up crazy lost deep in the Snake River range).  He proposes we stop here and get ready to spend the night.  uh...no thanks, Mike and I agree.  It gets cold at night, and if we have to we could camp, but with three more hours of daylight I sure wasn't about to stop and get ready to cuddle up around a fire with two other dudes.  Mark's parents are in town (he may be 30), and he calls them, tells them not to call Search and Rescue YET but we're lost and we'll probably spend the night.  Mike scoffs.

So Mark is losing his cool, Mike says we go that way, and I say OK.  We get the next ridgeline.  From here I see mountains that look a whole lot like the Gros Ventre range which surrounds Jackson.  We see a town (must be Wilson at the base of the pass on the Jackson side), and a big U shaped valley that looks like it drains down to Mosquito creek.  For sure we have gone way too far East.  From here we know where we need to go.  We turn a little more North, and continue.  By 7:30 we hit a trail, we pass a sign for the Mike Harris trail (we are in the clear).  We book it West along the ridge trail that parallels the pass road from trail creek to mike harris ( a ride I've done before).  We make it to Mike Harris by 8:30, down in very dim light by 9.

What an adventure!  Next time I'll have a compass, more water, more food, and an emergency blanket.  

and now I'm riding my bike to Victor to hand out some resumes and get myself a job.  My buddy from school, Colin, visited this weekend from Salt Lake.  He had two good days of riding at Targhee despite some mechanical issues, and we got to ride the pass yesterday.  I had some folks over on Saturday night (landlord was out of town, but I think I should have folks over more often anyway).  I cooked hamburgers on my camping grill, everyone had a good time.