hiking the 'ghee

I didn't know how behind I was...

I still need to at least put up pictures from hiking Targhee for mountain biking, pictures for day 1 of ski season (hiking Targhee for snowboarding), talk about the metal concert, Seattle, and riding in Bellingham.

I hiked Targhee with a mountain bike on two occasions after the lifts closed.  The first was with Chris, and we wanted to ride the new sticks and stones which I had gone through after the last rain and tamped, smoothed, and perfected.  I knew it was going to be prime, and it was.  

Here's Chris hiking up the connector with the Tetons in the background.

This is Mary's Nipple to the left (also visible above), Mary's Saddle in the middle, and then Peaked mountain (pronounced Peak-Ed) on the right.  The mountain bike trails are in the basin between me and the base of Mary's or so.

Here I am coming down the rock turn about 1/3 down the new Sticks 'n Stones.

Here's Chris leaning into the biggest, baddest berm on the mountain (I'm proud of our work on this one):

Here's another view of the berm.  It ends in a lip that transfers you down the hill.  Much to my pleasure, it rides nice.  This was the first time I built a lip on the end of a berm, and I was worried it wasn't going to work out right, but I stuck with my gut instinct on the line and BAM!

It's amazing how much I learned about building trails from the practice I got this summer.  I see trails completely differently now.  I understand how the bike interacts with the trail much, much better, and I know what is needed to build sustainable trails.  I also know how important it is to do things like remove vegetation BEFORE you build a feature (something the crew was not good at and made more work for me).  In my spare time I think I'm going to sit down with a pencil and a piece of paper and try to come up with a more scientific approach to modeling mountain bike trails.  I think by treating the tread surface as a tube (inspired by mariocart for Wii) you can get a good idea of what sort of trail/berm lines will ride with flow.  There have to be a lot of variables, too: rider velocity, line selection, other trail features, and personal preference all play a big role in trail flow, but there has to be an underlying principle that makes a trail flow, where in this case we're talking Andy Williams style lines (lots of turns).  What I want to know is this:  can I mathematically back up what I believe makes the perfect entrance and exit (allowing the rider to carry speed) for an Andy Williams style bermed turn?

Uh...tangent.

Here's chris hitting another feature I'm proud of, but this is part of the reason my finger joints hurt.  It's a rock lip that steps up over a bunch of rock pavers.  You can go around to the left, ride straight over the lip, or hit the jump.  So far the gap is good.  It's totally case friendly as long as you don't plow your nose into it, and if you hit it just right the landing is mostly rock.  The gap is about 8 feet at the most.

Basically we ended trailbuilding on a high note for me at least--building a fun intermediate level feature filled trail.

OK moving on.  About a week later we hiked with just about the whole crew: Me, Chris, Zach, Taylor, Dippy, and Michael.  Fall colors!

Taking a break at the top of the trails with Mary's in the background.

Dippy coming into the berm:

Chris airing it out

I dunno why everything is underlined... It's bugging me, and I can't figure out how to turn it off.  You'd think I'd know this by now...

We had a great run, and it would be our last.

canyon adventures

The other night Zach expressed a desire to shoot his guns.  We weren't sure where to go, but decided to go into the canyon with some rice and shoot some dinner (Zach was to shoot the dinner).  Chris came over, and, despite a foot injury from bike jousting, decided to come along.  I brought the air rifle.

We parked at the end of teton canyon road, and the lot was crammed.  A bride walked by, and we asked where they intended to be wed.  As if they were afraid we might try to join them, the wedding goers replied "up the trail somewhere."

Chris, Zach, and Indica.  

We walked in a couple of miles, found a suitable marmot hunting ground (far enough away from the wedding) and a suitable campsite, and then saw something big moving on the far hillside.  It was brown, and appeared quite large.  We all believed it to be moving.  Chris declared, "Damn, that's a big bear."  I thought it looked like a moose.  Zach didn't have his glasses and couldn't really weigh in, but he strapped his .45 to his belt regardless.

Filled with excitement of the possibility of a good large animal sighting, we hugged the creek to move out of the wind path to the creature, then came up the hill to get a visual.  It was a rather large stump.

Disappointed, we went back to camp, set up, and went hunting.  Zach walked silently ahead of me as I jumped around on rocks.  I heard no marmots, but something was squeaking uphill--likely a ground squirrel.  We were not opposed to eating such small rodents (I need to build on my chipmunk story anyway).  Zach, hearing the squeaks, carefully unholstered his revolver and took aim at an opening in the rock pile.

He motioned to me that there was a critter, and stood silently for some time.  Eventually, something squeaked above him, and he relocated.  This time he was quick to the draw, and took one shot before collecting his prey--a squirrel.

Zach headed down to clean the squirrel in the creek, and Chris and I followed at our own pace.  We reached Zach to learn that the squirrel had weird white specks on his abdomen--a diseased squirrel would not make a healthy snack.  We buried the squirrel, and moved on to fishing.

I have always wondered if Teton Creek had fish this high up in the mountains.  Today we found out that it does!  Chris spotted fish, I saw them too, and Zach took aim.  He missed a couple of times, missed again with the .45, and Chris and I left to build a fire.  As we walked away we heard him unload three rounds into the creek.  Despite semi-automatic weaponry, Zach came back empty handed from fishing.

We had a nice fire, ate lots of rice, and crammed into a tent when it started to rain at 3 in the morning.  I was pleased that there were no rangers waiting for us at the trailhead.  I felt conspicuous with an air rifle strapped on my pack after a night of shooting handguns in a wilderness area.  I'll be sure to check the wilderness regulations before we go shooting in the canyon again...

downhill race!

Before I agreed to work trail crew this summer, I told Andy (my boss) that it would mean a lot to have the day off for the downhill race planned for the end of the season.  As it was, I had to work for Targhee's first ever downhill race, but it was pretty relaxed and Andy let me get my race runs in (thanks!).

The downhill course starts at the top of our advanced trail, Buffalo Drop, where the expert riders have the option of hitting the "big" drop on the mountain--a 6 to 15 foot drop depending on how you hit it.  The landing is great, and there's no gap to clear, so it's a pretty safe drop, I've been hitting it all year, even on the hard tail once.  Buffalo drop ends at a mid-mountain junction of all the trails.  It used to continue, but the lower section was and remains closed by the forest service due to nothing in particular except a power grabbing forest representative.  Technically it's a drainage, but there's no water (ever) and the trail surface is rock (most durable surface out there).  So at the juncture you hop on the lower section of Sticks 'n Stones, about half of which we built this season.  The lower section is very rocky, has some great off camber rocky sections, good slow technical spots, some fun gaps, and finishes with a fast jumpy section.  It's a great trail.  Then you have about a mile of fast drifty road to crank out before you hit the finish.

My hands have been hurting, and I tried to take it easy as best I could before the race.  They didn't feel great but were good enough to hold on.  I took a pre-race run for course inspection after practice was done, and i was riding well even with 30 pounds on my back.  

I intended to set a solid first run without crashing.  Ride the way I always do, pedal when I can and be smooth.  Buffalo drop was smooth.  I started losing my front tire coming into the drop (never come in so fast or had such a loose entrance), but managed to get the bike under me before I went off.  On Sticks I dropped my chain a couple of times, but recovered without losing more than a couple of pedal strokes.  Kept it together, pounded out the road as best I could, finished, and lay down.  On the loudspeaker Andy announced the fastest time so far-- 7:19.

My fastest time held up through all the first laps in my category.  Ed posted a faster time in his category (older) and really good bicycle designer Lance Canfield posted a 7:10 in his category which would remain as the fastest time of the day.  My second run was not so good.  I blew one corner and dropped a chain in a major way (I really need a chainguide to race...).  I posted a 7:25, and was edged to third by a 7:15 and a 7:10.  It's my best result ever, and I'm stoked just to have avoided crashing.  I'm historically quite bad at not crashing in dh races, but managed two crash free runs!  I got a summer season pass for my efforts.

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.  

im alive

Wow it's been nearly a month? I'm a flake.

I'm alive, although I almost spent an unplanned night in the woods yesterday. fun! no time now...

aint over till its over

I'll keep updating irregularly.  Inga had this to say about not blogging:

Please don't stop writing blog entries.  How am I going to know where the

hell you are and if you broke both of your legs in a biking accident?

Fair enough.

Rebecca is in town as I write.  We're at the coffee shop because she has some work to do, and then it's off to the pass to ride Black Canyon.  We've had one good ride, one bad ride, and one good hike.  The bad ride was an epic hike-a-bike followed by a mediocre descent where we got caught in a thunderstorm only to climb back up some more and descend a ridiculously muddy double track to the truck.  Poor planning on my part.  It was a ride I've wanted to do but I think I should have saved it for another time.  I thought my crew-mate, Dave, recommended it, but it turns out he was talking about something else...

We hiked yesterday up to the top of Table Mountain.  It was about a 9 mile hike with 4100 feet of elevation gain and a gorgeous view of the tetons from the top.  Total time was about 8 hours I think.  Rebecca has some pictures, I'll steal some and post them.  We saw a total of three moose, lots of marmots, and a snake.  No bears. :(

Weather is good, more rain than we've had for a little while which is great.  Dryness is bad for trails and trail building.

is this the end?

living without internet may be the end of the blog.  it's hard to say.  Perhaps I'll take initiative, write blog entries offline and upload them later.  however, after 10 hours of trailwork I dont have much initiative, and on my days off I usually just want to go fishing and biking.

Rebecca is coming soon.  I'm excited to see her and I think I can shift my work schedule so I don't miss too many days.  I can't exactly afford to miss out on 10 or 20 hours of work for a week, so it's important that I can shift my schedule.  I have been thinking about where we will ride...hopefully the weather cooperates and we can play outside, but I think we'll manage regardless.  

I'm trying to use my oven more.  I had a fantastic meal last night after playing frisbee golf until late.  I covered a thawed frozen salmon filet with lime juice, lemon juice, onions, a chopped tomato, some generic poultry/fish seasoning, and tossed it in the oven.  Then I started a rice side dish (like backpacker food), jumped in the shower, then (after the shower) sauteed mushrooms, garlic, and onions to top it all off.  Everything finished at about the same time, it didnt take long to prepare, and it was delicious.  I finished it off with a bowl of cereal with a nectarine.  Tonight I'm cooking some chicken drumsticks, but probably not in the oven because I did that two nights ago.

Tonight is the Tetonia Rodeo, which I'd like to go to but I have to eat and I stayed up late last night talking with my neighbor Hailey and a visiting friend of hers.  I'd like to have some energy after work tomorrow for whatever comes my way.  I think I have plans for frisbee golf and then I've heard some rumors of cheap food somewhere and fireworks.  I get to work a cross country bike race tomorrow.  It will be interesting to be on the other side of the event...

Hunger wins, later!