Day 1 Crane Creek

I had Friday off, so I put in a couple of invites to leaver early for Ed's ride. Originally, there were going to be five of us, but as the weather radar worsened, it was down to Ed, Mark, and I for Friday. We took off from Nampa and took pavement to Jordan Valley, since there aren't any dirt routes there this time of year (snow). Getting there was a bit chilly for Mark, since he was the only poor fool without wind protection on his Z. It was about 40 degrees when we pulled into JV for gas.

We fueled up, got some coffee, and hit the dirt. Our goal was to get to Three Forks, one of the Challenge sites. The weather was great, and the roads were dry, though rutted.













I'd not been to Three Forks before, and found the view to be very pretty.







Mark & I had to get our 'proof pose' for the Challenge.




Dropping down in the canyon contains some sharp switchbacks.




It'd be a great place to camp in the summer. I'm told by Ed that there are some warm springs in the area too.




As we climbed back out of the canyon, the clouds rolled over the valley, and we knew it was only a matter of time before we got hammered.




We headed north, back towards the highway, with Jordan Craters in the plan.




We stopped off at several cool overlooks along the way.








Mark was having a great time, and we were all glad that we didn't bail on the day, due to weather. It was about 4:00pm, and so far, we hadn't encountered any moisture or mud.








Mark had a perma-grin going on under his helmet.






The dark clouds continued to roll in, and we knew the inevitable was on the way...






When the clouds finally did open up, it hammered us. It snowed sideways, hailed upside down, and dumped about an inch and a half on us in 30 minutes, turning the remaining 5-8 miles into a soupy mess.




Of course, all of our visors into insta-fog mode ~ that happy place where you can't close your visors because you can't see squat, but you can't leave them open because the snow/ice/hail will pelt your face and punish your eye balls.





None the less, we were having a good time. Mark was laughing when he pulled up.




Ed basking in the glory of an April snow storm.












We were going to pull off for lunch to let the storm pass, but decided against it, when we realized that at some point, this would melt, and get even slicker than it already was.




So, we pressed on. The good news was that the lower we got, the less snow there was.... the bad news was that it was warmer, so there was more mud. Fortunately, the KTM950A is blessed with an ultra-low front fender, which is perfect for packing mud and clay into it and jamming up the front wheel ~ a feature which I'm sure costs extra from the dealer. About 3 miles from the highway, my front tire locked solid, and I did a slow motion "to-hell-with-it" bike toss.




Through some mystery of science, I lost a 1,200 lb tie town, never to be found again (seriously, it was just there when we were in JV... where'd it go??), which meant that my pannier was torn off the bike. Through pure luck, there was absolutely no damage to it (other then getting a character building indentation in the corner of it), and it popped right back on. After Ed helped me mess with the fender and temporarily unpack it, we got going again. In an attempt to keep it from packing again, I gunned it and slid through the mud and dangerously stupid speeds for a 750 lb (bike, me and gear) bike.

We slipped and slid our way to the highway without incident, and stopped to scrape some of the crap off our bikes before continuing to the cafe for some well deserved dinner.








We all agreed that Jordan Craters was out of the question, since the roads were likely to be in the same condition as what we just went through. So, we agreed that we'd head to Succor Creek early, which was much lower (2000 ft lower) and was likely to be in much better condition.

Our assumptions were correct. It was gorgeous there. The roads were dry, the sun was shining, and life was good.




We were all 'happy as a clam' to be dry and warm.




Looking back to where we were just riding, we could see how much snow it'd had just dumped.




Succor Creek canyon was looking great.










We set up camp in my favorite spot in the area, gathered a tremendous amount of fire wood, and settled in for an evening of BS, beverages and campfire. It was a great day (save 8 miles of mud).