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12MAY2020 - ‘Cause Four Outta Five Ain’t Bad My plan was to trailer the TransAlp down to Gooding and start a 300 mile loop to hit five sites: 02 - Little City of Rocks 22 - Bear Trap Cave 21 - Albion Normal School 23 - City of Rocks 24 - Evel Knievel Jump Site
This proved to be an overly ambitious goal. I only got the first four. But, in the immortal words of Meatloaf from 1977; “don’t be sad ‘cause two outta three (or four outta five) ain’t bad.” 22 – Bear Trap Cave I rode back south on HWY 46 to ID-26 and then headed east to Shoshone. From there I picked up ID-24 east toward Mindoka. This 48 mile stretch of Idaho 24 is probably the most boring piece of pavement I’ve ridden in Idaho; pretty much straight, with few elevations changes and not much to look at. It was a slog. But, on the up side, a 15mph tailwind resulted in over 50mpg on this leg! Turning off pavement about a mile short of Mindoka, I wound my way to, wait for it… Spud Patch Road! I found this hilarious at the time, probably because I hadn’t eaten any breakfast and it was almost 1100. Spud Patch road turns into Arco-Mindoka road after about 3 miles. Whatever the name, it’s a well maintained gravel and dirt road (with LOTS of dust) that saw a surprising amount of traffic for a Tuesday. About 10 miles in there are BLM destination signs to various locations – including Bear Trap Cave. This is a good thing, because the IAMC coordinates are a bit off here. The cave is actually on the west side of Arco-Mindoka road and about 3.5 miles north of the IAMC waypoint (3/4 mile north of the Bear Trap Airport). The coordinates are: N42 59 02.7 W113 21 05.0. This is a seriously cool location. The cave is huge, and according to the sign (prepared as an Eagle Scout Project) it’s actually a lava tube that runs for over 15 miles! Plan on spending some time here, it’s worth it. Heading back south the way I’d come, I motored toward my next destination – #21 - Albion Normal School.
Posted by KaptSlow on 2020-05-15 07:45 |
