The view from Willow Creek lookout

This view is from the lookout tower on the East side of the valley towards the West, looking at the Bitterroots. A little bit of brown smog from a few fires in Idaho drifted into the valley. The elevation of the lookout is ~8220 feet.

Tuesday night ride - Calf Creek

This would be a friends first ride in the Bitterroots on her zero suspension bike.

A little walk up a short steep (pictures never look steep) after a long climb.
But rode everything else, including the steep descents.
Calf Creek is a fun ride to do with such varied terrain. Starting with the sage brush down low, up to the pine and fir forests to some near rain forest valleys with marshes.
And finishes up with a great trail across the rolling hillside.

Tin Cup overlook and Shannon Ridge

I like the ride up above Lake Como. If it was paved, it would make an awesome stage in the TDF with some of the smooth switchbacks.

This is the overlook. I was taking a few pictures of the valley when I looked down and realized I was on a rock that was jutting out about ten feet and had a good 60 foot drop to the next rock ledge.

Naturally, I don't have any pictures of the single track descent, too much fun to stop!

Thursday night ride, Twogood Cabin

A fun little ride up to the Twogood cabin and back, along Warm Springs Creek. This is the only section that is smooth and easy, and lasts about 60 meters. At the end, a bbq and beers await.

A casualty from a previous group? Looks like this Marmot may not have been fast enough to avoid getting run over by a bike or horse. Shortly after I passed this guy, another one jumped out in front of me and ran the trail for about 10 meters before diving into a burrow.
Besides the scree fields, this trail has a number of challenging sections with many roots and rocks jumping out at you mixed with crazy sharp and sudden turns.
A tough spot right after a series of tough spots.....
It was warm and muggy, so the stream crossings were quite welcome.
There were many downed trees after the storm a few days prior and many more that had recently been cleared. This is something that you usually encounter on the first rides of the season, not the middle of Summer.
One of the few fast sections on the way up.

Thursday night ride, Fred Burr canyon

Looked like it would rain and be cold on the drive in, but the clouds parted and gave us a nice sunny ride up, though the rains gave us quite a bit or water to ride through.

This is a recently reworked section, but way too short.

Couple of the Wednesday night crew graced us with their presence, only because they did their crazy long ride on Tuesday...

Still a lot of snow in the upper elevations, and still cold up there.

Tuesday eve ride.

No pictures, just wanted to say that the ride went from warm sun, to sprinkles to sun, to driving rain and wind with lightning. I was ready to ditch the bike to wait for the storm to pass. Nothing like riding a lightning rod in a lightning storm.

Thursday Night Ride - Two Bears

A pano from about half way up the climb.

This ride typifies most Bitterroot rides; long climbs at the start, crazy descents at the end.

After some nine miles of climbing, we hit the single track ridge trail.
Naturally, there are a few steep pitches along the ridge. Had a great view of the valley and the area around Corvallis Hill where we live. The top was about 6600 feet.
The final part of the descent. Got pretty crazy with loose rocks and steep cliffs. This trail is shared with motorcycles and we let them pass here. Funny, I can ride this on my bike, but I'm afraid to try it on my motorcycle, yet these guys flew down the hill.