September 6 & 7

The weekend after Labor Day had a mix of lot clean-up, an ATV trip, and a campfire. Here are a few details.

I came up on Saturday solo, as there were only a couple of loads of wood to be taken to the burn pit. I took care of these then settled down for a quiet evening. Periodic showers during the day gave way to a partly cloudy and dry evening. A campfire in my fire pit closed out my evening. Here is a short (3:29) video taken on Saturday:

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As I did last week, I took an ATV trip on Sunday before heading home. This one turned out to be the longest trip, 40+ miles, of all my trips this year.

I covered, in this order, Middle Fork of the Swan River, Radical Hill, Webster Pass, Red Cone Trail, a visit to the town of Montezuma, then Deer Creek back to the Middle Fork and my truck. Wow. Tremendous scenery and some of the most challenging trails I have attempted to ride. Here is a topo map of the area courtesy of Google Maps:

Radical Hill, Webster Pass, and Red Cone areas

Here are some photos I took during the outing:

Jerry and “The Griz” head for Radical Hill

Radical Hill from Webster Pass. Note trail coming down near top-right of photo

Local resident gives Jerry the “Once Over” at bottom of Radical Hill

Handcart Gulch (Center) from Red Cone Trail (Right)

Red Cone from Handcart Gulch

Proof I made it to the top

Old mining equipment at top of side road 290

Harebells blooming along Middle Fork of the Swan River

I’ve created a gallery of photos taken from this trip and other trails I’ve ridden in the area and added it to my Galleries page. Click on this Webster Pass link to view all the photos of this trip and a few from my Montezuma Loop trip taken the previous week.

I had a few snowflakes go past but they changed to a (brief) light rain at lower elevations. Thunder and snow pellets punctuated my time above timberline but these were from small cells that moved along quickly. Most of the day was partly cloudy with temps in the upper 40s to low 50s with a sometimes strong wind blowing. I was glad I decided to wear my long johns under my outer clothes and bring along my snowmobile gloves. I wore my old leather coat and had my helmet on; this combo kept me pretty comfortable all day.

I really do enjoy these outings but I can feel the results when I get back in the truck.  A lot of bouncing and jarring is part of any trip but this trip had more than average. Rocks everywhere. I used 4-wheel low range a large portion of the time, including coming down some steep sections where I depended on the low gearing (and brakes) to control my descent. There were quite few other 4-wheel drive rigs in the area and a few of us stopped and compared notes about conditions and the routes we had taken. All in all it was a great outing even though my back and shoulders were tired and stiff at the end of the day.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

I find it hard to believe there are other people on these God-forsaken ATV roads Fields is “enjoying,” but since these other folks are out-and-about it’s likely there will be help handy should he have a mishap or equipment failure.

The dogs and I enjoyed a weekend away from mouse poop.

Happy Trails.