Weather here has been somewhat dank limiting our desire to venture out and explore. Add to that an unbearable mosquito population and it ain't fun. Today the weather broke and the bugs seemed to lessen considerably so we explored in and around the Stanley Lake area.

See slide show HERE.

This was definitely a gravy ride for us as we encountered a good variety of terrain. Lots more to explore around here so we may extend our stay a little bit.

I've heard that Idaho has some great riding area's. Hope to make it over there this summer.
Todd

I was thinking the same thing Todd, not this summer for me though........ Those trails look very nice, bet you could get going at a good clip after riding them a few times.......

Todd & Matches - We got booted from the camp ground owing to previous reservations made well in advance by people wanting to attend an event in Stanley. We just made some riding friends there that come back and stay for 4 months every season.

We also met a fellow that has been a local riding advocate for the past 20 years. He's tight with the Forest Service and has also produced a custom set of maps (8 pages) showing all the trails with difficulty ratings. Jeannie and I were both very disappointed leaving there and wanted to stay one more week. Jim, the campground host, felt really bad kicking us out. He even offered to put us up at his brother's place.

In and around Stanley you will find some unique riding to include tons of single track. The riding ranges from very easy to dangerous. Owing to the huge amount of space there it's best to hook in with someone that knows the trails and shares a riding style. It would be difficult to just blow in and get into the gravy riding. It took us many rides, MTB and hikes to get tuned in and started in the right direction. It's very easy to get started down a shelf road that's dangerous coming up then get dead ended in a bog that you can't cross. That area is filled with lake, streams, bogs, marshes and swamps. Some of the fellows were working on bypass routes to impassable sections when we left. But the riding there is very very good if you know where to go.

Multi use trails include hikers, horses, MTB and dirt bikes. Horses tend to step on the outside edges of shelf roads in certain sections and break the edges off. This creates wash out that can narrow passage. In some sections it isn't a big deal but in others it makes for dangerous sledding. All the areas we rode in have no cell phone service either. Bad thunder storms do roll in from time to time with high winds, cold temps, snow and hail. Trees come down in the process as well. Just a couple of things to consider whence it's time to ride.

Thanks for the heads up on the trail conditions there Muniac. Sounds a lot like here, minus the snow and hail. We get the wind, thunder, and lord knows we get lighning. Got a couple fires going now, though this time they are a 100 miles away (or more), so no smoke in the valley. Rain would be nice, but is seldom seen in our little "rain shadow".

A pic of our June '08 trip to Stanley Lake.