I'm Just Sayin...: Boundary Trail

This week our journey through the hills of Idaho takes us to the eastern part of Caribou National Forrest and along the west slope just down from Pebble Creek Ski Resort. This trail is known as the Boundary Trail and is an 18 mile double track ride from Pebble Resort, along the ridge of the mountain, back behind Crystal Springs and then comes out just north of Lava Hot Springs. It is rated at a difficult to very difficult level as compared to most of the other trails around the Pocatello area. This is due to the constant change in elevation and the terrain that you must traverse. The trail is covered, and I do mean covered in rocks, and not just your little pebbles or the occasional golf ball sized rocks, I'm talking rocks the size of large watermelons. And these rocks are evenly disbursed throughout the trail or organized to make for a smooth ride. No, at times these rocks covered the trail like sprinkles on a doughnut, just not as tasty. There are sections of the trail where it's pure rocks for 100 yards or

more. Now, the rocks are one thing...but add in rain and mud and the trail becomes absolutely unbearable (hence the FAIL in the title). This is the first time we've had to turn around because there was no way that we were going the full 18 miles alive. In fact, I believe we got 2.5 miles into the ride before we decided to turn back, and we probably should have turned back sooner...or maybe postponed the trip all together.
So this ride started out in planning the night before. Looking at the terrain on Google Earth and checking the profile with Mapsource. I also checked the weather report because it has been cloudy and rainy in Pocatello for much of the week, and Friday wasn't looking any better. The report said that there was a 40% chance of rain during the day with a higher chance at night. With that we still decided to go tackle this beast. So Friday morning rolls in and the sky is cloudy with a mixture of white, grey, and

black clouds; no rain however. We load the bikes up and head down to Lava to drop off the Jeep. Heading back towards the start of the trail head we run into some rain along I-15. I check the weather report again and notice that the storm is just rolling over us, moving in a north-eastern pattern with more storms off the the west and south that look to be intensifying. One would think that with the current rain, future weather report, and current Doppler radar we would have scrubbed the adventure in the first place. Well as someone once put it, "common sense isn't so common." No this information didn't deter us at all. We continued to head up the mountain to the Pebble Creek Ski Resort. Once arriving there the rain had disappeared but plenty of clouds still covered the sky, many of them heading towards us. And yet, we still decided to hit the trail, knowing that we would probably get wet and ride straight into those storms. A little rain never hurt anybody, right?
So we started out on the trail. Immediately hit mud and had a good time trying to keep up enough speed so as to not get mud everywhere and also keep the back tires from slipping out beneath us. The mud wasn't that bad at this time and we were able to push through. The scenery from this altitude was absolutely beautiful. I was able to appreciate this part of the valley from a whole new perspective. I've driven through it every time I go between Ogden and Pocatello and its part of the plain where the original Lake Bonneville drained into the Snake River Valley Plain. From here you can see as far as Malad Summit (if the clouds aren't covering it) and over to the West Caribou National Forrest. It was an awesome sight to see Scout Mountain and Old Tom Mountain with there peaks covered as low flying clouds sat on top of them.

We continued on pedaling through rock, rivers, and mud...plenty of mud. About 2 miles into the ride I took this picture where you can see the rain coming.

That didn't stop us though, oh no. Another 0.5 miles and the we hit the front of the storm. It was a light rain to begin with and we were prepared for it. Yes, we had bought a box of Western Family garbage sacks to use for ponchos at a gas station just before the trail head. Dressed in

trash we thought about heading forward, but the rain starting coming down harder. Also, the GPS calculated that we had a moving average of 5.0 mph but an overall average (moving + stopped time) of 2.5 mph...thanks to rock and mud. So with 15 miles still left and only moving at 2.5 mph we decided to turn back around (yes it wasn't the fact that it was raining but the fact that we were just going too slow is why we decided to turn back.) Of course, I don't think we would have made it much farther because of what this heavier rain did.
With the ever increasing and never ending rain our trail got to a point of pure unrideability (word?). The mud was so thick and expansive that trying to push through it was almost impossible. It caked everything it touched: forks, spokes, cogs, crankshafts, derailleurs, and chain. Instead of falling off it just kept growing. Most of the time I spent trying not to let my back tire slip out from under me. Eventually, and unfortunately, after 0.25 miles of this Stella had enough.

Yes, while trying to push through the pure cake batter that was this mud all of a sudden I heard a pop and felt no resistance while I pedaled. I looked down to see Stella wounded in battle, her chain hanging limp and transected from the cogs. Now I have spare tires, patches, a multi tool, and a chain tool, but what I didn't have was an extra chain or at least a couple of extra links. There I was, stranded in the rain and mud. With only a 1/4 of a mile down that meant I had 2.25 left to hike-a-bike back through that horrible mud of Satan! Just going another 1/4 of a mile probably took 30 mins of pushing, pulling, carrying and everything short of cursing and abandoning my bike. A little under a mile (0.8 miles to be exact) from where we had to turn back we had reached a point where a Jeep trail had crossed ours and looked like it headed back down to the valley. Once we got back to this point I told my buddy that I was going to coast down the mountain until I got to a main road then I'd call him to let him know where I was at so he could come pick me up. There was absolutely no way I was making it back to the trail head in this mud and without a chain. After looking at the map and GPS he decided to come with me down the trail and get back to his Land Cruiser along the main roads. Even though it was longer in mileage wise it might go faster because he would be able to ride instead of push his bike through the mud, seeing how it was that thick and deep that he couldn't pedal either.
So we head down the Jeep trail. It wasn't much different in its mud consistency than the trail we were just on. The difference was now we are sliding down a mountain side trying to just keep the bikes under us and not get thrown into the foliage. The rain had picked up and was now falling harder, colder, and sideways with the wind. As the speed increased on this descent my buddy soon realized that regular bike clamp breaks do absolutely nothing in the mud. My disc breaks help out a lot, but only to an extent. They at least slow down the wheel rotation. My friend didn't have that luxury as he is sliding down the mountain and then loses control of his rear tire. As it fish tails behind him the trail eventually just slides out from under him all together and he is thrown from the biking and goes sliding down the mud mountain with his bike coming in a close second. It was just like a giant slip'n'slide we all use to play on as kids (and still do as adults). Eventually the two stopped, he regained his composure, picked up the bike, jumped back on and started the ordeal again. My laughing didn't help my cause at all because the same thing happened to me just a little way down the mountain. I don't think Stella was too happy with me at this point.

Eventually we made it down to an old highway that would take us back to his Land Cruiser. This was pretty much a dirt road as well, but a kept dirt road so it wasn't too muddy. My buddy started riding but soon realized his chain was too caked in mud and debris that if he kept

pedaling it would eventually snap. So we both ended up riding the bikes like those push razor scooters that were popular a few years back. We came to the intersection that would take us back up the Land Cruiser. There was a stream near by so we stopped to wash off, well, what we could. Oh, as a little side note the weather had improved and was now sunny and warm (I swear mother nature was toying with me that day). The final stretch back up to the Land Cruiser was all uphill and my friend really didn't want to push his bike up it. The consensus was that I would stay at the creek with the bikes while he ran up to get the Land Cruiser. According to his story that ran quickly turned into a tiring walk up the switchbacks that lead to the ski resort. He said that the whole time he could see the ski lifts and radio towers at the resort and they looked close, but never seemed to get closer because of all the switchbacks. When he got back we then calculated that distance from the creek to the trail head and it was a good 1.5 miles. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20 isn't in.
As tortuous as this day has been, I'm still glad I did it. There's something to be said about experience gained, be it good or bad (see my other blog for further discussion). The scenery was breathtaking, parts of the ride were fun, and I now know what to expect when I go to tackle that trail again. I only got 2.5 miles into an 18 mile ride so yes, I will ride that trail again. It will not beat me. Next time I'll take a different approach to it, a dry one!

Here are a few other shots from the day. Remember you can see these along with the rest of the unpublished photos, as well as all the photos taken from my other rides at http://picasaweb.google.com/tjdhulst