Magruder Corridor – Obrianmcc Adventures

East to West – Part 5

The Magruder turns to dirt full time a short distance past Nez Perce Pass. Running alongside Deep Creek the road is a loose rock surface that kept the bike feeling a bit unsettled. Steady counter balance and light steering kept the bike tracking true and out of the ditch.

It wasn’t long before we turned south crossing the creek. At this point the road surface transitioned back to a more packed surface and we would start our climb upward out of the current drainage and onto the ridge that we would following for the next a many miles.

The early miles out of the Deep Creek drainage was in and out of a healthy stand of forest. Soon the trees give way to more open views and the trail side hilled along side a prior burn area.

Once up on the ridge we arrived at one of the most notable sites along the Magruder Road…. the Lloyd Magruder site details the tragic incident that took Lloyds life during a robbery. The robbers were eventually tracked down and paid for their crime, but the story does portray the some what lawless nature of the day.

The views along the Magruder Trail are exceptional. At the Lloyd Magruder site we were looking into vast distance of Big Sky Montana Peaks.

The Magruder isn’t overly technical. If you make it to the Magruder Site and are in relative comfortable with the road conditions you will not have any issues … barring any late season weather.

The day is running long and we are chasing the sun with the hopes that we will arrive at Red River Hot Springs before the dinner cut off.

The group spreads out to again preserve air filters and to allow each of us to enjoy our own individual experience along the trail. Stopping periodically to ensure that our group is still whole …. we make Red River HS with time to spare.

You might find some older reports of Red River HS and some bad reviews …. these were previous owners. The current owners are putting in a lot of hard work into the lodge and were a very pleasant couple. The gave us a pad alongside the pools which worked great for our tents. We had the pools to ourselves until they closed, which prepped us for a good nights sleep.

Rising the next morning we made our way into Elk City for fuel. These small communities are largely supported by tourism, so when you pass through make sure to stop for a nice meal and fuel. It will help to make sure that these resources remain in place for the next traveler or your next trip. Without these communities it would be increasingly difficult for us to complete these trips.

For the next few miles we blasted down Hwy 14 and the South Fork of the Clearwater. This section of Hwy was super fun! It’s another one of those two lane highways with endless twist and turns.

Eventually the fun of Hwy 14 came to an end and we turned south to traverse over the mountain, through Florence and eventually dropping down to the Main Salmon River.

Dropping down to the river was a stark reminder of the oppressive valley heat we were returning to. To delay this return we chose to make our way up and over the French Grade Switchbacks, through Burgdorf, and McCall.

The 2 hr ride from McCall to Boise concluded our trip. Approx 840 miles over three long days. This loop was remarkable and I feel blessed to have been invited along with such a good group of people. All bikes finished the trip with no issues and I was also pleased with the performance of my OBR ADV Gear Big Sky Tank Bag, Sherpa Tail Bag, and Crash Bar Bags. Each piece of kit did it’s job, never budged, and never interfered with me as the rider.

………Until our next adventure!

East to West – Part 4

Challis at an elevation of still around 5000 ft had the evening cool off nicely compared to the heat lower in the valley. The previous days ride had us turn in at a respectable hour and awakening the next morning before most. We dropped our tents and packed our gear with breakfast firmly on our minds back in town.

Bikes and bodies fueled we headed north on hwy 93 the 8 or 10 miles until Morgan Creek Road (FR 055). Morgan Creek Rd was another of my favorites with its consistent surface and open views. You would find yourself twisting through trees and then the road would open up in front of you with your obvious direction pointed towards the confluence of distant ridges.

The road at some point after cresting a summit turns into Panther Creek Rd. Panther Creek continues to drop elevation as it continues until the convergence of FR30 and the Salmon river. This elevation drop passes us by previous burn areas and into a more arid sub level with temperatures consistent with the topography. We all regroup at the FR30 intersect and then proceed along the Main Salmon and back onto pavement through Shoup and North Fork. I admit that this section of road into North Fork was quite fun while letting the KTM breath a bit.

It had become obvious to us that we needed to burn a few miles as we still needed to make it over the Magruder Corridor still today. Back on hwy 93 we continued north scrubbing the tires. We crossed into Montana and over Lost Trail Pass finally reaching Connor Cutoff.

With 100 miles still to cover over the Magruder we wasted no time and pressed forward. Red River Hot Springs would be our final destination … hopefully at a reasonable hour.

Pressing on …

The first part of the Magruder has us transitioning off pavement and then back on. This being common until we reach the 6500 ft Nez Perce Pass. From there the Magruder starts to take its own back into a primitive dirt track.

Back in Idaho…

…. to be continued

East to West

“Travel is not really about leaving our homes, but leaving our habits.”

– Pico Iyer

As every Summer starts to take hold, longer days start offering up extended hrs to ride whilst teasing us with seasonally pleasant weather…. or at least my mind starts to wander on potential directions that I can point my front tire. In this particular case my minds wandering was made easy by a text received by my friend Sean. Sean and a group were planning a loop around the central portion of our state (Idaho) in a few short weeks, to depart the first weekend of August. Sean and the group graciously made room for one more and extended me an invite, which I graciously excepted. The Summer heat would most likely be settling in by that time, but our route was planned to take us over some elevation and hopefully offer a reprieve to the expected valley temps.

The planned group would consist of Sean and his wife Kris riding two up on their KTM 1190, Jack and his wife Carol riding two up on their KTM 790, Steve on his KTM 1190, Larry on his KTM 1090, Brian on his 1k V-Strom (to keep the KTM’s in line), and myself also on a 1090. (Circumstances at the final hour would unfortunately have Sean and Kris have to step back from the trip, but I’m equally sure they are motivated to complete the planned loop at the next opportunity)

With the group now minus two, the rest of us maintained the original plan to meet bright and early on a cool Friday morning at a fuel stop just outside of Boise heading north. With expected daytime highs to be creeping close to triple digits we were excited to get the air flowing and town distant in our rear view mirrors. We would warm up the tires on a few miles of Hwy 55 into Horseshoe Bend where we would meet up with Larry, who was riding down from the McCall/Donnelly area on his 1090.

Friday morning … the 1090 and OBR ADV Gear bags loaded and ready!

Our first planned exit off the pavement would be onto FR 307 (Harris Creek Road). Each of us spacing out appropriately to avoid each others dust as we proceeded east over Harris Creek Summit meeting up at the junction of Placerville Road and then proceeding to New Centerville. Placerville Road is a 6-8 mile paved section that is connected by dirt on either end and is always a nice reprieve from the dust as it runs parallel alongside Granite Creek.

Arriving in New Centerville we turn the bikes north on FR 382 (Grimes Pass Rd). This portion of road is a multi layer of loose rock and sections of sand requiring us to kick up the pace through Placerville only stopping at the base of Grimes Pass. Our spacing being well maintained and controlled by the residual dust that lingers in the air as a signal to throttle back slightly. This “ying and yang” proves effective in guaranteeing each an appreciable level of clean air as we ride through soil that is otherwise devoid of moisture.

A quick trail break at the intersection of Grimes Pass Rd and Summit Road (FR 397) reveals the Jack and Carrol are experiencing a rear brake gremlin on their 790. The brake seemed to to have pressure at the pedal, but no reaction at the caliper. Tool kits came out and wrenches put into action, but with no resolve. It was decided that Jack and Carrol would loop back into Boise to see if they can get the issue resolved whereas they can meet back up with us at Challis Hot Springs, our intended destination for night one.

The group now minus another two (temporarily), we turn east and head up Summit Rd towards Pilot Peak. I didn’t know what to expect in this section as the 200k acre Pioneer Fire of 2016 had extensively burned this area. However I was pleasantly surprised to find this section of road otherwise unaffected by the fire. The road narrowed and the surface cleaned up making the next few files a complete pleasure. The elevation increased and the dust seemed to decrease as we carved our way up through the trees and towards Pilot Peak.

A few in our group had not visited Pilot Peak in the dry months (Pilot Peak is a popular Winter destination by Snowmobile and back country skiers), so we diverted the 1 mile extension to the top.

Pilot Peak is an old decommissioned fire lookout that sits at approx 8128 ft and has long since been reassigned as a communications platform. Views still note worthy on reasonably clear days.

A few hrs on the clock and our second stop for the day we remount and head down the hill towards Moores Creek Summit where we will again reconnect with the pavement and ride the twisty Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway, a notable section as referred by Butler Maps, to our next stop at the Sourdough Lodge along Hwy 21 for food and fuel. This section of pavement is always a treat as it allows us to scrub the tires and blow some of the dust off the bikes.

… to be continued