Mckenzie Madness

This is out of the ordinary and maybe a little risky; but I think it could be acceptable. What if you were traveling to the west coast to enjoy some sweet greenery and culture? I would say if that was the case, you need to check out the McKenzie River Trail outside of Eugene, OR. Known for its 20 plus miles of scenic; river guided trail, mostly gradual downhill trail; it is the site of choice to get your turns in for the day.

Featuring some of the best single track around, the McKenzie River Trail is known for its organic growth style trail. Caused by the constant moisture and decomposition of the Oregon forest; unlike the sandy and rocky styled trail you find in the Rexburg area, you’ll notice while riding the McKenzie River Trail the ground is soft and forgiving yet responsive enough to lean hard into a turn without feeling lose or sloppy.

Located an hour outside of Eugene, OR; on Hwy 126(milepost 69); you’ll find such scenic attractions as the Blue hole and Sahalie Falls(both pictured); along with several wood bridges crossing the rushing McKenzie. The blue hole is a blue tinted body of water where the water comes from seemingly nowhere, to form a lake.

Kelly Canyon Summit Trail

Who knew pouring rain could be so fun?! Well I do, after my weekend warrior experience. I woke up late and made the last minute discussion to head to the mountain and ride some trails. As I drove out the weather looked questionable and I could see lightning in the distance. By the time I arrived at the base of the Kelly Canyon Summit Trail it was pouring.

I was by myself, so no shuttle this time, but it might be a good idea if you don't want to suffer the ride back to the car. After a minute or two I realized mud was the word of the day and I was going to be covered in it.

This trail features a difficult yet do-able uphill section to the summit, and an awe-inspiring downhill that makes it worth it. Complete with huge berms and a plethora of mud, you can almost touch your handle bars to the ground in some of the turns. While riding down you’ll have the choice to mark the jumps or skirt them on the side, I’d recommend trying to get some air.

The view from the top is breath-taking no matter which side you look off from, but don't make that your top priority, you’ll be lucky to even see it through all the mud on your face.



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Targhee Creek

As cool as a rotten tomato is about the same as me not being able to ride any real trails this last week. The weathers been a little questionable and it’s been a little cold, but it’s the busy life I lead, not the weather, that kept me from going this last week. When I say “real” trails, I mean trails that make my heart beat faster and give me an adrenaline rush. I have some new trails in mind that I want to investigate and map.

I did however get out and find some mellow trails that were pretty fun to ride. I went camping by Targhee Creek, which is about an hour outside of Rexburg towards Island Park and Yellowstone. The campsite was excellent complete with a raging creek, plenty of camp spots, and bear boxes to keep those bears away. That’s not the cool part though; there are signs that tell you where the trails are. They’re all pretty mellow. One that wasn’t marked was across the creek towards the West. I would recommend taking a GPS so you don’t get too lost, since there are miles and miles of old logging roads that go back into the woods for as far as you can imagine. I rode for a good hour and didn’t see the end of the particular trail that I chose.
Check that spot out, and check here again next week for another “real” trail.



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The snow is gone, go make some turns!

The snow is officially gone and it's time to ride! I found and mapped a new trail, the Buckskin Morgan Ridge trail, on the ridge across from Kelly Canyon the other day; this trail is about 5.9 miles long and has approximately 1300 ft. of vertical descent.

To get there, you need to drive past Kelly Canyon and when the road forks, take the far left road. You go another couple miles past the fork and see a sign and small parking lot; this is the trailhead. My recommendation would be to shuttle this section, or in other words drive two cars. Leave one at the top and one at the bottom, so you don’t have to bike the uphill section, unless that’s your style.

You’ll find a few tough uphill sections as well as some fast technical sections with big rocks. The trail also follows a creek for a while that you have to cross several times. Watch out for cows along the way and practice your cowboy yell so they get out of the way. You’ll also find some cow fences that you’ll have to stop for, just make sure you close them after you move through and the farmers won’t get too upset.

There is one part at the bottom that without some instruction could result in you getting lost. There will be a long downhill section followed by a cow fence. About a hundred yards after the cow fence take a left, within a few hundred yards of the turn you should be following a creek. Enjoy the ride and let me know how it was.



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Tuesday Ridin!!

I heard from some friends and also The Post Register put an article out that the snow has gone away enough to go riding at Kelly Canyon. We're gonna go check it out and get some turns in on Tuesday afternoon. Email me if you want to get in on it.

Why This Blog?

Being a semi-Rexburg resident for over two years I’ve noticed that there isn’t anyone telling people where to go mountain biking. Everything is word of mouth, and someone has to show you where the trails are. But where do people go to find trails that aren’t locals? That’s the question that I went through when I first moved here. The point of this blog is to let you know where to go to get your fill of riding this season without any previous knowledge of the area.

The focus will mostly be on locations that are within an hour of Rexburg, ID., Such as Kelly canyon, and to the North towards Ashton. We might even get a little explorative and drop down to Pocatello, or even Utah. My plan is make a GPS track of each trail for your downloading pleasure that will easily be seen if you have Google Earth. I have done this before to show trails of ski resorts and it works pretty well. If you are a Rexburgian or know some cool trails, let me know about them and we’ll make sure take a ride and get those maps up for everyone else. Just write me a comment and we’ll get out there

SNOW -- There’s still too much snow to go riding in the mountains! There’s defiantly less than a few weeks ago, but we’re still not able to get higher than about 6500ft. So be patient and keep riding where you can. This might be funny for some of you; but I’m going crazy, I’m so antsy to get on the trails I was dropping some rocks in front of my apartment and totally went right over the handle bars in front of a group of people. So worth it though.

Snow Level

After mountain biking in Oregon all winter with little or no snow, I came to eastern Idaho with big hopes of continuing my riding. After talking to several local riders with the same enthusiasm of biking and noticing that there was no snow left in Rexburg, I decided to check the snow conditions to see how close we were to opening the season in the mountains.

Just a short drive outside of town I reached a muddy road that soon turned into a wall of snow that my corolla couldn’t handle. The snow is at about 6000 feet, so we’re going to have to wait another couple weeks to get higher into the hills.

There are a few alternatives for those who want to get out there, but are willing to play down here in the valley. A new trail that I investigated is near the Menan buttes. It’s along an old gravel road that follows the river for miles. You can choose how long you’re willing to go. Park at the boat ramp off of Twin Butte Rd. Head Northwest. You might have to jump a few cattle fences, but the scenic ride is worth it. While I was riding a few rafters even went by and said hi. The map to the trailhead is at the bottom.

Since the downhill sections aren’t open, it’s a great time to make sure that your bike is in good shape before you hit the hills. First thing that needs to be done is making sure all your main components are working correctly. This includes checking all the gearing system and the brakes. After thinking about how to explain adjusting those parts of your bike, I decided to just let some knowledgeable guys on YouTube explain.

Rear Derailleur

Front Derailleur

V-Brakes

View Snake River Trail in a larger map