You guys like long pic-heavy posts followed by more of the same? Buckle up, it going to be a long one.
Just got back from riding the IDBDR. That's primarily offroad for the length of Idaho, from Nevada to Canadia. We had conflicting odometer readings at the end, but it was right around 1600 miles total over parts of 8 days.
Day 1 everyone met at my house and we rode 2-lane road to Wild Horse Reservoir. We were too excited to leave and didn't get a group shot at the beginning so this is the first shot.
Forecast high was 107 for the day and we eventually saw that. Mormon crickets were on the move and thick too. At Wild Horse we hit gravel and were headed to Jarbidge. There was a well documented Jeep trail called Purple Pancakes Fly at Midnight and it connects forest service road to the west side of town. It was mostly uneventful...at first. I found Christine buried in the river bank.
We were a little over half way in when we hit a pretty rutted hillclimb section. I was on my blue TW and clawed my way past the rough stuff and waited about an eighth mile up. There was no shade. Marc followed me up a few minutes later on his DRZ but said Jerod was having trouble with his old XL500 boiling fuel. We waited about 30 minutes and watched from a distance as Jerod and my brother struggle to get the XL going. It would stall, wheelie, or dig a hole. Finally my brother rode up and told us that Jerod was exhausted and resting. The hill was steep and his gear was heavy and too far back, making it hard to keep the front wheel planted. I tossed off all my gear and rode to the bottom, planning to haul his up. We finally got me loaded and situated and made another run. He was about 1/2 way up when his clutch gave up -- completely. I passed him and went to the top to tell the others, then back to the bottom and unload. Then a 3rd trip back up to get all my gear and bring it down.
We weren't quite sure what we'd do in the end but we knew we'd need to get back to the FS road. We used my Tusk tow strap and my brother towed Jerod out behind his KLX (DRZ). We had to stop every couple miles to let the DRZs cool down. They didn't like going slow in the 100+ heat. It took almost 2 hours just to backtrack 10 miles.
It was probably around 8 when we got back on the gravel and I'd formulated a Plan B. We used Marc's Zolio to text my dad about meeting us in Glenn's Ferry the next day. My brother kept towing the XL all the way to the Jarbidge Confluence well after dark, where we camped next to the river. We were all beat from the heat and wolfed some Mountain House before crashing around 11.
The next morning the 3 of us ran down to Jarbidge to top off fuel. It was Monday morning and nothing was open.
While we were getting fuel, Jerod stayed at camp and braided a longer row rope from paracord. Once again, my brother was tow driver. Aside from just a few miles of asphalt, Jerod ate gravel for a total of 147 miles from the hillclimb to Glenn's Ferry.
I had left Supervibe hooked to my trailer just in case we needed to be rescued. My dad saved the trip by hauling my white TW to the trail and we sent him home with Jerod's disgraced XL. After a fuel and lunch break, we headed north, stopping to resupply in Pine, and on to Trinity Lakes campground for the night. It was almost completely full and we got the site at the very end.