Gray Man, Inc.

[DRIVEN]

On day 3 we all got up around 6, had breakfast, and broke camp. We rode up the goat trail to Trinity lookout (9500'), which was technically a side spur to the route but not to be missed.







The trail was treating us really well and we were making good time. We were on Middle Fork Rd approaching Barber Flat when we came up on a Sheriff's truck partially blocking the road. There were two mountain bikers standing there and an SUV upside down in the river. Sadly, the two occupants didn't make it. One of the bikers had tried to get them out but it was too late.

About halfway up Barber Flat my brother noticed that his dry bag had fallen off. It had his sleeping bag, toiletries, hoodie, and other misc items in it. Jerod and I were both following him and never saw it so now we were on the hunt for a replacement sleeping bag before nightfall. We were hoping to score one in Lowman but kept running into big orange signs telling us that highway 21 was closed. Unfortunately they didn't say where. We should have just ignored them since we later learned that the closure was in Garden Valley and nowhere near our route. We wasted a lot of time trying to find workarounds before just charging through. We eventually got to Sourdough Lodge for fuel and lunch. It was much better food and service than when I was there last year. They didn't have a sleeping bag though. Last ditch was the Mercantile where we got their only one.

We hit gravel again and set our sights on Deadwood Reservoir. The early evening swim was welcome.



The morning of day 4 we stopped in Yellowpine. The general store had no fuel but the Corner Bar did. It was $10/gal.



What followed was a lot of steep, dusty trail to Warren...for more $10 gas. We stopped in the Baum Shelter for a late lunch, and it was much better than anticipated.





I was trailboss after we left Warren. We encountered a couple very rude (not just clueless or inconsiderate) locals near Burgdorf. One actually tried to run us off the road. A little ways further down the road I surprised a Sherrif on a blind corner. He was going much, much faster than me. I went around before he knew how to feel about it. Then he got mad and screamed at the other guys as they caught up. Oops.

Quick stop at the famous green bus.



We made a wrong turn and found this old Chevy in the woods. Too bad we were off course because it was a really fun single track.



There is a bunch of elevation change in this portion. French Creek Grade is famous for a reason.




Elk City was our goal for the night and we just made it.

 

[DRIVEN]

We stayed at Riders Rest in Elk City. The proprietor has created a 4 space campground behind his cabin. Each space has water, electricity, a covered picnic table, and fire pit. There are also 2 bathrooms and 2 showers available and he even provides towels and bodywash. It's a great mid-trip stop.



When we got up on day 5 we hit the Magruder Corridor. It was very scenic but a lot of it is burned and there's quite a bit of SXS traffic along with lots of other bikes. We came out in Darby, MT and fueled up before riding 60 hot miles of asphalt to Lolo where we ate Subway. The air conditioning was pretty nice. We picked up more water and evening beverages then took the offroad option that bypasses many miles of highway 12. We were hoping to camp at White Sands campground but it was full. We ended up boondocking on an abandoned roadbed.



Day 6 took us to Lochsa Lodge for breakfast.


They have a single gas pump there and we got behind a group of 6 BDR riders. They were surprised and impressed that we were doing it on TWs. We leapfrogged that group all the way over the Lolo Motorway. Again, lots of other traffic.





We thought it might be cool to camp at the Blue Heaven cabin so that's where we headed. When we got there we found 4 old dudes sitting in front just cracking their first PBRs. They were friendly enough to let us look around and we chatted for a few minutes. 2 were on big KTMs and the other two were on XR650s. We nicknamed them Wilford Brimley and the Fire Marshal.



Since the cabin idea was a bust, we rode another 5 miles or so and camped on a side spur. The road leading to and away from the cabin is very rocky and rough.



About midnight I woke up to the sound of dirt bikes riding by, then later some distant gun shots. At around 2am, different motorcycles. When we got up we all compared stories to see if we dreamed it. Nope.

For the first few days of the ride we'd been covering a lot of miles. As we got closer to the end we realized that we were going to finish a day early. Only problem with that is our ride home wouldn't be able to meet us. We figured we'd just slow way down and do about 150 miles per day instead of 250.

The decision was made to ride to Avery for breakfast. On our way there we saw the 4 bikes belonging to the old dudes at a campsite next to a creek. We hit Avery and enjoyed the specialty called the Dirty Joe.



Just as we were digging in, Wilford Brimley and the Fire Marshall rolled up. Apparently the owner of the cabin and his buddies in 5 pickups showed up and evicted them. Wouldn't even let them camp outside. They all left in the dark and got separated. The gunshots were to try to locate eachother. Blue Heaven cabin owner is a dick.

 

[DRIVEN]

Avery is probably most noteable for its rail museum. It was pretty interesting.






As you leave Avery and head to Wallace there are 2 route options. One follows the river and the other follows the old rail line through several tunnels and over some trestles. We'd already seen lots of rivers.





Wallace has an interesting history. We stopped for gas and when we tried to leave town, found a pride festival blocking the route on 6th street. I took no photos.


Wallace to Clark Fork had a lot of active logging.



Random airstrip in the middle of absolute nowhere. Not sure what it services but it looked well maintained.



We camped at Pend Oreille for the night.

 

[DRIVEN]

On the morning of day 7 we backtracked a few miles to Clark Fork to resupply and ate breakfast at Cabinet Mountain Bar and Grill. Most of the staff and patrons looked like they were still there from the night before. Food wasn't very good and neither was the service.

There's a loop above Clark Fork that shows Char Falls and Lunch Peak as small side spurs. I would have skipped them but I'm glad the other guys wanted to stop. Char Falls is beautiful and you'd never imagine it would be there.






Lunch Peak had an unoccupied 2 story lookout. Great view up there. Probably why they made it a lookout, I suspect.



The route drops you back on the highway next to Pend Oreille for a few more miles of asphalt before going north again.



There's a choose your own adventure to Roman Nose and we took the one marked expert. It was rough but not a big deal. Jerod spotted a small lake on the map about 12 miles from the border. It had OHV trails marked going in and out so that's what we took. Brush Lake was alright but it's half covered in lily pads. We took the group space and we were surprised there were so many other campers up there.





We had coordinated a meeting time with my dad for 8am at the border crossing. DRZ rider managed to fit in one more crash on the way out of camp. It was easy gravel road to Porthill.






My dad trailered his Roadking to the endpoint. We helped him unload and put our bikes on the trailer. We just motored down 95 all the way home.

Still not dead yet.

 

[SS_Malibu]

The pictures and trail riding stories are appreciated more then you realize. Beautiful country.

 

[DRIVEN]

Thanks for following along.

 

[Texas82GP]

 

[DRIVEN]

I did a reseal and Krylon rebuild on the 307. My dad has it installed now. The transmission adapter is one he sold back in the '70s and it's come full circle for one more adventure.

The tank isn't saveable so he has one on order. Wiring after that.

 

[81cutlass]

Still living vicariously through the trips!

How long were you gone?

 

[DRIVEN]

8 days total. The first day was riding from my house to the actual start point in Nevada. The last day was trailering the bikes 500 home. The official route itself could have been ridden in 5 days rather than 6 if we hadn't slowed down for the second half to time the meetup with my dad. There was very, very limited cell reception along the way making it tough to coordinate.

We were averaging 200-250 miles a day with 10-12 hours on the trail. Based on what I've read and seen in YouTube vids, that's a pretty brisk pace. It actually seems more common for guys, especially on the bigger bikes, to do around 100 miles per day. Many will break the route into pieces and ride them over the course of months or even years. Also, most people skip the first section entirely because it's open range land which is hot, flat, and dusty. Riding it from the beginning to the end in one shot is the way it was intended but most riders just don't. It's a bit of an Ironman.


There are several organized routes across the US. More info here: https://ridebdr.com/