Messages

1

Temporary ACA Route Road Closures / Re: IDHSMBR -Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route - June 2017

« on: August 28, 2017, 01:23:54 am »

Thank you shannonpaul! I haven't read a blog yet where the riders have ridden the 2 singletrack sections so I was wondering about that. I've ridden Eagle's Nest a few times from the Warm Lake Rd so hopefully that will be straightforwardish as we will be on hardtail 29er's with no trailers. I've never been down Atlanta way but we are planning a few days to get from Cottonwood CG to Ketchum area. Hopefully the Beaver Lodge is still open as we will plan to get a hot meal and a beer there. The most recent ID Hot Springs loop blog on crazyguyonabike warned of the Harriman trail being closed so was just checking to see what condition it was in. We are pretty excited to hit the trail!

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Temporary ACA Route Road Closures / Re: IDHSMBR -Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route - June 2017

« on: August 27, 2017, 10:05:37 pm »

Does anyone know the current state of the Harriman Trail? A buddy and I are starting the route next weekend going counterclockwise out of McCall. We are planning on doing the Eagle's Nest and Atlanta singletrack sections in our 2 week adventure. Thanks!

3

General Discussion / How to get out of Antelope Wells?! (GDT)

« on: August 19, 2007, 11:56:15 pm »

Vernon, thank you very much for the compliments! We are very exicted to be finished (8/14/07, high noon at Antelope Wells, NM! 2800+ miles) but I already feel the itch to get back on a bike and ride another tour. I think I might be addicted.

I will answer my own question in case people get stuck with my same predictiment.

Well in Hachita we found a gentleman named Sam Hughes who was very very helpful and let us camp in his side yard. If you are biking into Hachita, ask any of the people who live there for Sam and they will direct you. He offers a shuttle service from the border to Deming or Lordsburg for a very fair fee. Also Tim who works at the border for Border Patrol seemed live a very helpful and awesome guy. He greeted us with ice cream and asked if he could help out in anyway. He told us about a shuttle service that brings people from Mexico to Tucson or Phoenix and they have a trailer which they can throw your bike/bob into. We ended up taking the Mexican shuttle to Sam's house and then he drove us to Deming. We decided to take Greyhound (read:WORST DISCISSION EVER!) out of Deming so he brought us to a cheap hotel where we packed up, drank some beers and headed out in the morning. They don't have a bike store in Deming but they have a Walmart and Kmart that I was able to get boxes from for free. The UPS store is a ways out of the main town so make sure you plan ahead because it was an 8mile round trip walk in 100+ degree heat with 2 40lb boxes. And we couldn't find a single taxi service in Deming so I am not sure if one is available.

If you are flying, I would say El Paso or Tucson would be your best bet if you can find someone to drive you there. The Greyhound goes to both but ours was 4 hours late picking us up which would definetley mess your airline schedule up unless you planned way in advance to be in that city early.

Hope that helps and if anyone has any other questions, I can definetley try and help you if you just want to drop me an e-mail at xcbiker27@juno.com

Also for Vernon and the rest, I will be finishing the blog in the next couple of days as computers were hard to come across in NM.

-Keith

4

General Discussion / How to get out of Antelope Wells?! (GDT)

« on: July 28, 2007, 06:03:53 pm »

Well here we are in Sargents, CO (in the middle of a huge electrical storm) and are starting to think of getting off the GDT. There are two of us and we still don't have a solid plan for getting out of New Mexico and back to New Hampshire. We do want to ride to the border so stopping in Silver City is out of the question. Our thought is to use the shuttle service that the ACA recommends which would run us about $50 each to get to Deming to get on a greyhound.

We are thinking that getting to Deming and taking the Greyhound from there would be the most economical way out but we wanted to check with some GDT vets. How did you get out of Antelope Wells and back into civilization? We are on a tight budget so the cheaper, the better. Also is there a bike shop in Deming? I see there is a UPS store so I know I could ship the bikes back, just wondering if there is a way to get some boxes. Any help with this would be very helpful. Also you can check out our blog at http://divideride07.blogspot.com

Thanks, Keith

5

General Discussion / Leaving for the Great Divide Trail!

« on: August 19, 2007, 11:58:10 pm »

...No REI anywhere close to the trail though. A lot of the gas stations in bear country sold bear spray. We didn't have to use ours but we thought we were going to with the dogs in New Mexico. Watch out for those d*mn dogs!

-Keith

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General Discussion / Leaving for the Great Divide Trail!

« on: July 28, 2007, 06:10:56 pm »

Scott, we are on the trail right now and 100% agree with Julie. We haven't had bad mosquitos since Pinedale, WY area and haven't seen a bear (or bear signs) since Jackson, WY (both Northern). I have been using a single can of OFF Sport (contains a small amount of Deet) and it works for about 15 minutes before they are back on me. Like I said though, haven't used it for about two weeks (We are in Sargents, CO, south of Salida).

We haven't seen bear spray for sale since Togowee Pass in WY. We have about 20-25 days left on the trail (southern CO and NM) and if we pass ya, we can sell you some cheap (unused!). If not, I am sure one of the sports stores here in CO has some, I just haven't noticed.

What you need to find is some kind of electrical storm diverter. We've had horrible lightning ever since we hit CO with some pretty bad afternoon rain. If you can find a way to make the storms go away, you will be golden!

-Keith
 Divide Ride '07

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General Discussion / Advice On THE GREAT DIVIDE off-road tour

« on: July 28, 2007, 06:20:58 pm »

Hey Jeff and Co., My friend and I are on the trail right now going from Banff to Antelope Wells. We started June 7th and it's been a huge adventure so far. It's rained everyday since we got to CO and that has not been a lot of fun. I will be checking back in at the Del Norte library so if you have any specific questions, post them here or e-mail me and I can get back to you.

So far the hardest challenges have been Fleecer Ridge decent, the Great Basin, the ride between Helena and Basin, and yesterday, the washed out road on Marshall Pass. We were still in Montana in late June/early July and didn't find a lot of the smaller creeks to be running. Same with Wyoming. There was no on route water through the Great Basin (but some reservoirs off route that visibly had water, including the A&M which was very full).

This has been our first bike tour and I guess we have overpacked so far. We both have BOB's with 50-60 lbs of gear and food and it pushes you downhill and drags up on the uphills. Also very hard to use effiently in mud. With that said though its been a great journey and we love it (minus the heavy lightning and rain in CO right now).

One fun sidetrip we did was to go to Jenny Lake in the Tetons. From what we have heard, Jackson is very over-rated and we thought Jenny Lake was absolutely beautiful. Also avoid Flagg Ranch unless you love RV's and generators.

I think thats all the hints I can think of. Read our blog and let me know if you have any questions!

-Keith
Divide Ride 07