Grape Mountain Bike and Hike

Tamara surprised me Saturday evening by suggesting we mountain bike up Grape Mountain rather than hike.  We'd had a long road ride on Saturday and with tired legs, I'd figured a hike would do us good.  But...

We negotiated the Sunday morning traffic jams on the road along Arrowrock Reservoir before turning off at Long Gulch Road and heading into the mountains.  Yes traffic jams - seems like everyone was out on this Sunday morning.  In no time we were up and over Slide Gulch summit and parked near the closed gate at trail 221A

Dusky Grouse on the drive in

A short while later, we were on our bikes heading up the smooth two track in brilliant sunshine.  Apparently this gated road is used to service a radio tower on the summit of Grape Mountain.  It was in great shape and little used - perfect for a quiet ride.

Grape Mountain somewhere back there

Tamara starting up the road

Enjoying the sunshine

All smiles

We followed the meandering road, occasionally stopping to gawk at the views or identify any birds we happened upon.  There was the occasional cloud and very little wind to go along with all the sunshine. 

John looking back at the DDP

Grape Mountain

We were on the summit enjoying lunch in a little over 1.5 hours. 

Summit Splattski

Then it was time to saddle up and enjoy the mostly downhill ride to the base of our next objective, the DDP - Peak 5587.

John likes downhill!

After stashing our bikes and changing shoes, we started up the ridge to Peak 5587.  Other than dodging the occasional stand of manzanita, we pretty much stuck to the ridge and were on the summit in no time.

We didn't linger on the summit, but quickly turned around and retraced our steps to our bikes.  A quick shoe change and 12 minutes later we were back at the truck.  Gotta love downhill on a mountain bike!

Yellow Fritillary

An excellent day spent social distancing with Tamara in the mountains.

Danskin Moto Dodge

Saturday April 18

Dave had a springtime plan - 4 peaks, 4500 feet of gain, 16 miles and close to Boise.  Who was in?

In keeping with the times, Dave, Michael and myself met up outside of Boise and caravanned in separate vehicles into the Danskin Mountains.  Along the way we passed several motorized recreationalists enjoying the early morning sunshine around their campfires.  Motorized vehicle access had opened in the Danskins the weekend before and we figured we might miss some of the traffic if we got an early start.

It was a beautiful, sunny morning as we quickly made our way up an ATV trail toward our first peak of the day - Devil's Hole Peak.  We made good time considering we stopped on several occasions to identify the various birds in the area.

Little Fiddler from the saddle

The ATV trail meandered up a draw until it reached a saddle and then dropped toward the South Fork.  At the saddle we took a right and headed up a steep, faint trail to the summit of Devil's Hole Peak at 5944 feet.

Dave photographing Devil's Hole Peak

South Fork of the Boise Canyon

Michael approaching the summit of Devil's Hole

Knowing that we had a long day ahead of us, and the fact that Dave is slightly crazy, Michael and I opted to not traverse to the second peak, but rather meet Dave on our way to Little Fiddler.  Dave bid us goodbye and took off down the north ridge towards Peak 5081.

With some time to kill, Michael and I took our time walking back to the ATV trail before heading north on a motorcycle trail toward Little Fiddler.  We stopped at every opportunity to identify more birds.

Dusky Grouse

Michael on the moto trail heading toward Little Fiddler

After a bit, we picked a nice spot in the sunshine and lounged around talking while waiting for Dave to join us.  Once Dave came hustling along, we proceeded to follow the nice sandy trail to the base of the third (or second) peak.  We were feeling good with the fact that we had only heard a few motorcycles and hadn't crossed paths with any at that point.

After a short, steep grunt we were on top of Little Fiddler at 5849 feet.  We were about as far away from our vehicles as were were going to get, and my out of shape feet were barking at me.  Oh well.

Dave and Michael social distancing on the summit

After a relaxing lunch on top, we backtracked a bit and then started down a different motorcycle trail.  By this time we could hear people buzzing all around us and occasionally see groups below us.

Mountain Bluebird

As we dropped lower, we eventually ran into a group of motorcyclists coming down the trail.  After moving off the trail and having a few words (Nothing bad - both Dave and I knew one of the guys from previous jobs) we continued down.  It was difficult to pick out the next objective in all the folds of the Danskin Mountains, but List of John said it was there.

Our main objective for the day - Peak 4786

We dropped down to meet up with another ATV trail at the base of rounded Peak 4786.  Since we were at the base, both Michael and I decided to give in a go.  I figured we could reach the top in 15 minutes.  It took 10.

Little Fiddler from the top of Peak 4786

After that tough summit it was just a nice spring walk along an ATV trail back to our rigs.  For the next four miles we side stepped to let UTVs, ATVs and motorcycles pass us.  All in good fun.  

We made it back to the rigs tired but happy!

Map - 13.4 miles, 3700 feet gain for Michael and I