Riding stanley area
- Thread starter willy
- Start date
What kind of riding do you like?
Hitting the trails to see the sights?
Hitting the meadows and playing in the flats?
Playing in the rolling hills and boondocking?
Pegging the pucker factor in the steep and deep?
All of them?
Hitting the trails to see the sights?
Hitting the meadows and playing in the flats?
Playing in the rolling hills and boondocking?
Pegging the pucker factor in the steep and deep?
All of them?
Good answer!
For the trails, head out north of Stanley to Cape Horn, Boundary Creek, and you can even go on through Bear Valley, Deadwood, Warm Lake and on to Cascade/McCall if you wanted to. Trails south of town head out toward Obsidian and Smiley Creek. Pretty cool to be along the Sawtooth Front, but if you headed out to the play areas near Smiley Creek and the Headwaters of the Salmon River, it is usually best to load up and trailer to one of the pulloffs near Smiley Creek.
You can find meadows and rolling hills pretty much everywhere. Just be careful on some of the meadows have pretty substantial creeks running through that are hard to see until you are right on top of them.
For the steep and deep, there is two main areas: Headwaters (which include the main Salmon, Frenchman's Creek and Smiley Creek) and the White Clouds (best access is up Pole Creek or 4th of July).
Stop into Williams Motorsports or up at Smiley Creek Lodge and they usually have maps and can point you to the right locations.
Have fun and report on your trip when you get back. We like pictures.
I'll do the same for my trip up in the Clayton area. Hopefully I can get up there next weekend.
For the trails, head out north of Stanley to Cape Horn, Boundary Creek, and you can even go on through Bear Valley, Deadwood, Warm Lake and on to Cascade/McCall if you wanted to. Trails south of town head out toward Obsidian and Smiley Creek. Pretty cool to be along the Sawtooth Front, but if you headed out to the play areas near Smiley Creek and the Headwaters of the Salmon River, it is usually best to load up and trailer to one of the pulloffs near Smiley Creek.
You can find meadows and rolling hills pretty much everywhere. Just be careful on some of the meadows have pretty substantial creeks running through that are hard to see until you are right on top of them.
For the steep and deep, there is two main areas: Headwaters (which include the main Salmon, Frenchman's Creek and Smiley Creek) and the White Clouds (best access is up Pole Creek or 4th of July).
Stop into Williams Motorsports or up at Smiley Creek Lodge and they usually have maps and can point you to the right locations.
Have fun and report on your trip when you get back. We like pictures.
I'll do the same for my trip up in the Clayton area. Hopefully I can get up there next weekend.
The best way would be from Pole Creek and then up over the top. You can also get into the Germania drainage from 4th of July Creek. Be careful since the avy danger is really high.
F
flatfoot
Member
Just curious how the ride was. Heading there the end of the month with a large(20-30) group. Some are beginners,but many of us have few limitations. What is their current snow situation? Any names of snotel sites would also be helpful. Nobody in the group has ridden the area but a few of us are going to do some scouting before the majority arrives. Any info would be appreciated, thanks.
Jan. 28th-30th:
Everyone will say "it sucks!, theres not HALF the snow there should be!" Thats true... ALL OVER THE WEST! I had a GREAT ride! And we had a VERY diverse group... EVERYONE got a FULL-DAYS ride in!
Everyone will say "it sucks!, theres not HALF the snow there should be!" Thats true... ALL OVER THE WEST! I had a GREAT ride! And we had a VERY diverse group... EVERYONE got a FULL-DAYS ride in!
They have VERY GENERIC trail maps in Stanley. North out of town are some fun open hills... but they're BEAT UP! Still fun though. The trail up in to the trees (cant remember if there is a name) will go up tp a lookout tower... fun ride for a group. 4 of us dropped off the backside and played on some steeper hills with trees where NO TRACKS had gone while the mellower crowd took a break. Did a full day ride (take cash to fill up w/ fuel and food at Smiley) from Stanley down to Pole and 4th of July... thats a long one. (we voted not to mess around with the trailers) Trail riding the trees out of Stanley was a relaxing, easy ride. I would hang to the rear and boondock the thick trees... we dont have that kind of THICK STUFF here. It was a chance to work on a whole new skillset. But... it got me into TROUBLE too!
Dropped down a STEEP drainage... into a 2hr STUCK! (a helmet-cam woulda been SWEEEET!)
The lookout tower:
Dropped down a STEEP drainage... into a 2hr STUCK! (a helmet-cam woulda been SWEEEET!)
The lookout tower:
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The lookout tower is East Basin Lookout (I grew up about 25 miles from that exact location)
And yes, it is a looooong way from stanley to Pole creek/4th of July. Definaltly worth a trailer ride if you want to get to the good stuff quickly. If you like trails, then go ahead, but is is a haul (20 miles or so) I am glad you had a great time, BUT WE NEED MORE SNOW! It was such a promising start, but nothing for the last 2 months.
And yes, it is a looooong way from stanley to Pole creek/4th of July. Definaltly worth a trailer ride if you want to get to the good stuff quickly. If you like trails, then go ahead, but is is a haul (20 miles or so) I am glad you had a great time, BUT WE NEED MORE SNOW! It was such a promising start, but nothing for the last 2 months.
