Big Hole Crest Trail Adventure

When planning a ride in the Big Holes, you need to be prepared for two things:

1) You WILL hike your bike up and down...at least a little
2) You will ask yourself why you don't ride up there more often

The Big Hole Crest Trail west of Victor, ID

Today's impromptu adventure in the Big Holes (not simply a ride because hiking and route finding were involved) was pure greatness. The fact that we rode to the trailhead from Victor and then exited the mountains not far from home just added to the cool factor of the ride. Earlier in the summer, when I am more concerned about training and the quality of my pedaling, the rides in the Big Holes don't appeal to me as much but today left me wondering why I don't ride there more. I am fixin' to change that.

Saying that the riding in the Big Holes is diverse would be an understatement. One minute you are zipping along on buffed Sun Valley-esque singletrack, and the next minute you are sliding downhill through softball sized rocks praying that you can slow down before things go very badly.

Brandon riding through some small sticks near Elk Flats

It is funny how this pic does NOT capture how steep the trail is right here

Our ride in Topofusion 3D

Ride Stats:
34 Miles (14 on pavement)
3,800' of climbing
About 4 hours of moving time

For the locals, I rode from my house to Cedron Rd. where I met up with JayP, T-Race, and Brandon. We then headed north on pavement to the Mahogany Creek trailhead and began the the dirt portion of our ride. The Mahogany Creek trail ramps up in steepness the closer it gets to the ridge and the last mile is just plain rude. From the top of Mahogany we headed south along the Crest Trail to the juction of Grove Creek where we banged a left and sent it downhill in a hurry. We could have continued and taken a couple of other routes down like Drake Creek (next time) or even Corral Creek to Spooky.