We got to our cabin in McCall Thursday evening just in enough time to head over to Ponderosa State Park and ride a quick loop on the Huckleberry Trail on our mountain bikes before dinner.
The low-angle evening light was beautiful on the thriving, velvety green vegetation in the park, and there were quite a few white-tailed deer scampering about in the woods.
We took the singletrack near the park entrance over to Pilgrim Cove, and then took the shady two-track trail to Fox Run Trail, and climbed Fox Run to the fast downhill before heading off on “the Huck.”
I love riding the Huck because even though it’s relatively short, it has many features – technical tree root sections, steep climbs, narrow tree-openings and basalt rocky sections – that one might encounter riding anywhere in a Central Idaho national forest. It call it “true mountain conditions.”
Wendy and I slalomed through the Huck and then we rode over to Osprey Point to check out the fabulous view of Payette Lake at the north tip of the peninsula. A few boats were out and about, water skiing or just crusing around, but mostly it was quiet – the calm before the storm on 4th of July weekend.
On the way back, we zipped down the main dirt road back toward the park beach and rode along the lakeshore to the park entrance, enjoying the scent of the forest and fresh wildflowers. To top off the day, I saw twin fawns that must have been just a couple days old, with their mom, hanging out by the edge of the trail. We paused to look at the cute newborns, their brown coats speckled with white dots, and it was precious.
Simple reminders about how much we love being in McCall.
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2 comments:
Riding w/ Steve is always a hoot. First of all, he doesn't stop. That is until he gets to a major fork in the trail -- and then he only waits long enough to make sure I've made the right turn. Secondly, if it's still daylight out when we finish, we haven't chosen a long enough route. So, as is often the case, these shots of me in are in the dark, working towards keeping up before we head home for dinner.
I did this ride with my 7 year old son, Bennett,earlier in the summer. Agree that this little trail is one of the best anywhere and really fun for kids. He LOVED the cool single track through the forest and checking out "the swamp". Only problem was we were eaten alive by big swarms of mosquitoes. I am sure they are gone by now. This is a McCall classic and a good way for a fairly new mountain biker to see what all there is to love about the sport.
-jamie
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