Summer 2015 Idaho exploration BS thread

^^^ This. Unless you plan to toss the flare, you have to take some care removing them. Even at that point, some will have broken off when you rubbed. The when you've got everything all fixed (even the $20 strip of rubber between the flare and fender) you head down to a TW meet and the wheel falls off the truck and re-fucks the fender. I had better luck with my rear flare and it has managed to stay on the truck. I also wasn't a fan of the Bushwackers or the tacky looking replacements they have online.

 

Thanks, Mike!

 

Have fun guys, looking forward to the trip report and lots of photos.

 

Thanks Fellas!

 

Thanks guys! Just filled up in eburg

 

You're in eburg?

 

I was. Now in Pullman waiting for Cam and Jerrad

 

Passing Pullman now...

 

In Hamilton Montana. No problems with the trucks!

 

Just got back. I'll post pics later but had a freaking awesome time. The rest of the guys are all doing well with no damage to report. Jealous they can continue for a few more days. MTGIRL said it was dusty which was an understatement. Views were excellent and JDAM brought elk burgers which were off the hook. Best camping meal I ever had.

 

Sounds like winning!! Can't wait to hear more/see pics!

 

Just got off the trail with the guy's last night and like Will and MTgirl said the dust was crazy! Until we got dumped on with road covering hail and lighting.

 

Dusty is an understatement... @velillen and I got home this evening. Had an awesome time for sure! Ill go through pics tomorrow when I have time.

 

That was quite a fun trip! Long days of driving...probably 8 or so hours of driving everyday. And with the dust, roughish roads, and all it was a bit mentally tiring each day. Anyways heres the pictures that turned out worth a crap....trying to drive and take pictures isnt that easy!

JDAM and Greddy ended up being about 45 minutes behind me on i-90 so waited up for them in Royal City, WA then started our little convoy


Then met up with Northwesttaco in Pullman. Stopped at the overlook for Lewiston, ID



Arrived in Elk City, ID after dark and late at night. Went exploring on a forest service road to find a camp spot and found this one. We met the best "wolf" ever and named him Dusty Bottoms (someone else will have ot post a pic of him!). Friendliest wolf ive ever met! He got a hearty breakfast before we headed back to Elk City to meet up with everyone else.


The Sexy Six airing down at the start of the Magruder.


Much of the Magruder (and Lolo) were burned. Lots of new vegetation and trees starting ot grow though. It was dusty but this wasnt nearly the worst of it. During the worst portions of dust we had to space out ~200 yards and even then you could only see the taillights/brake lights of the truck ahead and behind you.




We headed up to the Burnt Knob Lookout. Some great views up there!


We set up camp alittle more than halfway through the trail at a river. Found a nice large spot for all six trucks. Had some good elk burgers! Also had time to toss the football around. Also met two older guys. One of them just had to have his friend tell us about his '57 chevy










The next day was just more driving. We also became the Fabulous Five as Will had to head out to get back for school.





We went up to an old "tower" that was no longer there. But offered some great views, utter silence, and a bit of rock climbing.








Heres the whole group stopped for what im sure was a piss break


On our way up to the Mt. Blue Cabin (think that was the name) we encountered snow! Not really. But we did run into heavy rain followed by some pretty heavy hail and then back to rain. it did help with the dust a bit the next mourning


Our camp at the cabin. it was a pretty nice cabin. We were joined by 3 Dual Sport guys who ended up staying in the cabin and not be toooo social with us. At around 9pm or so another truck arrived with some private company forest "fighter" guys and a girl. They ended up hanging out for a good 2 hours.


The following day Trevor headed out so we became the Fantastic Four.


Our final camp. We actually had to take a bit of a detour to find a spot. Wallace to Clark Fork had hardly anyway camps sites...let alone one big enough for four trucks. Thankfully we found this one.




And thats all the pics i took. The following day was pretty uneventful. Just driving out. Northwesttaco went for a swim in a lake and then we got Mexican food in Sandpoint. After that JDAM and Greddy made plans to stay in Sandpoint and Northwesttaco and I headed home.Easy drive till we got close to Ellensburg. There we saw a notice that rock blasting was going to close the pass at 8pm. It was 7pm and we had 40 miles to go plus a gas stop. We passed the road closure trucks with hardly anytime to spare...passed them at 750-755pm.



As for the sections we did....

Magruder - Was a pretty smooth road and scenic.
Lolo motorway - Rougher road and took a bit longer time than i thought.
Pierce, ID to Wallace, ID - This was the longest section and we were worried it would take awhile to do. Well once we got on it...it was the nicest road. Smooth gravel and sections of it were even watered/oiled down for logging trucks. This was a quick route.
Wallace to Clark Fork was about the same as Magruder road wise. Wasnt bad at all and it wasnt burned out so it was lots of old growth forest

 

Nice shots, sounds like a smooth trip really wish I could have made it. If you guys think it's worthy of becoming an annual thing count me in for next year.

What was the most challenging section? Seems like the trip was mostly fire roads?

 

Its a long ways to be an annual thing. There is the Washington backcountry discovery route that would be more something to do annually.

I wouldnt say any of it was really challenging. A stock tacoma could do it pretty easy with just a couple sections they would need a bit of care for (big pot holes). From memory probably the hardest section was Lolo since it was a bit rockier then the rest. Most of it is forest service type roads with the majority of the trail being what i could call "main" forest service roads and only some sections being more "off shoot" roads.

 

Soooo sick!!!! Nice trip guys!

 

A stock taco could easily do it. I think it would be cool if we ran a BDR each year, or some sort of big trip.

I have a bunch of pictures and vids that I'll hopefully get to this evening. Just slept for 12 hours haha

 

Burnt Knob Lookout was a class 6 trail. It was only a side route. All the other were class 4 or less.