Gold Hill

This trail, on Bottle Bay, just south of Sandpoint, is one of the area’s venerable close-to-town rides. The trail climbs steadily for three miles through a hardwood forest that wouldn’t look out of place in the Northeast. The descent is quick, with plentiful side hits and root drops. Gold Hill is popular with hikers, dog-walkers, and trail runners; time your ride for off-peak hours.

Brush Lake

Built with bikes in mind and traversing beautiful hardwood forest and open meadows around its namesake lake, the 6-mile Brush Lake loop, north of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, makes for an excellent shoulder season ride. The free campground and a lake perfect for paddling make it an inviting destination for a summer weekend with tent and bikes in tow.

Mineral Point

Situated on a bluff overlooking Green Bay on Lake Pend Oreille, south of Sandpoint, Idaho, the Mineral Point trail network consists of six miles of cross-country riding amidst a dramatic lakeside landscape. Like Brush Lake the location makes for prime shoulder-season riding. Also like Brush Lake, Mineral Point doubles as a foundation for a bike-centric camping weekend, in this case from a base at Green Bay campground.

Ruby Ridge

One of the classic backcountry rides of the Idaho Panhandle, Ruby Ridge, north of Moyie Springs, boasts more than 4,000 vertical feet of brake-burning descending over the Moyie River valley. And with a mostly paved forest road—a rarity in a region of rough backcountry roadbeds—providing access to the trailhead at Keno Pass, it’s ideal for shuttling.

Sheldon Mountain

Built entirely by locals, the Sheldon Mountain trail, just outside Libby, Montana, offers the town’s only frontcountry riding opportunity. An at-times-grueling five-mile dirt-road climb deposits riders at the communication towers near the top of Sheldon Mountain. From here, two miles and 1,400 vertical feet of descending follow, first on fast sidehill singletrack and then on old roadbed-turned-trail. 

Originally published as “Mountain Bike Rides On The Way To The Yaak” sidebar in the May-June 2021 print edition for the feature story “Twenty Miles of Boondoggling: Backcountry Mountain Biking in the Yaak Valley.”

Aaron Theisen is an outdoor writer and photographer based in Spokane and longtime freelance contributor to Out There Venture magazine.

For more biking stories, visit the OTO archives.

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The short answer: more than was realistic. We’d intended to bike up over Bunker Hill, in northwest Montana’s Yaak Valley, and then continue along the Pacific Northwest Trail to Mount Henry and beyond, through some of the region’s most remote country. But after talking to the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT) thru-hiker, and listening to our screaming calves, it became clear our ambition was losing a race against daylight. The even shorter answer: “let’s keep boondoggling.”

A few years ago, I was sitting in the Yaak River Tavern—one of two competing watering holes that make up this town in the far northwest corner of Montana—when I struck up a conversation about the area’s lakes with one of the patrons. “Oh, it’s just about 20 miles of boondoggling to get there,” he helpfully replied.

It was the first time I’d heard “boondoggle” used as a verb, but it wouldn’t be the last time I’d hear that term, or a variation of it, to describe adventures around the Yaak. Perhaps it’s the thick, trackless timber—the old-growth inland rainforests of the Yaak Valley were one of the flashpoints of the infamous Timbers Wars of the 1980s. Bushwhacking and misadventure are baked into the language.

As Erin and I discovered on our exploratory biking and fishing trip to the Yaak, the riding is legit, with miles of rough, seldom-used trails accessing larch-ringed alpine lakes and loam-filled forests. I’d hiked many of the trails in the region in years past and thought they’d make excellent bike trails, thanks to dreamy soil and long, open ridgelines. Of course, holding imaginary handlebars is a lot different than the real thing.

From a base camp on a bend in the Yaak River, which was quiet even on a long holiday weekend, we’d started our exploration in the Northwest Peak Scenic Area, just south of the Canadian border—as close as us Americans were going to get to BC for the foreseeable future. Hike-a-biking across talus slopes and negotiating narrow, root-strewn sidehills, we connected old roads with short stretches of singletrack that accessed high-elevation lakes. At the first of these lakes, we encountered a couple of chatty locals hiking out with the day’s catch.

“There’s so much boondocking to be done up in these mountains,” claimed the husband. Reminded of that years-ago bar-stool conversation, I instituted it as a mantra for the weekend: do you even boondoggle?

The mantra served us well the next day on the PNT. Faint even by the standards of backcountry Montana, the trail here was more of a suggestion than singletrack, like a thumbnail pressed into an orange peel. After several hours of granny-gear grinding interspersed with hiking, we topped out on Bunker Hill. Acres of gray snags greeted us, as did the tiny lookout tower on Mount Henry well beyond our reach.

Realizing we’d never make it there and back before dark, we settled on a backup plan, shortening our loop with an exit out Fish Lakes Canyon. But we forgot all thoughts of an aborted mission on the descent, where the only thing checking our speed was the need to keep an eye out for grizzlies.

After negotiating the bramble-choked talus slopes of Fish Lakes Canyon, we arrived back in Yaak, desperate for post-ride beverages. Seeing the activity at the Dirty Shame Saloon spilling into the street, and preferring to keep our misadventures to the trail, we didn’t stick around.

The next day, rain awakened us—quite literally, as we had to jump out of the tent to unfurl the rain fly. Things had been uncommonly crispy for a region that’s essentially inland rainforest. Along with much-needed moisture came a wind storm that, as we came to find out, stacked matchsticks of timber on the trails.

That day’s ride, the last of the trip, was otherwise unusually straightforward for the area. A dozen miles west of town, an hour-long gravel grind accesses Redtop, which drops 2,000 feet in two miles and has clearly seen some bike-friendly trail maintenance. After several days of bushwhacking and bike-carrying, we relaxed into an easier riding rhythm, surfing loose duff and shouting “tree!” when the lead rider encountered a downed log.

That is, until one downed log turned into three, then four, then an entire stretch of trail buried. In the Yaak, trees define everything, from the sounds—the ghostly sigh of snags, the disconcerting creaking of leaning trees—to the soft duff of the trail and the glorious shade. They define the economy and the way neighbors, next door but miles apart geographically and maybe politically, interact.

They force you under, over, around, and sometimes well off track. They always have the final say, and sometimes what they say is: how much were you planning on riding, anyway?

Originally published as “Twenty Miles Of Boondoggling—Backcountry Mountain Biking In The Yaak Valley” in the May-June 2021 print edition.

To complement a roadtrip to Montana’s Yaak Valley, Aaron Theisen’s recommends these 5 trails on the way.

Aaron Theisen has contributed to a number of mountain bike magazines, including “Freehub,” “Mountain Flyer,” and “Dirt Rag.” He wrote about biking at Beezley Hill for the November-December 2020 issue.

For more biking stories, visit the OTO archives.

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Revett Lake Trail #9

Recommended by hiker and angler Heather Hodson

Location: Bitterroot Mountains in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest

Distance round-trip: 4 miles

Level of difficulty: Easy to intermediate (500 feet of elevation gain)

This popular, well-used trail is great for children, dogs, and novice hikers and backpackers. After hiking through a mix of forest and open talus, and a log-bridge crossing Cascade Creek, you arrive at this subalpine lake below Granite Peak (6,814 feet). Enjoy the Cascade Gulch waterfall, fishing, and camping at primitive sites. (Amy S. McCaffree)

Indian Creek Community Forest

Recommend by forest ecologist Adam Gebauer

Location: Indian Creek Community Forest, Kalispel Tribe, 9 miles north of Newport, Wash.

Distance round-trip: 1/2 mile

Level of difficulty: Easy

The Kalispel Tribe, along with local partners, are developing plans for the 400-acre Indian Creek Community Forest adjacent to the shores of the Pend Oreille River. Although not a super remote backcountry area, it is a great, wild place to explore for families and hikers of all abilities. This site is dedicated to education, research, and low impact recreation.

One of the first pieces of this project that is open to the public is a short trail system. This trail winds through mature mixed conifers with great views overlooking the Pend Oreille River. Interactive and interpretative signage will soon be installed that will include Salish names of plants and animals and information about forest ecology. There are plans for many educational activities at this site including recreational tree climbing, stargazing, nature skills, archery, and more.  (Adam Gebauer)

Stevens Lake

Recommended by backcountry hiker Kayla Haas

Location: Bitterroot Mountains near Mullan, Idaho

Distance round-trip: 4+ miles

Level of difficulty: Moderate to difficult depending on fitness level

Don’t be fooled by the relatively short mileage to Lower Stevens Lake; this hike gains 1,600 feet with an initial grade of 8 percent! After passing a waterfall, prepare for the final push across a boulder field to lower Stevens Lake.

After two miles of burning legs, many hikers don’t continue beyond lower Stevens. If you still have some gas in your tank, then keep heading up to upper Stevens; it’s worth it.

From the upper lake, enjoy solitude and stunning views of jagged peaks. If your legs and lungs are still feeling strong, then you can scramble up goat paths or cross-country and bag Stevens Peak, which is the highest peak in the western range of the Bitterroots. (Kayla Haas)

Blossom Lakes Trail (#404)

Recommended by hiker and angler Heather Hodson

Location: Lolo National Forest at the Idaho-Montana State Line

Distance round-trip: 6 miles (to lower Blossom Lake)

Level of difficulty: Intermediate to difficult (1,141 feet of elevation gain)

Beginning from the same trailhead as Revett Lake, the trail—which begins on the Idaho side of the state line—is bordered by occasional patches of huckleberry bushes. It begins easy but becomes more challenging as you hike from Idaho into Montana. You get to Prospect Creek and then arrive at lower Blossom Lake. There are primitive campsites on the northeast side. You can also hike further to visit Upper Blossom Lake and Pear Lake. (Amy S. McCaffree)

Kokanee Glacier Cabin

Recommended by backcountry hiker Kayla Haas

Location: Selkirk Mountains; Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park, Nelson, British Columbia, Canada

Distance round-trip: Approximately 10.5 miles

Level of difficulty: Moderate

This trail meanders through an alpine wonderland. The trail gets the majority of the 1,300 feet of elevation gain and the only lackluster views out of the way within the first 1-2 miles. The trail and views begin to open up as you make your way across cascading waterfalls from the summer melt of Kokanee Glacier.

Take in 360-degree mountain views as you admire wildflowers and crystal clear streams in alpine meadows. Listen to songbirds as you rest on the edge of one of the many alpine lakes, but watch out for aggressive, food-conditioned marmots. Enjoy your lunch on the deck of the Kokanee Glacier Cabin located on the north side of Kaslo Lake.

This alpine “hut” is a multi-story cabin that sleeps 20 in the summer and is a popular winter destination for backcountry skiers. Live in backcountry luxury with a full kitchen, electricity, and flushing toilets. You can extend your stay by reserving a bunk in the cabin or pitching a tent in the nearby Kaslo Lake campground.

Also, like many Provincial Parks in Canada, dogs are not allowed. Even if you’re only hiking for the day, make sure to use the chicken wire available at the trailhead as the resident porcupines love to gnaw on brake lines. (Kayla Haas)

[Feature photo: On the rail to Kokanee Glacier Cabin. // Kayla Haas]

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Wild Idaho North! “KEEPING NORTH IDAHO NATURAL” Saturday, October 4,
2008, Sandpoint

Sponsored by Idaho Conservation League, call 208-265-9565 for
information or www.wildidaho.org, reservations required.

Come visit with experts in conservation, planning and natural
resources about how we can protect our natural areas as North Idaho
grows.

______________

· The Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness in partnership with Jim
Quinn at the Timberstand Gallery in Sandpoint and Kally Thurman at the
Outskirts Gallery in Hope, ID, will host two dozen artists at the 1st
Annual Scotchman Plein Air Paint Out & Art Sale Oct 9-11th, 2008. Our
regional artists will take brush and palette to Nature as they capture
on canvas the magical colors and lights of Fall that abound in our
local wilderness.

On Friday morning Oct 10th starting at 9AM, the public will be invited
to observe the painters in action at the Jenkins on Elliot Bay (follow
Sagle Rd to Camp Bay Rd. Turn right and follow the signs). Completed
plein air art will be available for purchase on Friday, Oct 10th, from
5-8PM at the Timberstand Gallery at 3rd and Cedar in Sandpoint
(208-263-7748). A second art sale will be held in historic Hope, ID,
(12 miles from Sandpoint on Hwy 200) at the Outskirts Gallery located
in the Hope Market Café from 2-7PM (208-264-5379). Art purchases will
help ensure the legacy of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness for our
future generations.

___________

· Global Warming Speaker Series. Friends of the Scotchman Peaks
Wilderness will sponsor a presentation on wilderness and climate
change Tuesday October 28th at 6 p.m. at the East Bonner County
Library. Thomas H. Deluca, a senior forest ecologist with The
Wilderness Society, will present Adapting to Climate Change: The
Importance of Wilderness in an Uncertain World as part of a series on
the regional impacts of climate change and ways to tackle the
challenge. For more information, contact Carol Jenkins at 208-265-9204

news.replies@scotchmanpeaks.org • Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness

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