Flexibility is key when you live and travel full time in a trailer. Initially we wanted to get back up to Salmon, ID to do some more riding but some of the fires in the west are pushing smoke into that valley. So, we looked for somewhere else and decided to check out Island Park, ID which is just down the road from West Yellowstone. There are seemingly endless dispersed camping spots and we found a nice one off on it’s own in a meadow surrounded by aspens and pines.
This is grizzly bear country and on the first day at the trailhead there were FOUR signs warning of them in the area. We have encountered grizzlies on trail before and it’s spooky. I hate it. Armed with bear bells, bear spray, and an external speaker playing a talk show podcast, we hit the trail. The trailhead parking lot was empty. Not one person was out here which we found INSANE. We rode out and back on the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) south from Targhee Pass for a total of 21 miles and 2704′ of climbing.
The first part of this section of the CDT is through lush forest on a gentle climb. After crossing several meadows we turned off on an overlook spur. The climb to the overlook is fairly short and worth it. The morning was foggy and while the view towards West Yellowstone was socked in, the overlook of the Henry Mountains was clear.
This is high alpine singletrack and the rest of the ride dives in and out of trees, across giant meadows and to the highpoint of our ride at 8056′. This ride undulates a lot so it isn’t like you climb one way and then turn around and descend back, though coming back definitely has a lot of downhill. We descended more slowly than usual so as to not sneak up on any grizzlies. We were flummoxed by the absence of anyone else our entire ride because this is a beautiful trail!!!!
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