Trip Report - Boulder White Clouds

[evdog]

OK, so this is not a bikepacking trip report but it should be useful for those looking to do the Boulder White Clouds singletrack option of the Hot Springs Route.  Thanks Casey for putting that together!  I had been wanting to head up there to check this area out for ages and your maps and all the forum threads were very helpful.  I headed up there with a couple friends in mid September.  We did 4 days in BWC and 4 days in Montana. 

We didn't spend a whole lot of time in Stanley but each time we stopped in for breakfast or dinner we would see quite a few bikepackers riding into town, mostly from the south which meant they were (*gasp*) skipping the singletrack option! I am sure the main route is good too but as a mountain biker I cannot understand why anyone would skip singletrack when the option is available.  Sure it is harder to ride loaded but the views and experience you will get is highly worthwhile.  The only riders excused are those we saw on cross type bikes.  I guess there were quite a few of them.... 

So here are the first four days trip reports from our trip.  We rode parts of the singletrack option on Days 1-3.  I'll add some comments before each about the singletrack option trail we rode that day.

If you want to check out the rest of our trip its on MTBR passion and Idaho/MT forums. 

[evdog]

Day 1

Three of us made a week+ long trip from San diego recently to get some high elevation riding in before the snow flies.  Destination this trip would be 4 days in Stanley ID and 4 days in Montana.  Fortunate timing allowed us to escape last week's brutal heat and humidity from what was left of the Baja Calif hurricanes.  Being on vacation is awesome enough, but being able to rub our perfect temps in the face of everyone sweltering back home was priceless. 

After flying to ride the Chilcotins earlier this summer we opted to fly again and rent a truck to avoid the 15hr drive.  This would mean traveling light and no camping comfort gear like chairs, cooler, water jug, cooking equipment, or full tools/bike stand.  Turned out this was not a big deal and gave us extra days riding without having to drive through the night. 

Hot Springs Singletrack option notes:   For Day 1 we rode the section from Fourth of July Lake to bottom of Chamberlain Creek Trail.  Our route took us the opposite direction of the singletrack option route (Point O to point J).  I'm going to be straight up Casey you are a bastard for sending riders up Chamberlain!  Riding down it was tough enough I would not want to go up it.  The rest was not bad, it would be some tough climbing here and there but worth it for the views and the scenery.  A few short hike a bikes.  Based on what I have seen so far, for bikepacking rather than head north from Bowery Guard Stn to Chamberlain (H to J) I would go north on East fork Rd and climb up Big Boulder - then take Castle Divide to Castle pass and join up with the route at top of Chamberlain Creek.  This would go a bit out of the way but Big Boulder is such an awesome doable climb, takes you past Boulder Chain lakes for great camping, and you see amazing views at the pass - I think this would be the best way to go. 



After a late start due to freezing temps overnight we started day 1 with an intro loop to the Boulder-Whiteclouds. 

Brian (406) and Gil (Gman) check out the trailhead map


[Out time on singletrack option starts here] Our route would start with a 2 mile climb to 4th of July Lake and then descend down a valley to the Washington Lakes basin seen here


From there the climbing began and views opened up


When I got to the top of this pass my jaw dropped.  The white streak down the opposite mountain was brilliant white, the pic does really not do it justice.  This is looking down into the Chaimberlain Lakes basin.


While we were snacking a visitor showed up, came within 20ft of us


Finishing our break we enjoyed the drop into the basin


At first I thought this was one of the lower Chamberlain Lakes but those were tucked in closer to the bottom of the peak


We checked out the first Chamberlain lake and then started an out and back climb to 10,000ft Castle Pass


Views were not bad looking down toward Germania creek drainage


Dropping beyond the pass was incredibly enticing with switchbacks dropping as far as the eye can see, but would mean a 1,500ft climb back up.  Gil rode down the first switchback before stopping. 


I hiked up a small ridge to get a better view of the mountains to the left of us, which was definitely worth it. 


It was a fun drop down from Castle pass


Chamberlain Creek Tr was little used compared to the Castle Divide trail we'd been on.  Through a couple open meadows the trail nearly disappeared.


It was steep in many spots, I would not want to ride up this trail!


Hmm, what is this laying on the trail? [last pic on the singletrack option route]


We made it down to Germania creek after a longer than expected descent.  Germania is a moto trail so we expected to cover distance faster.  We did, with a few fun rock sections thrown in


It was either wet shoes or barefoot for creek crossings. 


And finally there was a beast of a climb out from 7,000 to 9,500 at 4th of July Lake




Views were excellent again on the climb especially being in the golden hour, so I did not mind too much. 


Last came a 2 mile happy ending back to the truck that ended right at dusk, so timing was pretty tight.  It turned out to be more than we had bargained for at +/-6,100 ft in 28 miles, but was still a great ride.  Things cooled off fast again in the evening and we were looking for hot springs near town.  Never found them in the dark unfortunately, but they are all over this area.   Great start to the trip!

[evdog]

Day 2 - Little Casino to Big Casino Creek Trails

Another cold morning, another late start.  The Stanley Bakery is always recommended for great food served and attractive hippy chicks, but we could not get near the place because there were two large weddings in town.  We made up for that loss by searching out a couple of the hot springs we had missed the night before.  Rising steam made them easy to spot in daylight.

Hot springs route notes: Our climb up Little Casino is the end of the singletrack option route.  A friend of mine has ridden the area many times and says Big Casino is his favorite descent in the White Clouds.   It is a good one but I would not want to ride it loaded.  For a bit extra climbing Little Casino is the way to go for bikepacking for sure.  It is a good climb until the final steep pitches, so between the amazing views of the Sawtooths and the nice trail it is the right way to go. 

One other note - the hot springs are not so easy to find in the dark.  The cauldron is an easy one right next to the highway on a distinctive bend.  There is a 3-car length pull out but it is not marked.  Bikes, this is easy. but if driving roll down your window and you should smell it.  The other one pictured, pull at the museum and follow dirt road behind it.  You'll soon see a dirt road to the left with a parking area - look for a wooden boardwalk and the hotspring is at the end of it to the left.  Would have awesome sunrise or sunset views but is not real hot.   

Our camp was just above the shore of Stanley Lake


Hot springs with a view.  Would have been epic for sunset but unfortunately this one was little more than luke warm


Better luck here along the highway.  Scalding water can be directed right into the pools or the cauldron


Having sorted out our post ride options we drove a few miles up Hwy 75 to the trailhead.  Both upper and lower Casino Creek trails leave from the same trailhead making a convenient loop


The climb up Little Casino started nice, got tough/loose for 3/4 mi and then was nice until we approached the final ridgeline.  After the first tough part a nice view of the Sawtooth mountains opened up


JRA


The final couple miles had some steep HAB.  Each of these are moto trails so they go straight up the nose of the ridge.  Gets us up high faster, at least.  And stopping to rest gave relief in the form of amazing views.


Nearly at the top we spot Casino Lakes below and get a peak at the White Cloud peaks in the distance


White clouds, tough to get a good pic of they are so white


Up top we get a bit of riding before the descent starts [last pic before we get off the singletrack option route]


And then it is on.  Fun, chunky, yet flowy


The trail had lots of whoops in between all the chunk, almost like A-line for xc bikes.  Sorry, enduro bikes. 


Dust picks up lower down so we had to spread out


Post ride soak and refreshments were enjoyed


More visitors.  We were not the only one enjoying the warm waters!


This ride was 20miles and +/- 4,100 feet.  It felt less than that since most was good climbing and the rest of the HAB went pretty quick.  Definitely a good one, and you can also connect from 4th of July trailhead from Day 1 to these trails for a long point to point.

[evdog]

Day 3 - 4th of July Ants Basin to Fisher Creek

We finally got in the Stanley Bakery for breakfast this day and it lived up to the hype.  Temps were a bit warmer too, so things were definitely on the up and up.  Many options for routes were on the table but getting into some of the areas I wanted to check out involved big point to point rides.  Not able to shuttle this meant shortening the routes and doing some road riding.  4 miles of flat pavement and a 2k fire road climb over 10 miles wasn't bad, and it got us to what I think was my favorite ride of the trip.   

Singletrack options notes: the part of the route included in today's ride is from 4th of July Lake to the turnoff for Williams Creek Trail at the big meadow.  We rode this trail the direction of the route.  The climb from 4th of July Lake to the ridge above Ants Basin is tough, and maybe half riding, half HAB.  The views are worth taking a breather for on the way up and at the top.  The descent down from the ridge to Ants would be a little hairy on a loaded bike.  The Switchbacks are challenging and there are a few tough sections on the way over to Born Lakes.  It is not hard to follow the route provided you go right to the lake and then follow the trail north from there - stick to the most used trail and you'll be fine.  It becomes a little technical dropping down from the lake but overall it is not bad.  There are a few short punchy climbs but most of the trail is good to ride. 

Alternate route options:  If you don't want to ride the entire singletrack option route there are a couple abbreviated routes you can do to get to some of the goods.  The first is most worthwhile, and would be to follow our ride for today up 4th of July Creek Road.  Its not bad at all, and lots of good camping along the road.  Then do the trail from 4th of July TH to Ants Basin, to Warm Springs Trail.  You can either take Williams Creek Trail as we did or continue on trail 646 to Garland Lakes and then drop Little Casino - a definite happy ending with good hot springs options on the ride into Stanley.  This would be doable in one long day or split it in two with some great backcountry camping.   The second option would be to climb Fisher Creek Rd and then ride out Little Casino for a shorter day.


We would end on the legendary Fisher Creek trail, which is actually called Williams Creek Tr (the fire road to get to it is Fisher)


The pavement was a breeze and we were soon onto the dirt road.  It went from sage to nice forest, to burnt valley.  The turning trees made for some great scenery and the climb was not bad at all, except for 1/2mi near the top.  Took around 90min to get to the singletrack.  Same as it would have taken to shuttle, so whatever.


We started off with the same climb to 4th of July Lake as we did on Day1.  This time we turned L just before the lake and did some hike a bike up to a high ridgeline  [we join the singletrack option route at just this side of 4th of July Lake down below]


We were greeted with a mind-popping view of Ants basin on the other side


Check out the bend


There was a fun descent off the ridgeline into Ants basin


But watch your speed, the switchbacks were sharp and steep


Lower down they got real loose too, which made it hard as the views were trying their best to draw your eyes off the trail


A bit of easy cruising toward Born Lakes


Then the riding got tougher with some nice chunk and steep climbs/descents


Some maps show the trail going straight north in the basin but the route you want is to go straight to Born lakes and pick up the trail near its outlet down Warm Spring Cr


The trail from there was a great mix of rough and buff


More color down the canyon


There were a few steep climbs to get above cliffs over the creek


And more nice colors as we rode through a burn area


Looking back up the valley


Nearing the end of our ride on Warm Springs trail we enter the big meadow


The creek is looking quite fishy here, but I forgot my packable rod.  GIl checks it out for fish [this crossing is 1/4mi or so before the Williams Creek turnoff where we left the route]


We had our last climb of the day up to the top of Williams Creek Trail, around 800ft in a couple miles.  We were back on moto trail now (from 4th July Lake to our turnoff here was non motorized) and this one was nice and buff, easy climbing all the way up. 


Then a couple more miles climbing on Williams Cr


I had pictured the whole descent being buff trail through burn area like this


But most of it actually looked more like this


After a couple of us nearly got taken out by cattle we had a bit more of a climb before the final descent.  Very fast and fun trail, though I wouldn't call it the best in the area like most people seem to. 


After the ride we were back to the hot springs for a soak and refreshments. Same scene as the day before, but larger snakes!

Stats were around 36mi and +/-4,700 (includes the 2k dirt road climb)

[evdog]

Day 4 - Big Boulder to Little Boulder

For our last day in the White Clouds we moved camp to the east side of the range.  This ride had potential to take us back to Castle Pass where we topped out at 10,000ft on Day 1 if time and legs would allow.   The plan was to start early as overnight temps were nice by now.  Unfortunately the skies opened up unexpectedly right at our 6am wakeup, so that was abandoned as we waited out the rain.  It was after 9am before it looked safe enough to head for the high country.   

Singletrack options notes:  None of today's ride is on the official route. If I were to bikepack all or part of the route I would likely deviate from it in this area.  Rather than climb up and over the ridge from Bowery Guard Station I think I would instead head up East Fork Rd about 8 miles and then climb up 667 another 5 miles or so to Big Boulder Trail.  This is a pretty amazing trail for climbing up, gorgeous contour singletrack for the most part.  And you have the option to check out Big Boulder Lakes and Boulder Chain Lakes, all of which could be made off limits to bikes in the future.  I did not do the climb from this side up to Castle Pass and I'm sure it would be tough but the views are worthwhile from the pass.  This is how you would pick up route from Day 1.  Little Boulder is not a trail I would want to climb up.  Wickup Creek Tr is another option but I have never seen a MTB trip report of that trail.

We start at the Livingston Mill TH, near an old mining town.  Check out the Lost & Found, Idaho style


Cool history.  Why can't we all just "live and let live"? 


Nice stream crossing.  First part of the trail was steep section followed by flat section, and repeat...


Big Boulder is rated double black on the map but climbs a lot easier on nice contour singletrack than the rating would suggest


We topped out around 9500 and then had a nice descent down to the boulder lakes basin




The Boulder Chain Lakes are tucked in behind the rocky ridges all the way back to the main ridge in the distance.  Checking out these lakes was a main objective for the day


Boulder Chain Lake #1


We cross a stream to get to the main boulder chain lakes trail


Lake #2


Riding next to Lake #3.  Took a bit of HAB to get up to this one


Pic of the lake


Trail splits with a low option for fisherman and high option to get to the next lake


Lake #4.  I lost the trail here, it goes into a boulder field.  Supposedly you can HAB to the last lake then up and over Windy Devil pass to Born Lake from Day 3 to create a loop.  Interesting, but sounds heinous. 


Lake #3 again on the way back down


I started to do a bit of fishing but soon noticed clouds rolling in fast, so we made a bee-line out of there.  It was a mile and a half from the lowest of the lakes to Little Boulder Cr trail and we made quick time out of there


Fortunately rain never materialized beyond a few spits so we were able to enjoy the trail


It eventually opened up into a fast ripper of a descent, and the views opened up too as we approached the lower valley


Some of the trail was real loose and steep, you could go as fast as you could handle


Nice view down the valley toward the bottom of Germania Creek drainage


Final bit of descent


We were done at a pretty reasonable time as we faced a 5 hr drive to get to our next day's ride in Montana.  Giddyup!

Stats for the day, around 19mi and +/-4500

[JRA]

Wow!
Thanks for taking the time to post all of that.  It really gives you a feel for the area.

[Aslan]

We did most of these trails this summer as, based on research and reports, we deviated from the main singletrack route.  We thought the climb up Big Boulder was the best of the entire route.  What a fantastic mostly singletrack climb.  While there is no way to spin a 4000 foot mostly single track climb as easy we liked it so much we did Little - Big Boulder as a 'rest day' loop.  I too am puzzled at the route selection from Bowery.  I agree with Evdog, Big Boulder is the prefered method for gaining the 4000-5000 feet required to make the high country.  Thanks for the post.  Posting our trip write up is still on my to do list.

[wahday]

Gorgeous! Thanks for the detailed post. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

[Norb]

Great report, evdog, and enjoyed the images and narrative. Being an Idaho guy and riding some of these areas it was a nice way to revisit the route and your approach.  This area is beautiful and challenging!

Nicely done.   

[offroute]

Wow, what a blast of adventure biking...killer-looking riding, scenery, conditions; nice pix and reportage. Well done, evdog.

[pedalad]

thanks for the hard "work". another trip goes on the to do list.

[caseygreene]

Awesome trip