Idaho back country Mining Ride

Bryce R

Bryce R

Hey everyone I just wanted to do a write up on my ride this weekend. Just to warn you I like taking pictures so this may get a little long.

Here is what happened. My wifes family was getting together and doing some family stuff and my wife wanted to visit them. So instead of me trying to enjoy there company my wife suggested I got riding. (She really had to twist my arm on that) So a quick phone call to my parents and the weekend was planned. They were going to show me some old mines and some awesome back country they had explored years ago.

Friday afternoon my parents stopped by with there truck, camper and big enclosed trailer. We dropped the ramp loaded my gear and we were off. After 4 hours of driving we had reach our starting point. Yellow Pine, Idaho. Its an old mining town that has about 30 people living there including my Grand parents in the summer. After visiting with my grand parents we crashed for an early start.

Saturday morning things were loaded and we were on the road at 8:30. We had extra fuel, chain saws, tow straps, the works. (Nice having 4 wheelers around to haul all the crap) We ran 5 miles to the turn off and man was it cold in fact I didn't wear enough cloths. My mom bundled up and was still cold.

Turn off towards our desination.



Creek along the road.


Parents bundled up.


The mountains on each side of us as we travel.





After another 18 miles we finally reach Big Creek and turn off onto Smith Creek. This road is still okay but more of a jeep trail now.

This is the first home stead we come too. It was actually a lumber mill. Below are pictures of a boiler and one of the tools used to measure in the mill. Most of this was gone and crushed by the snow.












Stay Tuned! Tons more to come. We aren't even an 1/8th of the way!
 
Bryce R

Bryce R

After we leave this we travel further until we come to a mine.
Not sure the name of it but these first bunch of pictures are the homesteads around the mine. Also some old cans we found in the dump.



Inside.


Going from one room to the next.


In the Next Room


Gotta get the most important room!


Another house.


Beer!





Ovaltine for the kids!


Some other goods.






Even Spam!
 
Bryce R

Bryce R

rezrider:
Does that area get many visitors?...It's nice to see it's not been vandalized.....unless I missed it!
Click to expand...

No. One its a long rough drive, two its not easy to find, and three the people that do make it are pretty good about leaving it be.
 
Bryce R

Bryce R

Finally a look at the mine. This building has the generator, cusher and a table in it.


Misc. Items outside.






This is the power to everything!



This beam is 30'-40' tall!


Looking at the beam and a stamp crusher.


 
Bryce R

Bryce R

After the stamp mill smashed the big stuff they put it in a rod mill. This is the stamp that was on the rod mill.



This is where all the rock came into the buidling then into the stamp mill.



Here are a few shots outside of this mine.







Here is a look at the county we are headed into!


As you can see the roads aren't exactly paved. I readlly worried about my air pressure in my tires. They were set more for riding in the desert but they did fine. Most of the roads up there are like this or worse.



 
PBK

PBK

I don't know if you could see them but I saw TREE'S that old mine is cool and so is that old boiler bet it went to that old trackter that was sitting there, I love pic's of the ride and its cool you get to hang with your parents on an adventure like that post some more don't hold back!:banana:
 
Bryce R

Bryce R

After leaving the mine we continued up the road until we ran into a gate that said No Motorized Vehicles Past this Point oh yeah and no mechanical (No mountain bikes) !:foul: This was the start of the Wilderness Area. Here is a shot looking into the wilderness area.



From here we back tracked a ways. Here is a shot looking back at were we came from.



Here I had to stop and take a break after a tree tried to stop me while I was going around some rocks. I don't have my brush guards yet and a tree kindly pushed my front break for me. Thank god I didn't go over the bars!


My Mom.


Dad and the most spoiled dog in the world.


From here the road we turned off on was more of a trail.


The higher we got it started to open up more.




The road sucked. If you can call it a road. Here is a shot of what the last 10 miles was like. (How I didn't pinch a tube or bend a rim I will never know)


A look at where we are headed.



Me and the WR



Another looking at where we are going. There was a little snow left but not a lot.


End of the Road looking down into the valley on the other side.



Top of the mountain.


Well this is the last photo from the first day. This is mom working down the rocky road.

 


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