Lost trail not-shuttle fest

Went and did some riding by lost trail pass south of town last weekend. Lost trail is the border between id and mt on highway 93 and also right next to the continental divide. The main trail is called warm springs ridge, it starts behind the ski area at about 7800ft and goes north. It's a pretty remote, cool backcountry ride but with a shuttle almost anyone could ride it. The climbing is fairly minimal, the trail is mostly smooth, and you wind up right near the highway at the end. Every year, lost trail ski area hosts a bike fest and runs shuttles from the end of this trail and back up to the top. In addition to the ridge trail, there are a few others that drop off to the other side. The shuttle fest was last weekend though. Phil had found a route on trailforks and asked me if I wanted to go try it

https://www.trailforks.com/route/mtbm-warm-springs-route-backcountry



Starting out, it was pretty good. Riding along the creek, in the shade, over some challenging but manageable rocky sections. Except that I crashed in a creek crossing and banged up my left side pretty good including a cut open elbow. Then things got a little harder and we were pushing our bikes uphill in the heat.

A rare occasion of riding on the upper warm springs creek trail

I assume I'm stopped and taking a picture because I'm about to start walking

Finally we made it to a pass

2 hours to go 8mi at this point, but thankfully that was the worst of it.

You descend a bit into this valley

Overwhich falls is down there, but we didn't take the detour to go see it. After that little drip down you're climbing again, but thankfully the overwhich and colter creek trails are much easier to ride up than the top part of warm springs creek.

3 hours, 14mi, and like 3k feet later. Some shade and a snack break

We came from way the fuck down there:

This ridge is the back of lost trail ski area. You can see the top of the lift. When you shuttle these trails you drive up the ski area and around to where we are

Then it was fairly smooth sailing along warm springs ridge,

The views up there are great. You're surrounded by big mountain ranges and wilderness. To the north and west you're looking into the bitterroot-selway and frank church, to the east are the pintlers, and to the southeast the beaverheads.

I did have another crash though. This one coming into a spot I knew was going to be tough, a short, steep little drop. Phil was in front of me and crashed trying to slow down/stop at the top of it. The trail was just sand and loose rocks and there was no traction. I wasn't even on the steep part yet and was trying to pull off into the grass above him and over I went. Got a brake rotor burn on the back of my arm but other than that we were both fine.

The ridge trail keeps going, but we turned off to go back down into the valley we climbed

That trail put us like 5min from the car. Both of us were out of water and were glad to find the pump at the campground.

So that was hard. Strava does not do it justice with the power/energy estimates, probably because of how rocky the trail was and my garmin auto-pausing.

[url]https://www.strava.com/activities/2672058811[/url]

One of the hardest days I can recall and I'm pretty good at making myself suffer. Not butte 100 levels of suffering but harder than the philpsburg race. After that first crash and the hike a bike in the heat I was not feeling great and wasn't riding very well. Phil seemed to be flying and made me feel like a pretty crappy rider. But I made it down fire creek without too much trouble. The switchbacks are really tight, steep, and loose though.

Still pretty sore all over, and somehow have scrapes on my chest in addition to my shoulder, elbow, and left leg, plus a burn on the back of my right arm. Oh and my saddle broke in one of the crashes somehow.