drrod
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I have just returned from riding the north half of the IDBRDR. Here is the website for it:
ridebdr.com
It is a long route and we did not have time to ride it all so we elected to ride the 4,5,6,7,8, border segments but to get down there utilizing as much dirt/gravel as possible. I apologize for not having many pictures. I am not a great one for taking pics and frankly, on some of the good pic opportunities, we couldn't really stop for fear of not being able to get going again. There was some pretty steep, rough, loose rock climbs (at least for our level of skill). Jeff took more and when I can access his, I will try to post more.
There were 2 of us. Jeff on his KTM 690 Enduro R and myself on my KTM 790 Adventure R.
Day 1 from Calgary to Eureka, MT.
We had pavement for a bit and then we were on the Forestry Trunk Road which, as luck would have it, we had to share with several logging trucks. The dust was choking but endured for about 50 miles and then ducked off and headed west on Dutch Creek Road which joined with a couple of others and ended up on the Crowsnest highway (#3)
From there we stayed on pavement most of the way to Eureka for our first stop. I don't know how many of you have been to Eureka but there is not much but we found an nice but dated motel and there was a great pub/restaurant across the street. Settled in with a cold beer and a sleep.
Day 2 - Eureka, MT to Darby, MT - 150 miles
We had to detour around a fire SW of Kalispell so we headed SW of Eureka and found some really fun roads. Ended up in Darby at a quaint hotel (checked ourselves in and out, ate at a pub across the street, cold beer, hit the sack as we were a bit tire. It was very hot during the day (100 F) and we are not really used to that.
Day 3 - Darby, MT to Elk City, ID via the Magruder corridor - 130 miles
This is our first day on the actual IDBDR route. We are running it east to west but the route goes west to east. Started off very chilly (about 40F) but quickly warmed up. I had looked at the weather forecast and had not bothered to bring any warm layers or rain gear. I was thankful for my heated grips. Jeff was envious. The first 30 or so miles was pavement and then we got into it! Quite a trail. A lot of 2 track and narrow forest service roads. I will say that the ATV's and SXS's really tear up the roads/trails.
All was going pretty good. Some great riding and some bit of difficulty (for us) with steep, loose rock climbs but we were doing great until we came around a corner and
View attachment 297959
A road grader had just ripped up the road. This was about 6-8" deep and the ruts about 6" apart. I made it about 50 ft before I had to let my bike lay down for a rest A guy came along on a dirt bike with a chain saw strapped to the front!! He was on the Tour of Idaho which is a pretty extreme dirt ride from the top to bottom of ID. I asked him how do you ride something like this? He said....."well, here is what I do; weight back, lots of throttle, feather the front brake...". And off he went, doing what he said but had a few "oh crap" moments. I guess being an old MX racer helped him. Jeff and I looked at each other and decided on a bit of a different strategy. We rode down the drainage ditches on the sides where we could and "duck walked" through the soft stuff where we had to. We would get through one stretch, heave a sigh of relief that we had made it, only to go around the next corner and be greeted with more. Anyway we made it and rolled into Elk City. Populatin? not very many. But there is a 10 room hotel and after pub food (again!) and cold beer, we nodded off. As a bit of an aside, we truly enjoyed these tiny towns (Plains, Darby, Elk City, Pierce, Wallace, Clark Fork) as they afforded us the opportunity to talk to the locals and there were some characters but all were very friendly and willing to talk to us. Great places and people!!
Day 4 - Elk City to Pierce - longer day - 250 miles
The day did not start so good. My bike would not start. Cranked fine, but would not fire. WTH? It has worked flawlessly since I got it 2 years ago. I had run my small compressor a bit to put some air in my front tire so I thought maybe the battery got run down a bit. Fortunately the hotel was on top of a pretty good hill so we rolled to the street, down the hill and it started. And for the rest of the day it started fine.
Off we went. The section from Elk City to the Lolo Pass was a gem. Small, narrow roads, lots of 2 track, good surface and very little traffic. We hit Lolo pass and headed east to Loksa Lodge where we had lunch. From there, we went north and caught the Lolo Corridor. This is an old wagon road, and it was some difficult riding (again, for us). Lots of steep, rough, loose, long climbs but we managed. Had to. There were some places where we could not have turned around easily!
We marveled at how the bikes handled it (better than we did) and also how the tires didn't get ripped to shreds on the sharp rocks that you just could not avoid. We made it about 40% of the length of Lolo Corridor when we got stopped by construction and fires so we had to duck south to Lolo Pass and then took pavement all the way to Pierce. BDR friendly hotel but only one place to get gas and we just made it with a few minutes to spare. Great pizza (in the hotel), cold beer, off to bed. Sorry, not really any pics from the day. Hopefully Jeff has some.
Day 5 - Pierce to Wallace - about 130 miles
I forgot to turn on my tracker this day.
So, again my bike won't start. Fortunately Jeff had brought a tow rope (what for
- I guess he has ridden with me enough!
) and my bike fired right up with a short tow. This continued to be an issue for the rest of the trip. Bike would not start in the morning. It cranked fine but would not start. Once started, it worked perfectly all day, but again, the next morning, it does not start. More on this later.
It was a good ride again. Out in the middle of nowhere (as is most of the bdr). Vast vistas, large forests, up and down the mountain ridges.
This is called the Blue Heaven Cabin. Quite a difficult climb to get to. It has 5-6 beds, wood stove, cold running water. It is free to use by anyone. Only stipulation is that you leave it better than you found it.
Near Avery, where the route crosses the St. Joe River road, there are a series of 4-5 tunnels. This was the widest. The rest were narrow, single lane.
We arrived in Wallace to find a street festival going on in front of our hotel. We wended our way through the crowds and tents, garnering some not so friendly glances. Got to the hotel, checked in. I then headed to Cour de Laine to the KTM dealer to see if I could get my bike fixed. I was thinking it was the battery at this point. Had to hustle as it would be close to closing time when I got there. Made it. Battery checked OK. Wouldn't have mattered if it had not, as they did not have another one, nor did anyone else in town. "We could order it for you" I swear, if I hear "supply chain issues" as the excuse for less than good service I will scream!!
Back to Wallace. There goes a few hours of my life I won't get back, not to mention the tread on my "off road" tires that got wore off at some 80mph.
Now comes the good part......I got back about 7PM to Wallace. We relaxed in the hotel room, had a couple of beers and then about 8:10 decided we would go and get something to eat. Not one place in town was open for food!! Not one. We looked. Even gas station hot dogs.....they were closed. We could have bought all the liquor we wanted but no food. WTH?? So we retired to the hotel and dined on energy bars and another beer. Went to bed. Had a good sleep. Beer?
Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route (IDBDR) Map & Information
If you’ve ever wanted to ride endless twisty mountain roads, the Idaho BDR will throw corners at you for days on end.
ridebdr.com
There were 2 of us. Jeff on his KTM 690 Enduro R and myself on my KTM 790 Adventure R.
Day 1 from Calgary to Eureka, MT.
We had pavement for a bit and then we were on the Forestry Trunk Road which, as luck would have it, we had to share with several logging trucks. The dust was choking but endured for about 50 miles and then ducked off and headed west on Dutch Creek Road which joined with a couple of others and ended up on the Crowsnest highway (#3)
From there we stayed on pavement most of the way to Eureka for our first stop. I don't know how many of you have been to Eureka but there is not much but we found an nice but dated motel and there was a great pub/restaurant across the street. Settled in with a cold beer and a sleep.
Day 2 - Eureka, MT to Darby, MT - 150 miles
We had to detour around a fire SW of Kalispell so we headed SW of Eureka and found some really fun roads. Ended up in Darby at a quaint hotel (checked ourselves in and out, ate at a pub across the street, cold beer, hit the sack as we were a bit tire. It was very hot during the day (100 F) and we are not really used to that.
Day 3 - Darby, MT to Elk City, ID via the Magruder corridor - 130 miles
This is our first day on the actual IDBDR route. We are running it east to west but the route goes west to east. Started off very chilly (about 40F) but quickly warmed up. I had looked at the weather forecast and had not bothered to bring any warm layers or rain gear. I was thankful for my heated grips. Jeff was envious. The first 30 or so miles was pavement and then we got into it! Quite a trail. A lot of 2 track and narrow forest service roads. I will say that the ATV's and SXS's really tear up the roads/trails.
All was going pretty good. Some great riding and some bit of difficulty (for us) with steep, loose rock climbs but we were doing great until we came around a corner and
View attachment 297959
A road grader had just ripped up the road. This was about 6-8" deep and the ruts about 6" apart. I made it about 50 ft before I had to let my bike lay down for a rest
A guy came along on a dirt bike with a chain saw strapped to the front!! He was on the Tour of Idaho which is a pretty extreme dirt ride from the top to bottom of ID. I asked him how do you ride something like this? He said....."well, here is what I do; weight back, lots of throttle, feather the front brake...". And off he went, doing what he said but had a few "oh crap" moments. I guess being an old MX racer helped him. Jeff and I looked at each other and decided on a bit of a different strategy. We rode down the drainage ditches on the sides where we could and "duck walked" through the soft stuff where we had to. We would get through one stretch, heave a sigh of relief that we had made it, only to go around the next corner and be greeted with more. Anyway we made it and rolled into Elk City. Populatin? not very many. But there is a 10 room hotel and after pub food (again!) and cold beer, we nodded off. As a bit of an aside, we truly enjoyed these tiny towns (Plains, Darby, Elk City, Pierce, Wallace, Clark Fork) as they afforded us the opportunity to talk to the locals and there were some characters but all were very friendly and willing to talk to us. Great places and people!!Day 4 - Elk City to Pierce - longer day - 250 miles
The day did not start so good. My bike would not start. Cranked fine, but would not fire. WTH? It has worked flawlessly since I got it 2 years ago. I had run my small compressor a bit to put some air in my front tire so I thought maybe the battery got run down a bit. Fortunately the hotel was on top of a pretty good hill so we rolled to the street, down the hill and it started. And for the rest of the day it started fine.
Off we went. The section from Elk City to the Lolo Pass was a gem. Small, narrow roads, lots of 2 track, good surface and very little traffic. We hit Lolo pass and headed east to Loksa Lodge where we had lunch. From there, we went north and caught the Lolo Corridor. This is an old wagon road, and it was some difficult riding (again, for us). Lots of steep, rough, loose, long climbs but we managed. Had to. There were some places where we could not have turned around easily!
We marveled at how the bikes handled it (better than we did) and also how the tires didn't get ripped to shreds on the sharp rocks that you just could not avoid. We made it about 40% of the length of Lolo Corridor when we got stopped by construction and fires so we had to duck south to Lolo Pass and then took pavement all the way to Pierce. BDR friendly hotel but only one place to get gas and we just made it with a few minutes to spare. Great pizza (in the hotel), cold beer, off to bed. Sorry, not really any pics from the day. Hopefully Jeff has some.
Day 5 - Pierce to Wallace - about 130 miles
I forgot to turn on my tracker this day.
So, again my bike won't start. Fortunately Jeff had brought a tow rope (what for
- I guess he has ridden with me enough!) and my bike fired right up with a short tow. This continued to be an issue for the rest of the trip. Bike would not start in the morning. It cranked fine but would not start. Once started, it worked perfectly all day, but again, the next morning, it does not start. More on this later.It was a good ride again. Out in the middle of nowhere (as is most of the bdr). Vast vistas, large forests, up and down the mountain ridges.
This is called the Blue Heaven Cabin. Quite a difficult climb to get to. It has 5-6 beds, wood stove, cold running water. It is free to use by anyone. Only stipulation is that you leave it better than you found it.
Near Avery, where the route crosses the St. Joe River road, there are a series of 4-5 tunnels. This was the widest. The rest were narrow, single lane.
We arrived in Wallace to find a street festival going on in front of our hotel. We wended our way through the crowds and tents, garnering some not so friendly glances. Got to the hotel, checked in. I then headed to Cour de Laine to the KTM dealer to see if I could get my bike fixed. I was thinking it was the battery at this point. Had to hustle as it would be close to closing time when I got there. Made it. Battery checked OK. Wouldn't have mattered if it had not, as they did not have another one, nor did anyone else in town. "We could order it for you"
I swear, if I hear "supply chain issues" as the excuse for less than good service I will scream!!Back to Wallace. There goes a few hours of my life I won't get back, not to mention the tread on my "off road" tires that got wore off at some 80mph.
Now comes the good part......I got back about 7PM to Wallace. We relaxed in the hotel room, had a couple of beers and then about 8:10 decided we would go and get something to eat. Not one place in town was open for food!! Not one. We looked. Even gas station hot dogs.....they were closed. We could have bought all the liquor we wanted but no food. WTH?? So we retired to the hotel and dined on energy bars and another beer. Went to bed. Had a good sleep. Beer?
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) and then formulated a plan to get his bike home. This is when you are so very grateful for good friends. John (who has a truck) said "Road trip!!" and headed out at 5 AM to come and meet us in Cranbrook where we could get the bike towed on a flat bed to. Met up in Cranbrook and headed home. Thank goodness for friends!! John, incidentally tries to kill us (Martin, Jeff and I) in the back country on a regular basis. The boy can ride!!! And will drop everything to help in any way he can. The older you get, the more you come to value friends. They truly do make your life better.
