Pioneer - Hyndman - Long Gulch- August 1, 2009

Our initial plan had been to ride Pioneer, descend Johnstone Creek, ascend Bear then descend Parker then road-ride back from Elkhorn to our campsite at Trail Creek. Riding Warm Springs Trails off Bald Mountain in the morning meant that we didn't actually start this second half of our day till about 12.30 in the afternoon. Temperatures were already high as we started the 4.5mile gentle climb to the Pioneer trailhead. My head was already exploding with heat when we got to the trailhead at about 1:15.

We pedalled most of the climb up to the Johnstone Creek turnoff and, after about 2200 ft of climbing contemplated our options. Either we could skip the last bit of the climb to Pioneer Cabin and miss out on the view of the Pioneers that had been described as Spectacular or we could descend Johnstone and try to also do Bear and Parker. Tyler reminded me that we were here for alpine views - he was right and we decided to hike and bike up to Pioneer Cabin the last 1,000 ft. This turned out to be more then worth it - the views of the Pioneers were every bit as magnificent as described. With the descent before us, we then dropped down the North Fork of Hyndman Creek lulled by the prospect of more magnificent views and singletrack. However we quickly figured out that this would put in a completely different drainage.

Not wanting to deal with a 15+ mile roadride we climbed back out of N Hyndman, pushed up to Long Gulch and rode Long Gulch out. A note of warning, there's almost 1500 ft of climbing out of Long Gulch so don't think this is an easy trail. The trail is also unlike most Sun Valley trails - it is by no means buff, smooth and fast. There's a nasty rockslide of talus in mid-trail and the last section of trail off the final ridge has embedded square-edged flat-inducing rocks.

This ride offers unbeatable views combined with interesting singletrack and has made me ache to go back and try other variations eg Pioneer - N Hyndman - Bear - Parker or Pioneer - N Hyndman - Johnstone - Pioneer. I would definitely start earlier and probably stuff a lot more ice in the Camelback!

Our campsite at the Trail and Corral Creek junction - shaded in the evening and morning and water close by

Hot, sweaty cook-your brains out climb up

View from the Johnstone Creek - Pioneer junction looking back W to Trail Creek

Going up from the junction and looking back to Trail Creek at a small plateau before the last push to the top of Pioneer. Elevation is approx 9,200ft

Shirtless Surrey at 9,200ft elevation

We shamelessly gaped at the views. These peaks are 11,000 - 12,000 ft high

Tyler approaching Pioneer Cabin

Lee - "The Higher You Get - The Higher You Get" - 9,600ft

Pioneers meet fungal toe

Obligatory love my wife shot

Tyler drops in on the N Fork of Hyndman

Sharon

Tyler - it still hadn't sank in that somehow we would have to get back to camp

Sharon and Tyler - still 3,000 ft to go to valley floor

Tyler - contemplateing Indian Paintbrush

Reality set in. We decided that 15 - 20 mile road rides were over-rated and decided to go back via Long Gulch and make a loop of it

Sharon

Lee cruising sub-alpine meadows

Sharon dropping off the Long Gulch ridge. Our trail would wind around the bare stripped slope on picture right then climb back UP to the ridge in picture centre