Bull Trout to Bonneville – Aug 3, 2009

Words and photos by Lee Lau unless otherwise noted.

Day 1 – History Rock – Bozeman, Montana
Day 2 – 3 – Trespass/Sypes; Emerald; A big peak|
Day 4 – Somewhere
Day 5 – 6 – Corral Creek, Fox Peak – Ketchum, Idaho
Day 7 – Warm Springs Creek;
Pioneer – Long Gulch
Day 8 – Corral Creek, Fisher Creek – Stanley, Idaho
Day 9 – Bull Trout to Bonneville

Although this is a shuttle be warned that you still have 1500 ft of climbing in the trail. Although it was a good ride, I still can’t say I’d recommend going all the way to Idaho to do this;

(i) it doesn’t follow a ridgeline or get alpine views;
(ii) the singletrack is meh … sandy and sidehill (not fast flowy hardpack); and
(iii) it’s a long way from other very good rides.

The good point of this ride is that you get to camp at and use the wonderful Bonneville Hot Springs. We were up at 6.30 and riding by 7.15 am from the Bull Trout trailhead almost 17 miles drive up the road N of Bonneville. At an early point in the ride we did get rained on but this served to mellow out the dust (but did not help with the sandy corners of the upper trail). The first part of the trail climbs from the trail head then descends and switchbacks steeply to the creek. The middle part of the trail flattens out a bit and descends gradually alternating with some abrupt short climbs.
The last part of the trail has some longer climbs punctuated by even longer descents. We emerged at a small grass airfield at the base of the route close to Bonneville. There’s a trail at the end of the airstrip you can ride to the Bonneville Campground. We were on the road by 1pm and off back on our way to Canuckistan!