September rides

[ny biker]

Kicked off the month with a fun 3 day trip. We had a loose plan to reach an area in the Jarbidge Desert called the Arch. We picked our route thinking it was feasible as long as the "roads" that show on the map were there... HA. Missed a major turn on day one (hate to confess it was probably my fault as I was in front as we climbed out of the Bruneau Canyon) Actually in hindsight it was not a bad thing as we would have been even more challenged with finding water. Saturday night found us camped by Dead Horse Spring. Not much water but it wasn't covered in scum, nor was it muddy. We double filtered and crossed our fingers. Some Antelope came down in the morning to drink and they all seemed healthy . Continuing off course, Sunday we found an intersection with an actual sign. We could see a few trees and bushes so we rode to that area and hiked in, hoping for water in the creek - no such luck. We opted to backtrack about a mile to an old, fallen down ranch outpost. This time there really was a dead horse in the corral - Yikes. There was water pooled in the stream bed so again we double filtered and crossed our fingers. Glad we stopped because that was the last water we saw until we recrossed the river on Monday. Late Sunday afternoon found us battling tumbleweeds and in wander/wonder mode - as in where the heck are we anyway! Off in the distance I see 3 ATV's, usually I cringe at the sight but the desert spirits were looking out for us as the ATV's were on the "road" we needed to get back to the truck without having to retrace our steps. We have decided to invest in spot tracker, this part of the desert is so remote it would be a challenge for someone to find us if something went wrong. Happy to say my Surly ECR performed the best. I have gotten really comfortable with the handling and trusting the bike on descents. The Bike Hermit did a blog post on our website Here are a couple photos

I have been to the town of Jarbidge, which had a year-round population of 11 at the time, and I doubt it has grown in the past few years. A group of us drove there from Elko in two vehicles, one of which kept breaking down. The map tells me you were north of there, but I imagine it's all pretty similar. I'm glad you made it out safely! It is worlds away from the crowded cities and suburbs that many of us are used to.