Day 3 - Arco to Lake Alturas

Since the first two days were each roughly 12 hours each, we decided to sleep until 6:30 AM and ride a modified route where we would catch a highway in the afternoon and arrive at camp in the early evening. Bill, Todd, Keith and Ed would ride, while Lance and Paul made there way to Lake Alturas.

The Statistics for the day were as follows:

Max Elevation – 10,046 ft

Total Ascent – 18,917 ft

Total Miles – 165

Avg Speed – 27.6 mph

Top Speed – 64 mph

The trails consisted of mostly fire road and two-track with a great single track trail to finish the day. The elevation drop from the mountains into Ketchum was impressive, estimated at 5,000 ' descent down a well maintained forest road.

Along the way we experienced another flat front tire on Keith's bike where we installed a heavy tube on the road-side. The tire held for the remainder of the trip.

The trails for the day ended in Ketchum, ID (known for Sun Valley ski resort). We arrive in town about 3:00 PM and ate at Despo's, which is a Mexican food restaurant recommended by a local fellow motorcycle rider. From Ketchum, we would take Highway 75 NW to Lake Alturus, which is in the vicinity of Smiley Creek, ID.

We arrived at camp in the early evening with plenty of time to change our air filters and perform some miscellaneous maintenance on the bikes. Todd and Ed went for a swim in Lake Alturas, which was refreshing but brisk.

The day ended with drinks and laughs around the campfire.

Day 2 - Pocatello ID to Arco

Day 2 was expected to be a long day, so we woke and 6:00 AM and left as early as possible (probably 7:30). This would be Lance and Keith's first day of riding as well as Keith's first ride on his KTM 500. Bill would sit-out this day and tour the local attractions with Paul and Jake (our mascot).

The Statistics for the day were as follows:

Max Elevation – 7,953 ft

Total Ascent – 23,950 ft

Total Miles – 233

Avg Speed – 26.8 mph

Top Speed – 72 mph

The first part of the day was an amazingly fun and beautiful single track trail that extended for many miles and hours. The remainder of the day was a combination of jeep roads and gravel roads. There was plenty of sand past American Falls, though we routed around the deep sand sections.

We stopped in American Falls and had lunch at a drive-in burger place (not a very good one). Lance and Keith ordered burgers, fries and drinks while Ed and Todd worked on Ed's leaking front tire. We injected Slime into the tire (Tubliss System) and it did a good job at stopping the leak. We parked the bikes under the drive-in awning to get out of the direct sun.

Somewhere along the afternoon route, Keith got a front flat tire and installed a patch on his standard tube. The patch would hold just 24 hours.

The jeep roads in the afternoon were on sandy soil where the jeep tracks were dug-out like a wide rut, 4-6 inches deep. This is where Lance took a hard fall that would result in three broken ribs and a badly bruised hip. Lance rode the remainder of the day, but sat out Day 3 and flew home on Day 4.

Along the way, we saw antelope, sage grouse, and a heard of Elk that crossed our path late in the day.

We ended the day at Mountain View RV Park in Arco, ID