Idaho Gem

The Idaho Gem showcases all that the mountain biking of Central Idaho has to offer. Development of the route focused on highlighting the backcountry riding, remote nature, and stellar descents found in the region. Riders can expect stunning terrain, plenty of camping options, challenging single-track, adequate water sources, and little pavement. The riding is remote and exposed at times, and varies between sage and conifer forests, alpine basins, and burned forests. The effort for most of the substantial hike-a-bikes is rewarded in spades by amazing backcountry descents.

The ride starts out leaving Ketchum, ID, heading south along the paved bike path. Riders will head west out Greenhorn Canyon to access vast single-track opportunities. A mellow climb along Greenhouse Creek eventually gets steeper and looser heading up to the high Plateau known as Mars Ridge. As riders pedal and push across Mars Ridge, sweeping views of the Pioneer Mountains to the east present themselves. Eventually, the trails turns downhill along the South Fork Warm Springs and riders will be grinning ear to ear on the sweeping descent. Once at Warm Springs Creek, riders have the choice of single-track with some tough hike-a-bikes or taking the dirt Dollarhide Road to Dollarhide Summit. From the summit, riders will descend the dirt road, eventually turning off on the Big Peak-Carrie Creek trail. While the start of the trail is fairly unrideable, this is short-lived once riders turn off onto Grindstone Ridge and are rewarded with mostly rideable ridge rambling before the brake-burning descent down Lick Creek to Smoky Bar.

A trip to the Smoky Bar store is well worth the quick detour! Afterward, riders head on a dirt road over Fleck Summit and begin their journey into the heart of the Smoky Mountains. Well graded dirt road become more and more primitive, eventually leading to a ribbon of single-track climbing up to the Bear-Willow divide. An exposed and somewhat technical descent leads into Willow Creek and the beginning of the most remote section of the route. Riders should be prepared for substantial hike-a-bikes, rewarded with alpine vistas and ripping descents through the Ross Fork area. Ross Forks Lakes makes a lovely camping spot. After the grind up the North Fork Ross Fork, riders will drop into the Alturas Lake drainage and through the 2022 Ross Fork Fire scar. Once down by Alturas Lake, riders have entered the iconic Sawtooth Valley. Riders will enjoy spectacular views of the Sawtooth alpine as they head north along dirt roads, skirting the eastern flanks of the range. Due to the extensive USFS Wilderness designation of the Sawtooth Mountains, there are few bikeable trails in the range. The exception is the Grand Mogul/Redfish Lake trail, the skirts along the 6mi long Redfish Lake. Spending a night camping at the USFS inlet camp ($ required) is a special experience and shouldn’t be missed.

Riders will continue on single-track and a newly completed double track gravel path that takes riders from Redfish Lake area to Stanley. Enjoy the resupply in Stanley – Stanley Baking Co, Papa Brunee’s Pizza, and the Mountain Village Restaurant are all good options. The Mountain Village Inn is a nice spot to get a room if you are feeling the need – plus they have a private hot spring that is available to guests! Leaving Stanley, cruise along the Salmon River before turning off and heading south for the first time in a long time! The climb up Little Casino and Sunny Gulch is long, dry, and can be hot, so be prepared. Dropping down Martin Creek is technical, and there are more ups than most would like, but the final descent down into Warm Springs Meadow is worth the effort. Riders will take in the views of the White Cloud Mountains while pedaling through a wide valley and old forest burn. A mellow climb will bring riders to the iconic Williams Creek descent. Fast and swooping, with good sight lines – you can see why it’s a local classic!

Riders will jump on HWY 75 for a short bit before turning east and beginning the ride of the 4th of July Road into the White Cloud Mountains. There are lots of camping options along this dirt road. Once at the TH, riders will head up the Washington Lakes trail, passing 4th of July Lakes and Washington Lakes (both good camping options) before heading down towards Germania Creek. This leads to Pole Creek Road, which takes riders to the Grand Prize TH. A pleasant pedal up an ATV trail that turns to single-track, riders are now entering the Boulder Mountains. It’s hard to spot the turn-off onto the poorly used Gladiator Pass trail – make sure to pay attention! A grueling hike-a-bike leads riders up to Gladiator Pass where a steep, straight, and rugged descent brings riders into the Galena trail network. The contrast between backcountry and groomed trails couldn’t be more stark. Relentless ups and downs along the Grinder eventually brings riders to the Grinder EXT trail, which is purpose built with jumps and big burns – try not to smile!!! They lead to Spring Creek, which flows mostly downhill to the Big Wood River.

A quick ford of the Big Wood River deposits riders on the Harriman Trail, and eventually Prairie Creek Road. The Prairie Creek single-track up to Prairie Lake offers a rideable uphill technical challenge through granite rocks. Once at Prairie Lake, settle in for a challenging and breathtaking section with hike-a-bikes and backcountry riding on a little used section of trail that are sometimes quite exposed. Riders will pass through 3 high alpine basins before beginning the descent toward the Baker Lake TH. Baker Lake is a side excursion and makes a beautiful camp site.

Climb on well graded single-track for about 1000’ up to Osberg Ridgeline. Osberg Ridgeline is one of the crown jewels of the Sun Valley area, offering riders with climbs and long descents as the trail traverses miles of high country through the 2013 Beaver Creek fire. Coyote Yurt, which is operated by Sun Valley Mountain Huts, is worth booking for the night – the views are stunning, and it provides a great place to reflect on the trip before the descent back into civilization. At the end of Osberg Ridge, riders will jump on Adam’s Rib and begin the mostly downhill ride back into the Adams’ Gulch trail network. For maximum enjoyment, take a left on Harper’s and enjoy the fast and flowy turns before a short punchy climb across the Lake Creek Connector and one final high-speed descent into Adam’s Gulch TH. A quick pedal back on the road and bike path lead riders back into Ketchum for a well-earned beer! The two local spots are Grumpy’s and Lefty’s- both have their benefits – you should go decide what camp you are in!

• Paved: 12%
• Smooth Gravel: 10%
• Rough Gravel: 8%
• 4×4 Road: 5%
• Singletrack: 65%

Due to the rough nature of a substantial part of the terrain, a short-travel full suspension bike with at least 2.3” tires is recommended. As the route is rated 9/10 for both physical and technical difficulty, it should only be attempted for riders with advanced mountain biking and backcountry riding experience.

There are limited services on the route.

• Smoky Bar Store has limited hours and some basic goods
• A detour to Smiley Creek Lodge allows access to limited goods, a restaurant, and cold beer
• Redfish Lake Lodge has limited goods
• Stanley is the only true resupply with a decent general store and a variety of food services
• Galena Lodge has amazing food and cold beer, but not much in the way of resupply.

There are ample camping opportunities throughout the ride, as much of the ride is on USFS land.

There is good access to water throughout the route, bring a filter.

The window for this route is relatively short: wait for the high elevation terrain to be snow-free in July and ride the route before the first winter storms shut it down, typically sometime in October.

Much of this route happens on multi-use motorized trails. The local Moto riding community works hard to cut out the backcountry trails each year; without their effort, these trails would be reclaimed by the nature and would be impassable for MTBs. There is a healthy relationship between the Moto community and MTB community in this area; please respect it.

Check out the route on Ride with GPS.

There is also a route page for this route on Trailforks. This can be useful for checking the most up-to-date information about trail conditions for this route.

Chris Marshall created and stewards this route. Here is a little about Chris in his own words:

“I have been riding for nearly 20 years in Central Idaho and continue to be amazed that there is more to explore. I like thinking about how to connect terrain elegantly, and I already have a few additions to the route that I would like to ride this season and see how to evolve this route.

I am a long time Mountain Guide with decades of experience in trip planning, remote expeditions, and a general desire to move through terrain with elegance. I have experience planning long, backcountry day rides linking together terrain and trails. Putting this route together was a multi-year process; I had ridden ~70% of the route in various ways over many years. Once I realized that Central Idaho had the terrain and trails to put together a special bikepacking route, it still took many months of plotting, talking to local riders about sections of the route I hadn’t been, and revisions to come up with the route.”

Chris has offered to be available to answer questions if you are planning a trip on this route. Please also get in touch with any updates on route conditions that may be relevant to other riders.

Please submit your questions and comments on the route via the contact form below.

• This route traverses the traditional lands of the Shoshone-Bannock, Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla.