The good ol days....

 Well, it rained literally the entire weekend.  What better reason to do a massive deep cleaning of our apartment than that?  We essentially gutted the place and too a ton of items to the donation in town, but....., we also found some absolute gems of ol pictures.  

I LOVE this one!  My Dad and Me, circa 1980 probably, when I was one year old, hanging near Sun Valley, ID.  My parents deserve all the credit in the world for exposing us to being outside and adventuring at a very young age!

My cousin Lins and Me in Pasadena, CA at my grandparents house.  It must have been near Halloween.

 

Dubois, WY circa 2002 hanging with my TVRC boys.  Wow, I had hair then!

80 large...

Looking out the window this morning at raining cats and dogs kinda weather, yesterday seems all the sweeter.  We have been exploring new trails really deep in the Greys River area near Afton, WY this summer.  The area is huge, the access is difficult, and there is never enough time!  We rode from 9-5 yesterday, slammed 80 miles, and were not even close to seeing all the country that we wanted to.  The trails are pretty endless down there.  It is huge country with a lot of climbing and descending. 

If only we were members!

I got an invite from my good bud Case today (nice swing dude!) to play golf at JH Golf and Tennis.  Aka, a trip into the other side of the tracks!  It was so amazing.  The colors were going off, the weather was in the 80's and Case and I had the course to ourselves.  Thanks again Case for the invite.  

 After the round the rest of the Brown family showed up and Wyatt of course needed to go hit some balls.  How awesome in that little golf bag and backpack!  

Case attacking the pin on the signature hole at JHGT.

Things got wierd......

 At Jason and Lauren's wedding after 8 pm.  It was 80's attire after 8 pm and of course, debauchery ensued. 

Teddy, aka Daniel Son from the Karate Kid.  Amazing. 

Better a week and a half late, than never...

 Some buds and I scored an absolute classic ride the other day that is always on my must ride list each and every summer.  Flemming Creek, to Burns Creek, to Blacks Canyon, back Flemming.  50 miles of utter epicness in the BigHole Mountains, ID.  

Alex, charging with the fall colors and a bank to bank creek to keep him company.

The Crew, atop Liar's Peak eating lunch. 

Getaway to Paradise.

 Fall weekends are always awesome, but when you have a good family friend that has a ranch in the Copper Basin, ID, they are even better!  Chels and I have been meaning to hit up my Dad's  best bud "Duffy" on his offer to stay at his ranch for years.  Ummm, why the hell did we wait so long?  What an amazing spread, about an hours drive from Sun Valley, ID.  

Chels, scoping the property.  Duff has a handful of really cool restored cabins and a bitchin yurt.  

 The main meeting house in the middle of the cluster of guest cabins.

 We drove out the Burma Road today which drops you down toward Mackay, ID.  Borah Peak is in the background, the highest peak in Idaho.  

 Yea, life is really, really good!

 The "Russian John" cabin that was our home for the weekend.  It was totally pimped out on the inside complete with slate showers.  Duffy had it restored and brought up on a flatbed years ago.  

 Ahh, sunny and warm September weather.  

 Chels has nice feet, I have gross feet, hence the shoes.

 I love spending time with this blue eyed beauty.

 If only fall lasted longer!

We are already hatching plans for a  return visit in the spring to the Copper Basin.  Thanks Uncle Duff!

Yes, so good.

 I suppose you lead one hell of a charmed life when other fun activities get in the way of floating.  By that I mean, this summer we haven't been on the river nearly as much as normal, needed, and wanted.  It's not because of lack of want, more just time I suppose.  And....., well, that is centered around an admitted addiction to riding dirtbikes.    Last Friday Tyler and Christana were in town for Jason Rolfe's wedding and we took a float south of town.  Hmmm, lots of fish, warm sunshine, awesome peeps, yea, that's why we like floating so much.  Mental note to us...., lets do a hell of a lot more of this next summer.  Ugh....too many passions, such a rad place we live, and ultimately, not nearly enough time to squeeze it all in.  

Tyler and Christana kissing this glorious sunny day.

 Is there a better sight?  Man, fish, and a cute gal to net your fish for you!  

 The fall colors were going off.  Somehow Chels took all the photos and didnt seem to get in any of them herself!  

 Fall floating on the Snake is pretty rad.  Only wish the distance between Missoula and Jackson was a bit closer so we got to see these guys more often.  

 Absolute classic.  Fish on, cigar properly placed.  

 Wait, wait........, I swear i had it in my hand ready for an award winning photo! 

Christina, Beautiful Chels, and chilling Tyler.  And, my bike for the shuttle.  It was a  full boat. 

End of things....

 Yet another trail closed this week because of elk hunting.  It is of course bitter sweet.  Happy to get out of the area to let the elk hunters have there go at it, but selfishly just miss fun, local trails.  We  rallied a big crew for the final  ride of the season post work at Munger on Tuesday night.  

Josh and Keith taking a moment to soak it all in after the Big Munger climb.

 Running out Wally's World watching the sunset to the south and west.  

 We rode to the very end getting back to the trucks at dark.  Wont be able to ride these trails again until July 1, 2015.  But......., that is going to be with Chels again!

 Hell yea Ashley!  Almost  made it.  You will get this climb next summer!

 20 minutes from town, miles from anywhere!

More visitors!

So happy that my mom and Joe came out for a quickie visit this past weekend! It has been way too long since they have wandered this way and we were happy to see them and get some quality play time in with them!

Here are my mom and I trying and failing to do our 1" smiles for Liz.

The highlight of the weekend was our kayak day out on String and Leigh Lakes. The weather was absolutely late summer gorgeous and we made the most of it! Mom and Joe paddling away under the Tetons.

 Trevor taking the lead on Leigh Lake where we had a picnic and hung out on a secluded beach, wiling the afternoon away. Ahhhhhh.....

Paddling and taking in the splendor of the great Mt. Moran.

 We stayed out as long as we possibly could with the rental kayak before it was time to paddle back in the waning sunlight. Mom and Joe leading the charge.

Topping the day off at Dornan's with pizza and beers and the best view around.

The next day we did some exploring in Victor/Driggs area and topped it off with some huckleberry shakes. Mom showing off her catch of the day! : )

Thanks for the visit guys! Next time, come back sooner!!!

Indian Creek

 Some of our favorite moto rides close on September 15 to keep noise outta the  mountains in the Fall so that everyone chasing 4 legged creatures have better chances at shooting them.  Indian Creek ride down in the Palisades is an epic, gnarly loop  that I hadn't done yet this summer.  It is HUGE country!    

Look above, Where is Waldo?  Alex descending into the far reaches of the North Fork of Indian Creek.

 This is a 25 mile one way trail.  We did it out and back on itself for the first time.  We could barley walk at the end of the ride.  

 Where is ALex?  Notice the gnarly trail?

 The trail down to the Palisades has some big drops.

High point of the ride, taking a breather.

Can it be Labor Day again?

 Monday the only laboring that was going on was attempting to ride trails that had gotten 24 hours of rain and that are clay based.  It was a slimy mess, but we endured and got a sweet ride in.  Michelle, Shannon, and Steve resting after a big climb.  

 Michelle is an absolute crusher on a mountain bike and is starting to get more and more into moto.  She, like everyone else who does both kept saying, "I never get this tired on my mountain bike.!!!"

 Yea Michelle, get to the top of that beasty climb.

 Ry, with the age ol sparklers.  Somethings never get old.

 Kinda like were we are lucky enough to live.  It's the most beautiful place south of the 49th parallel I tell ya.  

You never know who you might run into up the Gros Venture.  Teddy and Heather were up there camping too and hung for a bit.