4x4 Stories

Idaho Centennial Trail # 21

So I left my survival pack with Brian and Johnny and took off to catch up to Kevin, he had left 2 minutes earlier than me, I was worried I wouldn’t catch him before it was pitch black dark.

Next thing I knew there was Kevin walking his bike around a hole in the trail, when I went to go around me and the bike slid in to the hole, the only thing left on the trail was my front tire, Kevin ran over and grabbed my front tire while I lifted up my back tire and after 2 minutes, it was back on the trail, our adrenaline was pumping, and now it’s pitch dark and now I couldn’t see the trail, all I could see was a little red tail light to guide me, You can imagine what the next 1 ½ hrs was like. I crashed 2 times and Kevin took a wrong turn and left me standing in the dark for about 5 minutes until he realized I was no longer behind him, talk about spooky. If I hadn’t realized that Kevin had taken a wrong turn, who knows where we would have ended up.

Idaho Centennial Trail # 20

(this is the only pic I have of where they slept)

I knew right then that at some point someone was going to sleep in the woods tonight, because I knew he couldn’t make it out on his bike now, he did try for about a mile but it was just to hard and painful for him.

Kevin decide he would give him a ride out so we stashed his bike in the bushes and went for  a mile and it was just to hard for Kevin to pack Johnny, so I decided I would do it, I told Johnny to get on and stay center of my back and lift his feet when I yelled feet so he wouldn’t get hit feet hit on the stumps or rocks.

By this time we were down to ½ hour of day light and so I rode as hard a I possibly could without hurting him to bad ,he probably thought I was crazy the way I was riding, But I knew it was my last chance of getting him out, With only 10 minutes of daylight left I stopped everybody and I said to Brian, that him and his brother Johnny was going to have to sleep in the woods until morning, at first Brian was not ok with this, but after a few minutes he decided that it was the best thing for me to follow Kevin out, because Kevin had to be back at camp because of  his dog Jack, as well as Kevin had the only bike with a headlight and I was the only one who knew the trail enough to get back to camp,

Idaho Centennial Trail # 19

About five miles into the trail, Johnny and his bike went off a side hill and his bike flipped down the hill about 25ft, it broke the radiator off and snapped the brake cable. After trying 10 minutes to get it back on the trail I remembered I had a rope in my backpack, I tied it to the axle and stood up on the trail and pulled the rope while the other three guys pushed. This is the trail where he went off.

Idaho Centennial Trail # 18

After going about 12 miles, we came to an intersection and found a sign saying Idaho Centennial trail.

That’s when we realized we had traveled way out of our way. And ended up at the bottom of the Idaho Centennial Trail, where I was unable to get to the day before.

We all decided to take a break and discuss the situation we were facing because we knew it was going to be tough getting Johnny out of here, We had a decision to make 12 miles straight uphill one way or 12 miles up the Idaho Centennial Trail which we knew there were fallen trees. and many obstacles

Idaho Centennial Trail # 17

Bill Willard & 4x4stories here, I am now continuing with more of the I.C.T. story.

We woke up the next morning and decided to go check out this look out tower that was nearby, we took off headed up this trail  that was big enough for a 4-wheeler in the beginning, and since we had  Johnny  with us, we were going to try to make it a easy ride. After about 7 or 8 miles we came to an intersection and ran into a couple of guys who told us about a different trail and made it sound real good to us, it was called president’s trail, we decided to take it instead of going to the look out tower, which turned out to be a big mistake.

4x4 off road to Beaver Lodge/Atlanta Idaho 6

After looking inside the new building and checking out the new generator we walked back up the road and looked at the new gate he built for Kirby dam entrance.  I think he did a good job; people will not be able to bother the building now. We then went and looked at his property and I realized the picture I took on the way into town was his property. He was living in a bus while building his cabin. Talk about a beautiful spot in the mountains. I love

Atlanta

Idaho

, what a get cool getaway in the winter. I then told him I would be leaving and I went back to the Beaver Lodge to check out and say goodbye to Russ and Kathy and the locals. Rori took this picture of me and Russ and 2 locals Ken and Merv. Left to right it is Merv-Ken-Russ-Bill.  We then loaded up the 4x4 International Scout and headed for home, I always hate having to leave there. On the way home I seen this stick that looked like it was holding up a rock so I took a picture. I hope the stick holds in there ….smiles…hahahaha

4x4 off road to Beaver Lodge/Atlanta Idaho 5

After we got settled down we decided to take a walk around town and look at the old buildings that hold so much history and imagine what life was like at that time.

Later we decided to head out of town and check out the Atlanta hot springs,

it’s a clean cement pond surrounded by trees and the water temperature is nice and usually if your soaking and somebody pulls up they will wait until you’re done, its semi private, but very relaxing none the less. 

After our outing we went back to the cabin and relaxed for awhile when heard someone knock on the back door of our cabin, there was a face I hadn’t seen in 25 years, Israel Ray.

                        Check out my new Canon sd 600, camera...click here

4x4 off road to Beaver Lodge / Atlanta Idaho 4

We finally crossed the bridge into town;

Atlanta

was established as a gold mining town in 1864, to date there are approximately 40 full time residences living there.

Well the coffee was calling so we made our way to the Beaver Lodge. The lodge walls have a lot of old pictures, I think the most interesting one is where Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp and all the gang of that era is sitting on a porch front.

4x4 off road to Beaver Lodge / Atlanta Idaho 3

Well, are feet was just starting to get cold when I spotted a little red truck coming down the road, turns out it was a guy named Ken that had helped me on the very same road 15 years prior. Small world.

We were on our way, this ravine caught my eye so we took a picture. Further on down the road we cam across this

hot springs

along the river.

There are several little pools of hot water; it looked nice but not very private. 

4x4 off road to Beaver Lodge / Atlanta Idaho 2

We drove several miles down to the

hot springs

where we were going to camp. We had made our bed in the back of the scout prior to leaving, so all we had to do was organize some stuff and crawl in back with our cushions and sleeping bags. After we got all our stuff situated we grabbed our towels, candles, plastic and our Pj’s and headed up the trail to our #1 favorite

Idaho

hot spring to soak our bones and just relax.

We soaked for about 2 hours and headed back down for bed. Rori crawled in bed and I sat there letting the scout warm up one last time, when I spotted a fox sniffing around the rig looking for food she didn’t

seem all to concerned about us, after watching him for a few minutes, I threw him some food and lights out.......