Across the clouds - the State Line Road Loop

[John E Davies]

The yellow line shows the track of the ride. The many purple “bailout” routes are also shown.

Avery lies deep in the heart of the wild and scenic St Joe River of north Idaho. The terrain is heavily wooded, with steep mountains descending right to the edge of the river. The few roads in the area hug the convoluted banks of the St Joe and its narrow tributaries, and wind along the windy ridge tops. Avery itself is a small scrap of a town hanging on to a past that was vibrant with logging and steam. If you are a trout fisherman, a white water rafter, or a Dual Sporter, the area is sheer heaven. Otherwise, the area is a place of No Gas, No Food and Nothun’ to Do.

National Forest-391, AKA “The State Line Road”, extends from the Route of the Hiawatha’s Taft Tunnel above Avery, for 50 miles to the center access point near Little Joe Mountain, where it turns into the non-motorized State Line National Recreation Trail for another 50 miles. The river below is at about 2800 feet. The road never drops below 5000 for that first 50 mile length, so the occasional views are stunning. “Occasional”, because much of the ride is rocky single lane jeep road that burrows through the dense forest. There aren’t a huge number of views, but the ones you do find are breathtaking.




Access to Avery is limited due to the terrain. The quick way is over steep, dusty Moon Pass from I-90 and historic Wallace. Quick it is, but the 30 mile road is heavily traveled by trailer-towing pickup trucks and Honda Civics full of terrified yuppies hugging the center of the road, on their way to the Route of the Hiawatha bicycle trail. The steep drop offs and heavy dust make the road a poor first choice. “Guard rails? We don’t need no stinkin’ guard rails!”

Moon Pass itself is a busy parking lot full of cheerful Wallace locals on ATVs, who consider this spot to be their back yard. They use the ATV trails and forest roads on top of the mountain to access the best views and beer drinking spots. South of the Pass, the traffic is more sporadic and mainly Avery-bound tourists and fishermen

Really, the best way into the area from Idaho or Washington is past the town of St Maries and up the St Joe river along paved NF-50. From Montana you can use the other end of NF-50 out of St. Regis MT. Both routes are very scenic and slow, but expect no traffic. NF-50 in MT is reportedly being paved – be prepared for construction delays.


Approaching Avery along NF-50 you pass the Marble Creek Historic Site. It’s a good spot to stop for a pee and to check out the timber displays. This rusty saw hangs over the visitor’s area.


An old split bridge over the St Joe on the old Haul Road in Avery, which was used by loggers for decades before the coming of the new highway, which was built on top of the old railroad bed.


Many of the side roads are old railroad routes. This tunnel is about 4 miles up the NF-301 “Fishhook Creek” route south of the old Haul Road. It was apparently widened by the road builders – most of the many tunnels in the area are a single lane. My riding buddy Ryan stands at the entrance. We drove up this stream valley to the ridge top and found an excellent plinking spot, where we devoted several hours to perforating plastic milk jugs and aluminum cans.

We camped at Tin Can Flat Campground, one of several established camping areas along the St Joe. Our campsite was huge by Washington standards, and only $6 per night. Scattered along the north bank of the St Joe are a few good individual free campsites. But the North Fork of the St Joe above Avery is the hot spot – with many great spots right next to the water.


Friday morning we rode southeast out of the campground at about 8:00 am. The weather was cool, with an expected high temperature by mid-afternoon of about 72 degrees. Since we were going to be spending several hours above 5500 feet, we dressed in layers because we knew it would be cold. The clouds were threatening, and they got worse through the morning. We didn’t really expect rain, but we both carried waterproof gear just in case. It is no fun to get soaked four hours from the camp. NF-50 snakes along the river, with blind decreasing-radius turns to keep you on your toes. Drive off the road and you will get wet – the shoulders are generally narrow and there are no guardrails. Also no warning signs for the turns. A gps really gives the rider confidence, because he can see the hairpin turns before he is into them.

The plan was to ride the loop in a counterclockwise direction. We each carried extra fuel in 32 ounce MSR bottles, but running out was a real worry. My 525EXC carried 3.2 gallons, but Ryan’s KDX250 only had 1.9. I had plotted half a dozen “bail out” routes along the way, but the nearest gas in St Regis, MT would mean a 90 minute detour, and we really didn’t want to be forced into that. We figured that by going CCW we would be encountering more people the closer we got to the north end of the ride, and if one of us ran out we could transfer fuel, or coast back down the mountain to Avery and gas.


Looking back down NF-339 along Quartz Creek. Here we left the St Joe River valley and climbed up toward the ridge tops. At this point the road was wide, graded and level. It quickly narrowed and became overgrown.


And we encountered our next mooses. A little explanation is in order here. On our last ride together in Idaho, Ryan and I met three different moose within the space of 90 minutes. These animals are exceedingly stupid and often dangerous, especially the mothers with babies. They are infamous for their habit of running down the trail and not darting into the woods like a normal startled animal – we spent over 20 minutes on that other ride trying to safely get past a young moose who continued to lope down the road. Now in this brushy hairpin we encountered an Angry Momma Moose with two babies. We dismounted and waited, in the hope that she would take her kids into the trees. In this pic Ryan is getting his camera ready.


And I am ready with mine. At least I we got stomped, we were decently padded….


Ryan crept carefully up the road to see if the mooses were still there – ready to jump behind a tree if Momma charged. I got out my big can of Bear Spray and my Glock. The pistol wouldn’t stop a charging half ton moose, but I was prepared to shoot into the air to scare her off. The manufacturer of the spray assured me that it “sometimes” worked on moose.



Why didn’t we turn and go back? Simple – the odds of encountering more moose by turning back were just as high as if we just stayed where we were. So we needed to deal with this situation and keep going.

Fortunately, Momma Moose, grunting and her hackels up, suddenly jumped into the trees with her babies and disappeared from view. Unfortunately she went uphill, and we were sure we would encounter her standing in the middle of the road around the next turn.

Ryan went ahead of me, and I kept the Bear Spray and my pistol near at hand. He rode slowly and carefully, fully expecting a monstrous brown shape to leap out at him from behind a tree. When he had determined that there wasn’t any threat, we both took off at normal speed.

Ryan taking a smoke break at a side road.


Me looking buff in my TekVest – it adds inches to my meager torso. I started out with my Acerbis enduro jacket over the vest, and later peeled down to a Klim goretex rain shell over the vest. Then went back to the heavier jacket. The temperature kept changing as we alterd elevation.


Looking up the side road from our rest stop. Many of these Idaho side roads are gated, and only ATVs and motorcycles are allowed past. Sorry, you Jeepers.


Southern end of the State Line Road, when we finally reached the top of the mountain. We didn’t go past the gate, but others have done so in the past.


The beginning of the State Line Trail. Those look like Tick Bushes to me.


Ryan dumps in the second 30 ounce bottle of gas. That sure is an itty bitty tank…. The KLX250 did great on these roads, and as long as I kept off the throttle he didn't having any trouble keeping up.


The first section of the State Line Road is miles and miles of narrow double track. There are no views, but the riding is fun and we cruised at about 30 mph. We kept the speed down on the entire ride because of gas concerns, and the worry that the next turn might reveal yet another moose.


Time for a break. As we approached NF-50, the main paved road over the mountain, we encountered a clear cut. The road became very dusty from the dozers and logging trucks. We remained on the western, back side of the ridge.


The road just keeps going and going.


My gps doesn’t always agree with the National Forest Service map. It’s a good thing the sun wasn’t out – I didn’t sunscreen the top of my head.


Yahoo! – the first great view of the ride! Just past Ward Peak, the highest point on our ride, we came upon a perfect camping spot overlooking Clear Lake, a glacial tarn. This was also our first good look at Montana.


Break time. We found that by standing “just so” on the edge of the drop-off, we could get a cell signal, so Ryan and I both phoned home to let our families know we were still breathing. If we walked 20 feet back the signal vanished. So we had to stand on the edge, with a stiff cold wind “blowing right up our nostrils” as Ryan commented. Back by the road you couldn’t feel the gale blowing up the cliff face. I still think it would be a frigid camping spot on anything other than a balmy summer night.


The next view point, an unnamed 6000 foot knoll between Wishard and Crittendon Peaks. This shot looks back down the steep, rocky double track toward where Ryan waits. He was concerned about gas by this time and wanted to minimize side excursions.


Looking west toward the St Joe River and Washington.


My bike stands lonely on the mountain bald.


Looking toward Montana. Two hawks were circling something – probably a dead motorcyclist.


Sure hope my sidestand doesn’t snap off….


Looking toward Montana. The full sized panorama can be found here:
https://home.comcast.net/~storagedavies/SLR-026-Pan.jpg


Looking toward Idaho. The full sized panorama can be found here:
https://home.comcast.net/~storagedavies/SLR-027-Pan.jpg

Meanwhile, Ryan was sitting on a rock knob lower down waiting on me to report back.


Which I did. I told him he has GOT to ride up there. If he runs out of gas I will give him mine. So back up we both went.


More sunburn….


A few miles further west we encountered the Third Great Viewpoint, Dominion Peak. This was an old fire lookout site, and we could see some old foundations, and a pole marking the site…


as well as a memorial to an old fire spotter.


The full sized panorama can be found here:
https://home.comcast.net/~storagedavies/SLR-033-Pan.jpg

After 50 miles of cruising the ridge tops we came to the end of the State Line Road. These 10 last miles are more heavily travelled, and we began to see ATVs and a few dual sport bikes. The huckleberries were ripe, and I expect many of those riders were harvesting them. I hope they had Bear Spray…. These roads get very little maintenance, and the heavy ATV traffic has made them rutted and nasty, with lots of loose fist-sized rocks ready to catch you unaware. Compared to the first part of the ride, we had to concentrate much harder on riding a clean line.

At Roland Summit we had a choice: drop down the east side about 2 miles to East Portal, the eastern entrance to the 1.7 mile Taft Tunnel, or continue down toward Avery. Since Ryan’s bike was running on fumes by now, we chose to skip East Portal. Maybe next time…

Four miles down a graded gravel road we came to the Roland Trailhead. This is the western mouth of the Taft Tunnel, and also the Route of the Hiawatha bicycle trail. At this point the trail follows public roads, so we were able to ride close to the tunnel entrance.


The Route of the Hiawatha is a Really Big Deal for Avery. It attracts bike riders from all over the northwest, who come to ride the 14 mile gentle grade down the mountain, through long black dripping tunnels and over soaring trestles. I did this ride a few summers ago with my family. It is worth doing once, but because of the trail and shuttle bus fees, it makes for a very expensive bike ride. Two adults and two kids can expect to pay $54. Ouch. By riding all the way back up you can save a bunch, but that is best left to serious mountain bikers with legs like oak trees.


The bike trail descends toward Avery. It never gets over 3 or 4%.






The marker shows the mileage from Chicago, the eastern end of the Route of the Hiawatha. This spot was a watering stop for the steam engines, after the long hard climb up from Taft near present day I-90. For more history click here:
http://www.skilookout.com/hiaw/history.html


A group of “casual” cyclists head into the Taft Tunnel. Lights are required, since the darkness deep in the 1.7 mile curved tunnel is total. It’s also cold and wet, which makes dressing for a blistering Idaho summer day a challenge. Fortunately for these riders it was cool outside as well as in the tunnels.


Ryan stands inside the huge gates. I’m not sure what they were used for – probably to keep the drifting snow from plugging the entrance.


Looking back to daylight from a few hundred feet inside the tunnel.


The display at the little waterfall outside the tunnel entrance.


Pit stop near Cliff Creek Campground. We found a garrulous retiree with a camper and ATV, and lots of gas cans. He graciously gave us each a splash of regular so we could be sure to make it back to civilization.


Heading on down toward Avery, the main road veers away from the old rail bed, then rejoins it below Pearson Trailhead. From there on, we followed the old trains through many tunnels like this one. Downhill traffic is “supposed” to stop and sound a warning before proceeding. Uphill traffic does not have to stop. Each time we stopped and listened for engine sounds, then tooted our feeble little dual sport horns and hauled ass through the tunnel. Those dirt bike exhausts sound great in there! SEVEN more tunnels remained to be passed through. They are great fun, and the highlight of the trip.


Looking down on the one trestle we will cross later in our descent. Ryan is feeling better – his tank was pretty near empty. At least he could theoretically have coasted all the way into town, but I’m not so sure about transetting the tunnels with the engine off ;(


Looking down on the North Fork of the St Joe. That is the old road, which was the only way up the mountain before they built a new road over the rail bed. The new road says “25 mph”. We slowed down to that for the turns, and stopped for the tunnels, but the straights begged for 50.


Another Big Hole.


Close-up.


A pretty seep next to the tunnel entrance.


Looking out.


Ryan heads back to his bike, past mine.


Ryan crosses the trestle shown in a previous pic. It would have been more fun with rails and widely spaced ties… and no guard rails.


It’s a long way down to the North Fork.


Ryan parked in the center of the span, looking up from a side road. I dumped my bike here, turning around on the loose gravel slope. Like an idiot, I let the front end slide out and the bike just went over. Durned tall dirt bikes! Fortunately Ryan didn’t see it happen.


We didn’t need to stop in Avery for gas, thanks to the kind soul who gave us some 87 octane. Here Ryan rounds a curve on the main road as we work our way back to camp.. We took it really easy because of the low octane fuel.


Ryan checks out a prime fishing spot next to the road.


Hidden in the trees is a cool old cabin, accessible only via the steel cable that hangs across the river. In Spring the river rages, and white water rafters come here for thrills.


Back at camp. The bikes are hardly dirty. The 109 mile ride took nearly 8 hours because of our many stops. We were pretty tired, and ready for food. The next morning Ryan headed home, and I stayed to explore a bit more.


The old train station in Avery. I bought three chocolate chip cookies, fresh out of the oven, at a little stand here.


The dining car.


The galley. I wonder how many cooks got burned while trying to work around all this hot iron?


Downtown Avery. The old Haul Road goes up past the store and crosses the river just out of sight to the left.


The Big Burn was a Very Bad Thing for the area. It remains the largest forest fire in American history.


Cool map of the region.



The lower end of the old road up the North Fork. At this point it is gated, and accessible only to ATVs and motorcycles. Next time!


The old road half way up, near North Fork Campground. This is a great spot to camp, but it will be closed for the 2007 season for renovation.


Looking up at the trestle we rode across the day before.


What a great sign! A narrow trail that is open to hikers AND motorcyclists.


Unfortunately you would need a trials bike to navigate it! It is lots steeper than it looks, with rock ledges.

Ryan and I plan to come back next summer with bigger fuel tanks to explore more of this historic area. We also will repeat the State Line Loop Ride, and plan to invite others to join us. Next year we will give plenty of warning so perhaps we can share the experience.

The GPS DATA (tracks and waypoints):

Garmin format: http://www.spokanister.net/GPS_Data/..._Road_Loop.gdb

Universal format:
http://www.spokanister.net/GPS_Data/..._Road_Loop.gpx

If you have Google Earth, set the terrain exageration to "2" and check out the scenery using the above "gpx file. It's incredible.

John Davies
Spokane WA

EDIT 02/01/07: My home page has moved to here:
http://www.spokanister.net/
I've left the pics at the old site to keep this thread alive, but all the data and any new stuff is now at my new bigger site. You would be redirected from the old to new site anyway, but I thought I should also post this info here. Thanks. JD

[XPatriot]

Great report, enjoyed it!

[Lobby]

Wow. You really busted it for us on this report. Thank you.

What a beautiful area. I hope to go there some day.

[Gadget Boy]

That's some ride and great pics!

[EMrider]

Very interesting report. Thanks!

[frijole]

Great report!!!

[Jeff620RXC]

Awesome! Beautiful area!

[Ginsu4u]

This was a great ride. The only trouble was the gas. I cant believe Kawasaki didn’t put a larger tank on a dual sport. 1.9 gallons is ok for a small town but no where near sufficient for forest roads and trail riding. If I’m lucky (and going a reasonable speed) I get 100 miles to the tank. I knew we were going to see moose. We had come across them before and I had done some research on the net about them. Now I was worried, turns out they aren’t very nice (or smart) and would just as soon stomp on you than walk away. The ones you need to worry about are the Mothers. Of course the only moose we come across is a Mother and two babies. We both are aware of how they act and decide to wait awhile. We agreed leaving our helmets on would be a good idea. After about five minutes and no sign of her leaving I decide to sneak in for a picture. http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n116/Ginsu4u/IMG_0718.jpg. John was backing me up with a Glock and a BIG can of Bear spray. She finally got bored messing with us and moved up the hill (the way we were going) and disappeared. It was a slow ride for about a half mile. I was expecting to get jumped by a large pissed off moose but all was well and we continued on. Our first great view into Montana was also the first sign of cell phone reception. We had a great signal as long as we stood right on the edge of the cliff but move a few feet and it was gone. The wind coming up the cliff was hellacious. It blew up my nose so hard I sounded like an old telephone operator while I was talking with my wife. John marked this on his GPS as a good camp site. Next year I will camp there and hike down to the nice little lake at the bottom. There was a steep trail leading down but it looked well used. The hike down will be no problem but getting back up is gonna hurt. Looked like a perfect fishing lake. Too many restrictions on the St. Joe to make it a good fishing river. Great fish in the St. Joe but you cant do anything with them, (barbless hooks, no live bait, catch and release) what’s the fun in that. I was starting to get nervous about fuel at this point and was limiting my exploring to the planned ride. John had a little more fuel than me so he was still wanting to check out the lookouts and small roads off the main track. He found a real nice lookout and I stayed behind to sit on the cliff and photograph my boots. Soon enough John came back down and said, "you have to go up there, if you run out of gas I will give you some of mine". I was a little worried about my hill climbing skills but he was sure I would make it and gave me some pointers that I TRIED to follow. I’m glad I went up, it was a spectacular view. Getting down was another story. I need some practice standing up while going down steep inclines. I sat down at the wrong time and got stopped in the middle of the trail with John right behind me. Sorry. Running on vapors now we headed toward Avery. At a small rest stop for the bikers we say an old guy with several gas cans that were just calling my name. When we went over to his campsite he says. "I new you guys was gonna come over and ask for some gas". He gave us enough each to easily make it back to camp. He was very nice and we stayed and talked for awhile while I layed in the dirt and rested my sore back. Turned out he had worked for years just a few blocks down the street from my house in the small town of Medical Lake. Small world. Taft tunnel was cool. The giant doors made me feel like we were going to rescue Fay Wray on the other side. I was expecting to explore the Taft tunnel but the eight more tunnels on the way to Avery were a surprise. A most beautiful ride down to camp thru those tunnels. Our bikes sounded REALLY good in those tunnels. I was a little worried about things falling from the ceiling but all was well and they looked well taken care of. I hope that next year we can entice some extra riders into joining us. We will camp longer next year and hopefully break up the rides into smaller less punishing loops. Usually I don’t get too sore from riding but I felt this one. One thing that helped was a pair of Lycra/Spandex bike shorts with a large Maxi-pad sewn in. Very uncomfortable at first but I wouldn’t ride without them now, what a difference. We logged in 117 miles on my odometer. What a fun ride. Shooting the day before the ride was great also. Blowing stuff up is a lot of fun. John was a very safe person to shoot with and we diligently cleaned up our mess when we were done. All in all a great camping trip. Thanks to John for the company, the GPS tracks and all the planning that went into that, and most of all for putting up with me.

Ryan.

[Hammer]

One more for my list of "to-dos"
North ID and W MT are great DS country. Gotta go see it!
Thanks for the report, John!
Maybe I need to bring my GasGas for the trials section! I love those hiker trails with an open sign for a M/C. I think the Forest Circus doesn't think anyone can ride 'em! HA!

[scottr]

I am blown away.

This has got to be the perfect ride.

What a fantastic report!

There will be more folks out there next time you go.

Thanks.

[thetourist]

Glad to see you made that ride. In the 60's I drove that road to Ward Peak once a week. It is my third favorite road in the St Joe.
Fishook Cr. Road was the main haul road from the Roundtop Mt area. Would you like to meet a loaded log truck in that tunnel? As kids do we climbed the cliff over the tunnel and threw rocks into the creek. I often saw logs or trucks splattered on these roads.

Anyone into bicycles should run the Hiawatha Trail. BIG trestles and really black tunnels. Very rugged country that most people don't see.

The St Joe is an Idaho jewel for big trailies.

[John E Davies]

Originally Posted by thetourist

Glad to see you made that ride. In the 60's I drove that road to Ward Peak once a week. It is my third favorite road in the St Joe.
Fishook Cr. Road was the main haul road from the Roundtop Mt area. Would you like to meet a loaded log truck in that tunnel? As kids do we climbed the cliff over the tunnel and threw rocks into the creek. I often saw logs or trucks splattered on these roads.

Anyone into bicycles should run the Hiawatha Trail. BIG trestles and really black tunnels. Very rugged country that most people don't see.

The St Joe is an Idaho jewel for big trailies.

Thanks once more for supplying me with all that valuable insider knowledge that helped me plan the ride. There are SO many tantalizing side routes off the main loop we did, that it will take many weekends to fully ride just the immediate area around the St Joe.

It is drop-dead gorgeous country. The only negative part is the lack of gas stations and the extreme dust on some of the heavily travelled low-altitude dirt roads, like the one over Moon Pass. If you can carry lots of fuel, and stick to the side roads and ridge tops, the ride is an extremely satisfying one. However, it is NOT a hard core ride. Even a newbie on a stock dual sport can do it easily, assuming he can carry enough fuel.

I sure am hoping to spark some interest for another State Line Loop ride for the end of next Summer. It will have to be in August, when the snow is all gone high up.

John Davies
Spokane WA

[WoodButcher]

Nice trip report, very well done. Thanks for taking the time to post it. Plus it looked like a lot of fun.

[jakewojo]

Thanks for taking the time to make this ride report. The woods up there look beautiful! Seems like perfect rider country if you have enough gas!

[Bob]

Nice trip report! I have done the Hiawatha a few times on the MTBike. Yeah its alot of money, but we have always done an out and back and not the shuttle. I heard they were going to extend it all the way to ST Regis?
Thanks for the pictures and route.