Idaho Spring Bear

[Coach Potter]

Just got home from our first trip. We knew we were early so we didn’t do the “big one” for our first trip. We did 4 nights and 5 days…wishing we would have done the full meal deal on this one. We got lucky and T-boned the emergence of some really big boars. We didn’t end coming out with one. We had a missed shot, another shot we had to pass for fear of not being able to retrieve it across a swollen creek, and a third bear that gave us the slip. It was an epic trip and I’ll be back in there early May. We put on 30 miles in the 5 days…I have no idea how much vertical we covered but it was a lot. These are a few pics….

 

[Coach Potter]

 

[Coach Potter]

 

[Coach Potter]

 

[Coach Potter]

 

[Coach Potter]

That country is incredibly vertical…it’s humbling…but it might be the most spectacular place I’ve ever seen.

 

[troutstalker]

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Sounds and looks like a great trip! What an awesome picture of that Spruce Grouse strutting and doing his thing!

 

[Coach Potter]

Sounds and looks like a great trip! What an awesome picture of that Spruce Grouse strutting and doing his thing!

He let me put a GoPro right in his face…it’s really cool footage of him drumming.

 

[troutstalker]

He let me put a GoPro right in his face…it’s really cool footage of him drumming.

That is really cool. What an opportunity!

 

[SpeyrodGB]

That is some seriously steep country. Nice pics.

 

[Bob Rankin]

Very cool, great photos!

 

[Roper]

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Nice pic of the grouse!

 

[Coach Potter]

That is some seriously steep country. Nice pics.

It is so steep! I had a real psychological battle with it my first couple of trips. I spent a lot of time working on stability over the fall and winter. I'm no spring chicken so it took me a while to get prepared. My preparation this year made the trip incredibly enjoyable.

Last night I tallied up the vertical gain based on my OnX tracks and we were over 10,000' in the 5 days.

 

[SpeyrodGB]

It is so steep! I had a real psychological battle with it my first couple of trips. I spent a lot of time working on stability over the fall and winter. I'm no spring chicken so it took me a while to get prepared. My preparation this year made the trip incredibly enjoyable.

Last night I tallied up the vertical gain based on my OnX tracks and we were over 10,000' in the 5 days.

That is some serious elevation. Makes my knees hurt just reading that.

 

[Coach Potter]

That is some serious elevation. Makes my knees hurt just reading that.

The descents are hard on my knees. I lean on my trekkers pretty hard coming down.

 

[Richard Olmstead]

Nice photos. Thanks. Beautiful country and a time of year that most of us don’t experience it.

 

[Coach Potter]

Nice photos. Thanks. Beautiful country and a time of year that most of us don’t experience it.

Spring is becoming my favorite time to be in the back country...right now it's 1a-fall and 1b spring . Fall colors are amazing but spring colors are amazing in their own right. I also see more wildlife in spring than I do fall.