Lithium mountain bike trail on teton pass.

Lithium mountain bike down hill trail off Teton Pass.  Definitely not for beginners!  You can't ride up the trail so a car shuttle is required.   

The first 1 and a half miles is the same as the start of Black Canyon.

Sign warns you it is for downhill only.

Nice view before you drop off the mountain.

The ride you have to take is extremely dangerous.  Pictures do not do it justice.  Lots of loose rock, big tree root drops.  Steep drop on either side of the trail should you wreck.  We did a lot of walking our bike down.

Even when I could ride down it wasn't easy.  Steep, steep, steep.

Once you hit the trees it is really cool.  They have tons of features built into the trail.  All features have a good trail going around them if you aren't up for gap jumps and 10 ft drops.  I am not but still enjoyed the bottom part.  It would be really cool to be there with people that have actual downhill mountain bikes and watch them ride. As it stands, I won't be back unless there are people to watch.  Trail is way above my skill level.  Due mainly to the steep top section that goes down a knife ridge.

Mosquito Creek mountain bike trail

Mosquito Creek mtn bike trail.  Nice trail through some of the burn area from the Green knoll fire.  Making for some nice views.  Long uphill close to 4 miles up a forest service road.  Then it cuts over for a mile then an extremely fast 3 miles back down to the truck.  Gps or someway to track your mileage is needed to find the cutoff for the downhill section since there is no trail.

Views from a meadow before you drop downhill.

Views of the burn area as you ride back to the trailhead.

Small creek crossing.

Overall an OK trail.  The uphill is really long.  The downhill has some ruts mixed with single track making it a little tricky to maneuver.  There are also some rock on the trail but nothing too bad, just need to be aware because the downhill goes fast.

Black Canyon Mountain biking trail on Teton Pass.

Black Canyon trail off of Teton pass.  Very nice mountain bike trail.  Has a good 2 mile climb at the start, requires some walking for me.  Followed by an excellent 4 mile downhill.

If you are tough and have time, you can park at the trail creek trailhead and ride up the paved bike trail to the top of the pass then take the Black Canyon trail back to your car.  I am neither so we shuttled a car to the trail creek trail head then drove back to the top of the pass to start.  Trail tooks us close to an hour 45 minutes.

Some views from the top by MT Elly looking down into Black Canyon.

Goes through a small aspen stand with lush vegetation.

Halfway down from the top before you enter the trees.

This is a look at the climb you start out with from the pass. 

 More shots looking out over Black Canyon.

Shot for Mt Elly.

More from the top.

Trail is very fun but does have some hazards.  Mainly tight turns a few creek crossing and some rocky sections.  We have encountered a girl who broke her collar bone after going over her handle bars.  I have hit a bump causing me to go over mine smashing my helmet and flattening my tire.  So be prepared.  But well worth it.

Cache to Game Creek Mountain biking

Cache Creek to Game Creek MTN biking about 10 miles one way.

Super nice trail starting in Jackson.  Parking lot trailhead is crowded with lots of users but after the first 3 miles we didn't see anyone until the last mile.  Due to our time constraints we had a shuttle car parked at the end of Game Creek.  It would be a easy 7-8 mile ride back to the Cache TH along the paved bike path if you have time.  As is was it only took us 1 and 1/2 hors to do the 10 miles.  The first 3 miles goes up an old forest service road.  At the turn off for Game Creek it gets steep and required us walking .25 miles to get to the top of the Cache/Game divide.  From there it is an awesome 6 mile downhill ride.  There aren't any root drops or rocky sections.  Just nice mostly smooth sinle track that goes pretty fast.  A highly recommended trail.  The wildflowers in the summer will make an added treat. 

You see this peak as you o up the Cache road.  Picture is taken from the Cache/Game divide.

Fall colors from the top of the divide.

Headed down Game Creek.

Looking back towards the top of the divide.

More shots after you drop down from the divide.

Nice beaver pond.

Single track goes right by it.

Ends getting down to sagebrush.  We did see a large Moose around the beaver pond, too far away for a phone pic.  Rumors of wolves in the area as well.

Moose-Wilson Road Beavers

Sunday evening drive along the moose-wilson road in GTNP provide some nice entertainment.  We got to watch about 5 beavers working on a dam next to the road.  One beaver would cross the road to get to some aspens, take one down and carry it back across the road.

Yellowstone May 20-22

  We had an uneventful Friday.  Saturday started off the same way with a steady drizzle throughout most of the northern park.

A rare moose by the Petrified tree turnout.

The local bird the nests in the sign at tower junction.

  When we came across the bridge over the Yellowstone river we knew we had found something due to the number of cars parked. 

There were a couple of Marmots below the bridge.  Probably watching all the people wondering what was going on.

There was a black bear sleeping in some trees on one side of the river.  Only a part of him was visible though. 

The other side had a cinnamon bear taking a nap on a carcass he had been feeding on. 

There was also a black bear on the hill above Floating island. 

The highlight was yet to come. 

Rounding a corner on our way back toward Mammoth the truck in front of us was at a stop.  Moments later the passenger got out with camera in hand.  As we got closer Mare spotted the bear on the side.  I let her out and parked a little down the road.  A black bear was coming around the hillside towards the road.

  He continued to put on a show even as the cars started to back up.  He rounded the hill walked along the slope for awhile before he eventually headed down and across the road. 

He was around for probably 15 minutes.

Opening Weekend Yellowstone

OK so technically Yellowstone is open year round.  But the 15th was the first day the West entrance opened, which is the way I have to go so it was opening weekend for me : )  We stayed at Mammoth campground.  Had our pick of sites.  It was full of the usual suspects.  Lots of elk and bison walking around.

We didn't come across any bears or wolves but did run into this nice group of Bighorn sheep.

For some reason this one was whiter than the rest.

Contrast brought out his tracks in the snow.

Curled up on a mountain side.

Marshmellows! Yeah!

Saw this guy at Phatom Lake.

Nice to be able to camp once again in Yellowstone!