Sun Valley Singletrack
Mountain Biking in Idaho with Western Spirit Cycling
Highlights
- Ride in Sun Valley, one of the best kept secrets in the mountain biking world
- Climbing switchbacks and descents that zoom
- Gorgeous mountain vistas on all sides
Full Description
Sun Valley truly offers some of the best riding anywhere in the planet and our 5-day singletrack will allow you to experience all that it has to offer.
Sun Valley, Idaho remains one of the best kept secrets in the mountain biking world. Smooth trails of decomposed granite and a mountain biker friendly forest service have combined to create some of the best riding we have found anywhere on the planet. We're not kidding.
The Pioneer, the Sawtooth, and the White Cloud Mountains are visible from every peak and ridge. The climbing switchbacks are all quite ridable and the descents zoom through turn after turn seemingly forever. This riding experience will bring smiles, and might even leave you speechless.
Altitudes on this trip are below 10,000 feet. We average about 20 miles per day, but we have to climb to get the views, and singletrack experience is a must. This trip is seriously fun.
Riding Surface: Singletrack on coarse granitic soil, pine duff and some clay.
Technical Difficulty: Moderate to difficult, many obstacles and tricky sections.
Physical Difficulty: Difficult, high elevations, steep climbs, long unsupported sections.
Altitude: 6,000 - 9,000 ft.
Includes:
- All meals from lunch on first day to lunch on last day
- Support vehicle
- Guides
- Campsites
Excludes:
- Rental fees
- Gratuities for your guides
- Alcoholic beverages
- Applicable sales tax
Day by Day Itinerary
Day 1
This morning we'll ride right from the bike shop to the base of the Sun Valley Ski Area. The resort has designed some trails that are pure fun and offer stunning views of Ketchum's Big Wood River Valley. We'll pick up our lift tickets so we can take the chairlift to the top of Bald Mountain where we'll enjoy the 360 degree panorama of Idaho's majestic mountains. Our first ride, the Cold Springs Trail, descends 3,000 feet, delivering us to our lunch spot with big smiles. After eating, we'll hop on the River Run chairlift again for a ride back to the summit. Then clip in and hold on for a 10 mile world class singletrack descent. The Warm Springs Trail was built a few years ago with mountain biking in mind, a beautifully laid out trail that contours around the mountain and is filled with fast corners, jumps and great views. From the bottom it's 11 miles up an easy dirt road to our camp for the night on the banks of Warm Springs Creek. Frenchman's Hot Springs is just down the road from camp so we'll be able to return to this spring for a relaxing soak. TOTAL MILEAGE - 31 miles
Day 2
Today, we'll enjoy a fantastic lollipop loop from camp, the Red Warrior Trail. We begin with a short warm-up ride on a dirt road before we enter the singletrack. Our ride takes us up Red Warrior drainage, crossing the creek uncountable times. We reach the divide between Red Warrior and Lodgepole Gulch. This saddle is a perfect place to enjoy a trailside lunch and views of the Pioneer, Smoky and Boulder Mountains. Atop the mountain, singletracks head off in all directions through lovely stands of aspen and Douglas Fir, open meadows and toward hidden drainages. We'll loop down Lodgepole Gulch, swooping through towering stands of pine, to Mahoney Creek where we'll traverse lupine filled meadows back up to the saddle. From here, Red Warrior will feel like a new trail, descending fun switchbacks, twisty sections and lots of rollers. At the end of the ride, it's a perfect time to hop in the hot springs; then we'll head back to camp. TOTAL MILEAGE - 18 miles
Day 3
From camp it is a nice six mile cruise up the Warm Springs Road to our trailhead at the South Fork of Warm Springs. Here, we enter the backcountry on a beautiful trail that climbs up through the forest to Poison Flats. From this beautiful meadow there are incredible views of the surrounding mountains. The last bit of the climb up to the flats is a fairly brutal pitch. Although it's not technical, it is aerobically demanding as the pitches are steep and long. But here's the good news: from the top, it is mostly downhill to our camp at Deer Creek. Once we begin our descent from Poison Flats, the trail becomes more technical as it follows the banks of Deer Creek. Several challenging, rocky sections gradually give way to a long, smooth section that will bring us to our support vehicle and camp. Camp is in a secluded forest area on the banks of the creek. TOTAL MILEAGE - 17 miles
Day 4
For today's ride, we'll leave from camp and head down the road to Wolftone Creek and begin a gradual ascent on an old doubletrack road before hitting the singletrack. The trail parallels the creek alternating between lush forest and wildflower meadows before climbing up onto the ridge and beginning a rolling contour to our lunch spot. From the apex of our ride, the views are awesome. To the south lies the prairie country of Southern Idaho and to the north lies the rugged backcountry of the Sawtooth and Boulder Mountains. To the east are the jagged peaks of the Pioneers and to the west are Buttercup Mountain and the high peaks of the Smoky Dome area. From lunch we follow the south side of the ridge before turning north and beginning a fantastic descent along Curran Creek. This trail winds through meadows before plunging into the forest and alongside the creek bed, and then deposits us onto the Deer Creek Trail. This is a world class descent. We'll end up back at our camp where we'll spend a second night. TOTAL MILEAGE - 18 miles
Day 5
Our last day in this mountain paradise begins with a climb up the north fork of Deer Creek to a fun switchback climb up Howard's Trail to a ridge overlooking Greenhorn Gulch. Once again the views are fantastic. The descent from the top down to the trailhead just might be the finest yet. This trail has fun, smooth singletrack, gentle grades, lots of rollers and nicely banked turns. From here, it's an easy 12 mile cruise along dirt roads and a paved bike path back into Ketchum for lunch and the journey's end. TOTAL MILEAGE - 18 miles
About The Operator:
Western Spirit Cycling
Headquarters:
Moab, Utah
Established:
January 1989
The History of Western Spirit
"Back in the day", as our oldest guides say, Western Spirit Cycling was founded by a charismatic mad bike rider named Lu Warner. It was 1989; Lu couldn't get enough of riding his bike and decided he should impart some of his joy on the masses. He acquired a Suburban, dubbed "the burb” and a couple of guides and started taking people around the White Rim. Now Lu can be found in some semi-state of retirement in Crested Butte, CO, but his vision was just the beginning.
Just for the record, yes, we still have the burb. It's retired. And those "couple of guides" are our finest Rachel & Johnny - no sign of retirement there!
Then the Mid-90s
Ashley Korenblat bought Western Spirit in 1997 and since then has spent many days riding unknown trails (with a headlamp in her backpack, just in case) creating the plethora of trips that Western Spirit now offers. Ashley is a graduate of Dartmouth and Tuck Business School, a former bike racer, former Wall Street captive and possessor of entrepreneurial spirit. She was president of Merlin during the Titanium mountain bike heyday and served as the IMBA President working to sustain trail availability to everyone. Combine all that with the desire for a Moab lifestyle and an alternative view of a fulfilling career path, and you have the perfect recipe for the owner of a cycling tour company. Enter Mark. Mark is our charming, wicked-fit, voice of reason, miraculously lured from his ski town tradition to live in the desert. Ashley and Mark got married in 1999 in Moab and now run the company together.
Well, actually Kip runs the place. Kip is Ashley and Mark's young boy and he has his own bike helmet and chariot. He is also beginning to tear it up on the dirt with his training wheels.
Our office staff is comprised of mostly gals...and Mark. Thank goodness for Mark! Mark is our bike junkie and can be seen pedaling on a daily basis. Ashley makes the best backcountry bacon you will ever have, but definitely burns off those calories towing the little Kipster around town in his trailer. Anne Clare loves riding her road bike and hiking in the mountains. Sheri and Tonya both love the water and do their best to kayak 365 days a year. Emily is pretty "green". She is the founder of a non-profit organization, Community Rebuilds that promotes affordable and eco-friendly housing.
All of us have worked outdoors and are familiar with what you will experience on a Western Spirit trip. At any given time when you call you can talk to someone who has been on any trip that interests you. That's because we love to be out there too!
Our Philosophy
In our busy world, we often don't get to be outside enough. Even if you do, there's some phenomenon that just makes you want more. Nothing like going somewhere to make you realize all the other places you still need to go! Traveling outside makes you see Mars when it's the closest to earth it'll ever be, makes you smell the fragrant lupine covering the mountain slope, makes you feel the wind, see the perfect sunset, catch an eclipse of the moon, experience the herd of elk in the alpine meadow, and start to tell time by the location of the moon in the night sky.
What's that all worth in our busy world? Well, it is our world.
On all of our tours, we strive to protect our fragile mountain and desert environments. Many of our campsites are remote and unimproved, and we seek to leave them better than we found them.
Meals
Food is one thing we take pretty seriously. Our guides are great backcountry chefs and your trip includes all meals from lunch on first day to lunch on last day.
Support Vehicle
Our customized trucks and vans carry all of your gear as well as many camper comforts! We have the coolest custom F-450's in the industry. Our guides have incredible backcountry experience, but the best part is that they are all super friendly and look forward to a week of riding with you.
Campsites
We camp primarily in pristine locations where it's quiet, dark and peaceful. The finest morning view comes with a hot cup of cowboy coffee. All shuttles are included from our meeting place to the start of your ride. At the end of the trip we shuttle back to our meeting place.
Permits
Western Spirit Cycling, Inc. operates under special use permits from the USDA Forest Service in the Boise, Coronado, Dixie, Grand Mesa, Gunnison, Kaibab, Manti La Sal (Moab and Monticello Ranger Districts), San Juan, Sawtooth, Sierra Vista, Uncompahgre, Challis, Clearwater, Beaverhead-Deerlodge, Caribou-Targhee, Black Hills, Mount Hood, Umpqua, Nantahala, White Mountain, Monongahela, and Pisgah National Forests and by Dakota Prairie Grasslands. As well as under permits issued by the Bureau of Land Management in the San Juan Resource Area; Henry Mountain Field Station; Moab, Arizona Strip and Grand Junction Field Offices; Grand Staircase National Monument; and by Bryce, Zion, Capitol Reef, Grand Canyon, Crater Lake and Blue Ridge Parkway National Parks. Western Spirit is a concessionaire in Canyonlands National Park.