2002 ITMA State Ride Continues 37-Year Tradition

by Adena Cook,
BRC Public Lands Consultant

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We've hauled our motor home and bike/ATV trailer on 35 miles of dirt road over two remote mountain passes to the camp location on the South Fork of the Boise River. Joining us are 300 of our nearest and dearest friends from the member clubs of the Idaho Trail Machine Association (ITMA). It's the end of July and time for the ITMA State Ride, a 5-7 day event with a 37-year history.

The Treasure Valley Trail Machine Association (TVTMA) from the Boise area is our host this year. They've spent much of the past year planning and working on the ride. The area's trails have been cleared, checked, pleasurable routes planned, and maps marked. The camping permit has been secured from the Forest Service. Activities for kids (crafts and a riding clinic) have been scheduled. T-shirts have been designed and printed. Raffle prizes, including a 2002 DRZ 250 Suzuki, have been assembled. TVTMA members have been attending to a host of other tasks.

Every State Ride culminates in a Saturday evening outdoor banquet and program. The 2002 Ride featured authentic Hawaiian pit-roasted pork. Early that morning, three large pigs were wrapped in wet newspaper and buried in a huge pit lined with hot basalt rocks. By 7:00 in the evening, they were cooked to perfection and ready to serve. The pork was incredibly tender and delicious, a real gourmet treat. This is the third time TVTMA has featured a pig roast Hawaiian style at the state ride, and they dubbed the ride "Luau III."

We're in the Smoky Mountains in the Fairfield District of the Sawtooth National Forest, with about 400-500 miles of trail open to trail motorcycles. Many of these trails were recommended for experts only, but ride organizers identified a few as suitable for beginners and intermediates. All rides offered outstanding scenic rewards.

Scott Summers, invited guest representing American Honda, remarked about the harder trails, "If you're going to ride trails in Idaho, you either need to be good or do something else."

There are a few low-standard roads in the area available for ATVs. I rode my ATV on a rugged steep mining road to aptly named Tip-Top Mine. The mine was nestled in a high cirque complete with lake, flower filled meadows, and old mining artifacts. The ride to Ross Fork Basin offered similar rewards.

Trail motorcycle and ATV riders guided themselves, assisted by careful descriptions and hand marked maps. Everyone seemed to enjoy this arrangement. Riding groups were not large and were well dispersed over the trail system.

Marty Morache, retired fish and game biologist, naturalist, and historian, led two dual-purpose motorcycle rides. The Boise River loop took riders down the river to Featherville, Rocky Bar, and to historic Atlanta and down to the Middle Fork of the Boise River. It looped to the Trinity Ridge Road to Trinity lakes, across to Pine and back to Featherville, and back to camp—a distance of 165 miles filled with passes, peaks, rivers, and scenery. The Wood River/South Boise loop traveled another direction, encompassing Dollarhide Summit, Ketchum, and Hailey—a distance of 132 miles.

The Idaho Trail Machine Association was founded in the mid-1960s. The first State Ride, hosted by the Magic Valley Trail Machine Association (MVTMA) from Twin Falls, was held at Grand Prize Gulch in the Boulder White Clouds in 1965. At that time, the Yamaha Step-thru 80 was the hot bike. A Honda fore-runner to the Trail 90 was also popular as were Tote Gotes made by the Bonham Corp. from Ogden, Utah.

My family and I attended our first state ride in 1975, sponsored by the Pocatello Trail Machine Association (PTMA). It was held in Sawmill Canyon in the Lemhi Mountains at the headwaters of the Little Lost River. Our children were small. Our oldest son, Jeff Cook, Jr., was just learning to ride. Today, he is a trails program administrator for the State of Idaho. Many children have grown up going to state rides. Today, they bring their own families.

The purpose of the rides was the same back then as it is today: fellowship among the member clubs, family oriented trail riding and camping, a chance to ride and camp in different parts of Idaho, and most importantly, to foster good relations with land managers. Back then, this was a novel idea. After all, there were no Executive Orders, no travel plans, no permits or restrictions for camping, and few restrictions on trails. Land managers were busy working with grazers and timber harvesters.

Yet ITMA leaders realized the importance of educating land managers about the sport. They knew that the agency should take responsibility for inventorying and maintaining trails. Just to ride, trails needed to be logged out every spring, and the clubs realized they should be getting credit for this volunteer work.

The ITMA State Ride demonstrated to land managers that trail motorcycling represented healthy family fun, and a large gathering could leave the camping and riding area better than they found it. Many forest supervisors have, over the years, attended the Saturday evening festivities, and "come back anytime," became land managers? familiar remark after a state ride.

ITMA currently has five member clubs: Treasure Valley Trail Machine Association (TVTMA) from Boise, Pocatello Trail Machine Association (PTMA) in Pocatello, Magic Valley Trail Machine Association (MVTMA) from Twin Falls, High Mountain Trail Machine Association (HMTMA) from Grangeville, and Panhandle Trail Machine Association (PANTRA) from Coeur d'Alene. To attend a state ride, one must belong to one of the clubs. All the clubs welcome new members.

Clubs take turns hosting the rides. In 2001, HMTMA hosted the ride, located at Cold Springs on the North Fork of the Clearwater River. The trip was 500 miles from eastern Idaho, and the last 50 miles was on a winding dirt road. We who made the effort were richly rewarded by unique and beautiful scenery, a sparkling river full of fish, and hundreds of miles of trail as well as the usual state ride hospitality. Without State Ride, we'd have never visited this remote part of Idaho.

MVTMA, one of the oldest clubs in the state and a pioneer of the state ride tradition, is already planning the 2003 State Ride. It is slated to be held in the Bull Trout Lake area of the Boise and Challis National Forest; an easily accessed location off Highway 21 between Lowman and Stanley. ITMA member clubs can expect a well-organized event, hospitality, magnificent scenery, and once again, hundreds of miles of trail in another part of Idaho.

To see a map of the Sawtooth National Forest, go to http://www.sharetrails.org/index.cfm?page=42&;story=97.

—Adena Cook is a public lands consultant for the BlueRibbon Coalition. For questions or comments on this article, she may be contacted at: BlueRibbon Coalition, 4555 Burley Drive, Suite A, Pocatello, ID, 83202. Phone: 208-237 1008, Fax: 208-237-9424. Email: <bradena@sharetrails.org>.

BlueRibbon Magazine, November 2002