BackBone Buffet Update v.2 - New Single Track

I won't cry for the past

For I've re-found my freedom at last

I won't shy from the strife

What doesn't kill me will fill me with life. 

Moving On, Rod Argent (2015).

Heading up Hell Canyon in search of another abandoned road connector for the BackBone Buffet.

As much as I love my various BackBone routes, I'm always looking to improve them.

Earlier this month, I announced a change to the BackBone Buffet route that replaced some relatively conventional miles with an abandoned road that connects to a rough Low Standard Road that climbs abruptly to a lookout tower. I consider it a major character add, both for the route and the rider. See, BackBone Buffet - It Gets Better.

Scouting that day led me to explore other roads in that area around Jewell Cave National Monument, which is southwest of Rapid City almost to Wyoming. I seem to find something new and fun every time I get back in those remote canyons and hills, many of which are still recovering from the 2000 Jasper fire that burned over 83,000 acres. See, e.g., Red Bird Canyon.

Original BackBone Buffet section from Hell Canyon Trail (green icon) to Bear Spring Creek.
About 3.5 miles of paved U.S. Highway 16 and 3.5 miles of USFS Low Standard Road 681.

Same route as directly above, but shown in Google Terrain view.

One road I love to ride in that area is USFS Low Standard Road 681, which meanders off U.S. Highway 16 before turning onto USFS Low Standard Road 284.2L to enter a small canyon along Bear Spring Creek. To access those USFS roads, the BackBone Buffet follows U.S. 16 near Hell Canyon Trailhead for about 3.5 paved miles (see map above).

Of course, I wondered if I could find a more fun way to enter that small canyon without riding those 3.5 miles of pavement and then 3.5 miles of USFS developed road. Unfortunately, my maps show no such road, perhaps due to the rugged terrain and limited timber. I don't know. Maybe there's a way. I sure would like to avoid that pavement. 

Time for another road trip.

Possible 4.3 mile single track cut-through from Hell Canyon Trailhead to Bear Spring Creek.

Same route as directly above, but shown in Google Terrain view.

At the Hell Canyon Trailhead, I saw signs noting non-motorized use on the marked trail loop. However, that day featured wind driven rain at 37 degrees, so I chose not to ride or hike up the muddy single track. Save it for another day.

Back home, I found the Hell Canyon Trail from satellite images on RideWithGPS. Almost a mile from the Trailhead, the popular hiking trail angles northwest while a small canyon opens eastward. It looks like some kind of trail may wind along the bottom of that easterly canyon. The apparent trail appears and disappears on the satellite images, likely due to vegetation cover, but looks that it may eventually connect with USFS 681 after about 3.5 more miles. Maybe.

USFS hard copy maps show hints of an abandoned road from USFS 681 into that canyon, but do not clearly show it connecting through to Hell Canyon Trail. But it sure looks possible.

So, I created a RideWithGPS map for that trail/abandoned road to show what it would look like, if a trail indeed flows along the bottom of that canyon (see map above). If passable and rideable, it would link U.S. 16 at the Hell Canyon Trailhead to USFS 681 via 4.3 miles/529' gain of single track/abandoned road. It would also eliminate 7.5 miles/1,100' gain of pavement/more developed road.

This trail may be hard to follow when the ground cover turns green.

As soon as the final spring snows had a reasonable chance of clearing, I hustled back to Hell Canyon Trailhead. Several hikers there enthusiastically described the popular loop trail that climbs up and out of Hell Canyon, but none knew anything about a little trail snaking east into a side canyon.

Now thoroughly intrigued, I started up the main trail as one would hike the popular loop counter-clockwise. Less than a mile later, I spot a break in the surrounding hills and the looks of a small canyon to the east. A hint of single track veers off toward the unknown, right past bold signs emphatically directing one to continue northwest on the main trail. This must be it.

One of the final rock walls on the north side, as the south side mellows.

Yes. This is it. After a short stretch through a meadow, the trail winds atop the surface of what appears to be a long since abandoned "road" of some sort. The old road bed is discernible, here and there, but mostly has weathered back into the hillside. Birch trees of all sizes fill the gaps. Only the makings of a rarely traveled trail remain. 

The trail climbs gradually and steadily, as the canyon walls close in. Tree downfall occasionally blocks the way, but I find hiked-in work arounds, sometimes chainsawed cut-throughs, and other times neither. None are difficult to overcome.

The trail twists and turns with the floor of the canyon, crossing dry drainages that must have carried significant water at some time. Around every corner, an ever changing kaleidoscope of rock walls burst from the earth and reach for the sky. My spirit lifts, with each passing moment.

I've found yet another hidden jewel in the treasure trove of the Black Hills.

USFS Low Standard Road 284.2L, at the end of the unmarked, unnumbered little trail.
More small canyons lie ahead along Bear Spring Creek.

About 3.5 miles from the main trail and 4.5 miles from the Trailhead, the little sketch trail runs smack into the intersection of USFS Low Standard Road 681 and USFS Low Standard Road 284.2L That's on the original BackBone Buffet route, right where I hoped to reconnect to enter the next small canyon. See, BackBone Buffet - RideWithGPS Map.

Single track connector complete.

Once again, the Black Hills deliver.

And the BackBone Buffet moves a bit more remote.

Moving On, The Zombies (2015).