In keeping with the spirit of getting in as many rides as possible, today we headed up into country we've never ridden before, Salmon Butte and Gateway Mountain. Both of these lie to the west of the headwaters of the Wilson Creek drainage. Kathy came along today so we took the "Beast".
First off, we pickup a new geocache in Wilson Creek. Now I don't know what the owner of this cache was thinking when he hid it here, but this was one steep, long climb:
Next, we turn to the west and start up the Salmon Creek drainage. There was a geocache at this site as well.
Looking back down the drainage:
And looking up the drainage:
We get to the top and turn south down this huge, long ridge. You can see the old township of Reynolds below:
Then we run into all kinds of private property, gates, etc., so we turn back into the Salmon Creek drainage and pickup the Gateway Mountain drainage.
That's the top of the south end of Gateway Mountain:
We start up the drainage in search of yet another geocache. This one hadn't be found for over 2 years!
Lastly we head back down to the Salmon Creek drainage. You can see Soldier Cap off in the distance.
I call this my "self portrait". (I have to call it something. I should have got off the quad!):
We had light rain, off-and-on throughout the ride which made everything fresh with NO dust!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)