Ryegrass Canyon Mountain Bike Ride in the Mount Bennett Hills Trip Report

This was a first-time trail ride although the doubletrack starts at the same trailhead as my Bennett Creek Trail ride that I posted about earlier in the year. The Ryegrass Canyon ride follows a not quite so flat powerline trail as it heads east along the “Bennett Mountain Front.” At the 3.75 mile point, the trail splits away from the powerline trail and heads straight north into Ryegrass Canyon.

The scenery gets a lot more interesting at that point and the trails conditions become more challenging and steep. There are plenty of opportunities to push your bike on this part of the ride. And then the trail ends abruptly in the thick bramble of the creekbed. On satellite imagery, however, it looks like the trail continues along the creekbed for quite a distance. I suspect this is nothing more than a cattle/game trail. I’ll likely check it out in the future. 

“the trail ends abruptly in the thick bramble of the creekbed.”

Interesting that I encountered two UTVs on this trip but I suspect the vehicle traffic in Ryegrass Canyon is significantly less than others trails along the “Front.” Also on this particular day, the flies and nats were quite bothersome.

Pros: A fun ride once you get into the canyon. Close to home. Scenery.
Cons: Short distance ride but I can explore other spurs along the main trails. Cattle and the poop.

Ryegrass Canyon Ride & Trip Report Basic/Stats

• Adventure Date: October 16, 2018
• Consider Doing it Again?: Yes 
• Trailhead: 43.124933, -115.450254
• Turn-Around Point or Furthest Out Point: 43.161017, -115.404512
• 7.5 Topo Maps: “Bennett Mountain” and a sliver of “Hot Springs Creek Reservoir”
• Trail/Road #: The trail is included on the Idaho Parks and recreation map as a BLM Automobile road
• Land Ownership: Mainly BLM lands but a little State land also
• Mileage: 13 miles
• +Vertical Feet: 1,354 feet
• Avg Slope from Google Earth Vertical Profile of the GPX File: 4.2%
• Google Photo Album Link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9SC9ucFLR6YpKnxG7
• Google Earth KMZ: Bennett – Bike – Ryegrass Canyon spurs.kmz (local file only)
• GPX File Name: 20181016-124941.gpx (local file only)
• Driving Time to Trailhead: 25 minutes to a safe place to park

Discoveries While on the Trail

1. Amelanchier or Serviceberry: While on the trail, I came upon a meadow-like geographic feature that had a handful of small trees growing on it. I don’t recall ever seeing these types of trees in the backcountry so I made some inquiries. After much debate among some very knowledgeable people, we decided, the trees are really a shrub called Amelanchier or Serviceberry.

Tree Geotagged: 43.1430778,-115.3955536 on BLM managed lands

2. USGS Grazing Resumption Study Equipment: On the trail along the powerline doubletrack, I came upon some equipment that resembled automated weather observing equipment. I sent out inquiries to some USAF weather folks and the BLM in an effort to find out what the equipment is used for. The BLM or USGS responded and said that it is USGS equipment for a grazing resumption study. I’m still unsure what data the equipment gathers and will likely never know.

Geotagged: 43.133309, -115.415175 on BLM managed lands.

Now I know and so do you … 👍