3-Site Ride on HWY 21 (29APR2026)

I rode up HWY 21 this morning, planning to get three challenge sites:
1. Site 25 - Boise WMA Archery Range (2)
2. Site 26 - Sacred Mountain Monastery (2)
3. Site 28 - Sunset Mountain Lookout (3)

I got one.

1. The ride started as most do, a little later than planned, but within the five-minute rule. Gas at Cole & Victory, then on the Interstate to HWY 21. The GS was running well – especially since I haven’t ridden it in several years. It was odd being back on the big bike, but as the miles rolled along, I got more comfortable.

When I made the left turn onto Highland Valley Road toward the archery range. It was posted closed until April 30, but the gate was open. So, I headed up to the Archery Range – where there were about 30 people milling around in the parking lot.

One haggard Forest Service employee walked up and asked if I was there to help clean up the archery range. I explained that I was just there to take a picture with the Archery sign for the IAMC Challenge and that I would be gone in less than five minutes.

Maybe I should have said four. He told me in no uncertain terms that I was on the road illegally and that I would have to come back on Friday, when the road was officially open, to take my site picture. Rather than argue, I said “the rules are the rules” and rode back the way I’d come; counting myself lucky that he didn’t tell me to push the bike back to the highway. I was 0-for-1 on my site count.

2. The next stop was the Monastery. After a fun, twisty pavement transition. I was really enjoying the 21-year-old GS. It’s surprisingly flickable once you get used to it again. As I approached Thorn Creek Road, I was happy to see there were no “closed” signs. Just a Dead-End sign that looks new, and I don’t remember being there before.

Thorn Creek was being graded, so the surface conditions were variable to say the least. Once I got comfortable standing on the pegs, things started to feel more normal. I got the photo and rode back the same way I came in, at a significantly faster pace. Pro Tip: There’s a porta-john on the north side of the road about two miles from the intersection with HWY 21. It’s the perfect place to dispose of the mug of tea you had in Boise before you left. Now I was 1-for-2 on the trip. Things were looking up!

3. More awesome, twisty pavement for about 27 miles brought me to NF-380, the dirt road that leads to Sunset Mountain Lookout. As I was riding up the mountain, I started noticing a fair bit of snow along the roadside and even more on the surrounding mountains. Making the right turn into the snowmobile staging area, I was greeted not by snow but by mud. Deep, brown, sticky mud. And mud puddles almost big enough to fish in. I walked over to NF-380 to see if things got better as you went up the hill. They didn’t. Oh, well.

Didn’t Meatloaf once sing, “One Out of Three Ain't Bad”?