Shredding it North Part 2

DAY 3.

WOW! Couldn't have asked for a better sleep. Its late in the morning at 9:30 when Guff gives me the oi,oi,oi ! Rise and shine. We make our way out for the day. Today we visit one of the first shops for the trip. We clean up and head for the shops. Breaky of champions this morning, full health kick. Wheatgrass shot with a carrot, mango, ginger and apple smoothie. Buy mondo amounts of grilling goods for the groms.

Hit up the skatepark just down from the shop. South Jordan is on our itinerary and none of us know what it’s like. One thing we can assume is, if Pat has labelled it as part of the trip, you can guarantee that it’s got a nice bowl where we can jam some nice lines! We were right on our assumptions. It’s a rad little park done right. Neat and clean. It’s got a great bowl on one end, with three sections. A10ft, 8ft, 6ft peanut style and beside that was a cool little street section with flat banks, rails and step ups. We jam here and get some goods for an hour before we bounce to the shop.

Salty Peaks is just one of the local shops supplying the groms here with all they're skate gear but it’s the only one stocking LY products. They had a great range of gear, and the ceiling was full of old school stuff pre 80's! Great museum. The crew was around 40 people and they were out the front lurkin in the carpark waiting for our arrival. It was great to see all the smiles and pure stoke on some of the kids’ faces when we rolled up! Now this is what I love about doing this stuff!!

  We rally and have a grill out the back and throw down some comps of different prizes. It seems that these kids like to hippy jump and slide, so that was the order of the afternoon. After a feed and a winner in the hippy and high jumps, the masses are getting rowdy and want to start doing slides in the carpark?

 I suggested we go to a local hill. Straight up, they threw out all the rad spots and we were on the way to a killer session up in the foothills! Spent the next few hours jamming and offering advice to the younger crew who weren't quite at that standard. Got the posters out and gave the groms some autographs for their walls and stoke collections. Just in time too as it started to rain. It’s epic to see that so many different styles and levels came out to hang with us. From what I heard, a lot of them traveled some distance just to be there! Epic! Thanks Salt Lake City!

The van decided that it was best to bail Salt Lake and head North to twin peaks. As it was we'd be driving for the next 3 hours and getting there around dark. On the way we fill up gas, literally in the middle of nowhere, at a gas station, lurked a Donkey and an Alpaca out the front. Random! Just out from twin Peaks was the Hanson Bridge where it crossed the Snake River. There’s a rad story behind this place. In brief, a mondo flood from back in the day, 400ft tall wall of water rushed down here as a dam wall failed at Lake Bonneville, and emptied to the sea. Get on the net to check out more on this one!!   

Rolled into town just as it was getting dark and pulled straight into the local park. The boys waste no time. All are out jamming lines and mixing it with the local crew. Its soooo flowy. You can just roll round this thing for days! The pavements perfect. It’s got a small little roll in bowl at one end, a flat bank section in the middle and a 6ft section with coping in the other end! Had a chat to a few of the loc's on where to eat and we bounced in search for food. It was to Mexican, 24 hrs styles. And wat a feed. Yes! Good, cheap, no frills food!

DAY 4.

Slept under the stars for the second night in 4 days of trekking. That’s livin. As we always make the most out of our days, by the time we look for a place to lay, its late, its dark and sometimes it’s just a case of "this'll do"! That’s the case last night. Midnight and we pull into some dirt track beside Shoshone Falls and set up. It’s a beautiful morning, layin there as the birds are chirping, then it’s the typical symphony of snoring and farts! Boys will be boys.

We bounce towards the falls and hit the access road that leads down to the falls. It’s starting to rain. We get one run in and the big drops and the presence of the local sheriff made us think that maybe we should do the tourist thing for a while. Hit up the falls and get the shots we need and the local ranger came and had a chat to us and told us of a few rad roads and swimming holes nearby. Listen we did, to ranger Gary!

The next few hours was so epic. What we sampled was absolutely amazing. Like no other. This piece of gold had never been sampled by skaters in the area before and I know why. Its steep, its narrow, its gnarly! It’s in Idaho? Amazing, Epic, off the rails are a few ways to describe what we had dived head first into. The weather was still not on our side with shoals of heavy rain passing over. Boys scattered for the caves on the side of the tight narrow road. Gary had told us that if we weren't happy with the weather in Idaho, wait 20 minutes and we'll have the weather we want. He wasn't wrong. He's right on the money. 20 minutes pass and we are sk8in one of the gnarliest roads I've come across in the wet! Epic!

Guff got some inside info from ol mate Ranger Gary about a secret water hole in the back end of the park. We trekked through some serious terrain and boom, we turned up at paradise. The hole was green/blue and had all sorts of rock jumps. Great way to cool down! From there we went and pressed penny's and got snow cones and hit the road north for Bruneau Dunes State Park, home of mondo sand dunes.

It’s hot again, 96F and we are in the middle of a bloody desert. What are we doing on sand dunes? Tell ya what, we gonna board em. Such and epic hook up with camping. Really getting looked after with this camp spot. Right at the base of the dunes so not too far to travel. After a setup of our taj-ma-tent, we hit the dunes for some late afternoon lines!  Can’t say enough for Idaho. It’s really thrown down the goods. Can't wait for our session on the goods tomorrow morning!!!!!

DAY 5.

Sort of a restless sleep. We had some visitors in the form of Coyotes and Racoons that went through all our trash and a loaf of bread. Not so bad as the trash was just empty tinny's. It’s an epic morning with the sun just lurking and having a sleep in himself, hiding behind a few clouds on the horizon.

And so we head up to the Big Dune. It’s a massive dune standing at 500ft. The sand is somewhat coarse so walking around the lake at the bottom is a little rough on the feet. As we begin to climb the dune, the sand is a whole lot finer and packed real loose. I’ve never been on dunes this big. The views amazing. From half way, we're twice as high as the dune we hiked the afternoon before. This is one climb. Feels like an endless ladder. As we get to the top, words cannot explain the view. It’s truly an experience that takes your breath away. We session the backside of the Big Dune and hit the area in the middle called the Vortex. A few hours later, still stoked but tired of hiking up this mondo dune we decide to bail. Before we leave the front side, the boys get down and jam some airs off this little tuff of grass. Yeah lads. Kyle throws some big air and grabs and Steve hits some backside stuff. Yew.

Arrive in Boise, Idaho just after lunch and hook up with the shop owner of Newt and Harolds, Lori. She's introduced us to a couple of her local lads that are gonna be showing us down the Boise River today. That’s right, we're going tubing! It’s a great day for it. Blue bird skies and bloody hot!  Lori throws down and pays for all the lads to get their own tube. Massive props and many thank you's go out to this incredibly accommodating women! After 3 hours of absolute bliss and total relaxation, we end up at the end of the run. What a great way to spend a few hours.

Hit the shop. Newt and Harolds in the afternoon for a signing and a BBQ. It’s an epic little scene. The crew that have turned out are so stoked. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I love seeing the stoke on all these kids faces. This is what I live for!  It really makes u feel good ya know. Crew are hitting us up for free gear, tips, stories, pretty much anything the little sponges can get out of us all! It’s a tasty BBQ thrown down and after a feast we look at hitting the hills.

Late afternoon session thrown down at the top of some pimp residential estate. Its right up in the hills and there’s plenty of nature. Deer and Coyotes greeted us at the bottom of the hill. The session was epic. Crew again were sponging on us for gear and tips, the boys be thrown down this afternoon. For a simple little session, there’s is uber amounts of stoke spewin on the pavement. I take some time to give a little one on one with a few of the newbs! After a few hours of shredding, myself and DaveR throw some of the younger crew that had been determined all afternoon, a set of wheels each. Stoked!  What a session!

Ok, so again, Lori has thrown down. We are staying at her house tonight. Turns out she's got a granny flat out back of her home and we are able to sleep and shower and use the net! What a way to finish and absolutely amazing day. Idaho. More than just potatoes!

DAY 6.

Had and absolutely amazing sleep last night, even if I was sharing a bed with Guff. Lori totally hooked us up. Great person to let us into her home and let us stay for as long as we want. We make our way into town to get some eats and to buy Lori a bottle of wine to show our appreciation. Before we left town for the last time, we stopped in again at Newt and Harolds and dropped Lori off her bottle of wine. She was stoked!

We got a heap of driving to do today and we also have a lot of skating to do as well. The drive takes us through Hells Gorge and the road seems to wind along the Payette River for hours. Such a beautiful river, full and rushing. For as long as we were driving beside it, It was full of white water and there where around 3 or 4 big rafting camps set up at various spots along it.

 We get to the top of the mountains at 5200ft and there’s a nice little town called MacCall home of Harshmen skatepark. It’s pretty much got it all. A few bowls, one of which was brand new, a crail, and a few flat banks and box's for the street dudes. Jamming here for a few hours got rowdy with all the lads throwing down. Kyles a little bummed, his shoulders not feeling the best. It’s hot and we got a long way to go, so we head to the lake to freshen up before hitting the road again.

Again we cruise along the Payette River, deep in the Payette National Park. Nice to get off the typical HWY of 4 lanes and straights. We are on our way to a new hill that Pats marked on the itinerary and boom, we come across a road that has mondo hairpins and drops who knows how many miles down into the valley. We get on the GPS and quickly figure out how to get to this unchartered gem. It was epic. As much fun as u can have on 4 wheels with ya buddies. I mean it’s an unknown/unchartered road, winding down the valley by a series of switchbacks and sweeping turns, there’s cattle grids and the pavements not that great but hey, we’re doing this cause we love it and to session with ya buddies that stoke the same means uber frothable moments. We tag the shit outta the Old 95 and hit the road for the next hill.

Next on the agenda is another 2 hour drive, this one, the suns very close to setting and all we can see is corner after corner of banked goodness. Jacob needs to piss bad and I aint stopping till we get to the top to make the most of this sunset goodness. We are blown away by the shape of this gem. G we've found some epic stuff on this trip! This is just the icing on the cake for the day. We all get our shit on and hit the road. Guff drives the Bear van and we all get super rowdy passing and pushing each other down the road. Turns out it’s a 10 minute run and we didn't even start at the top. This has been the best way to finish a rad day. Dudes be stoked! High 5's get thrown.

Drive outta Idaho and into Washington State to Spokane to grab Pat Schep. He's the last to join the tour. He's been holding the fort down in Compton at the LY factory. It’s gonna be good to get into some of the local goodness with this hell man here in Spokane tomorrow.