P500 Moscow Mountain ride.

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PNWGuy

Guest
Did a short ride with my dad yesterday up on Moscow Mountain. He's in his 70's and has a couple of fused vertebrae in his neck and can't take much hard riding, so just did about ten miles on mild trails and roads.

First time out since disconnecting the rear sway bar and the ride was noticeably better, however.

So, Moscow Mountain is a few miles outside of Moscow, ID, if you can believe it, lol.

I was born and raised in Moscow and used to go up to the mountain almost daily as a teen. First on horseback, riding from our little ranch on the edge of town, then later in everything from dirt bikes to a 1972 Pinto my high school friends and I bought and made into a baja buggy.

I used to know the mountain like the back of my hand and would spend from morning to after dark on horseback exploring it with nothing more than a Buck knife and a Ruger .22 Single-Six pistol.

My two favorite spots were an ancient cedar grove where me and my friends would camp and party, and then the sight of the old forest fire lookout tower that was taken down in the late 70's.

Yesterday, I decided to visit both spots.

I hadn't been to the cedar grove since high school, and wasn't sure I could find it, but the road to it was good enough to get to it in our Pinto and pickups.

Not any more!

30 years of growth and most of the mountain being bought up by rich leftists has resulted in nearly every road being gated off and posted No Trespassing. The remaining roads are traveled now mainly by mountain bikes and hiking boots, so they have shrunk in size and were unrecognizable to me.

Still, I managed to find the cedar grove, despite someone driving metal fence posts into the "trail" that I once used to drive a full-size pickup down. They also stacked dead trees across the trail in an effort to keep all motorized vehicles from desecrating the former high school party spot.

Our old party spot...
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Dad next to some massive ancient cedars for perspective...
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There used to be an old homestead site about 50yds from the grove with a pond. Back in the 80's, there was still a small fenced in area with a decorative iron gate and the remains of a building site.

Today, it is completely overgrown with trees and no sign that the area was ever settled.

My dad inspected the pond and said it was an ingenious design in that the original builders diverted part of the small stream to it instead of simply damming the stream so that it never got blown out by spring runoff.

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Got to about 200yds from the grove before we had to go on foot to the actual site due to someone blocking off the trail...

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P

PNWGuy

Guest
The next attraction was the old lookout site which we found easily. Couple of college students were sitting there enjoying the view when we rolled up. They had hiked in a couple of miles and were a bit uneasy at the site of a couple of good ol' boys showing up in a UTV with sidearms.

However dad is the former Chief of Police of Moscow and a super friendly guy. We soon were enjoying a conversation with them.

This was another big party spot in high school, and I actually drove a 1967 Plymouth Fury III station wagon here with a bunch of cheap beer and girls...

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Bigfoot enthusiasts may note that on the show, Finding Bigfoot, they did an episode on Moscow Mountain and this is the exact spot the witnesses were standing when they claimed they spotted a Bigfoot in the brush in the lower section of the above photo. That's facing South with Moscow to the right and Troy to the left.

We rode to the other side of the mountain and got some great views of the North side of the range...

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Overall, it was a nice relaxing ride full of nostalgia. Sad to see so much of the mountain now privately owned and gated off.

My parents were married on the mountain at a spot known as Rock Group. It also became a noted party spot in high school and is now completely off-limits due to being on private property.
 
allgm1

allgm1

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
Mar 7, 2015
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New Hampshire
Great pics @PNWGuy. I always like going back to revisit places from my youth also. Wish i could get my father to take a ride on the sxs. He's in his 80's, still pretty active but he won't do it.
 

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