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Pedal about 8 or 9 miles up the dirt road. It's a scenic, easy jaunt past old worn out cabins and beaver ponds for the first smooth 6 miles, then a hard grunt up a 4x4 road to a saddle. You'll see a Trailhead sign in, whose last entry had been about 1 month previous before they ran out of paper. Take a breather, swat some horseflies, then continue down hill on the double track. You know your in the right place when you round a corner past another old homesteaders shack and come to a Fisher Creek signed 4x4 barrier. Now you're ready for some wide open cruising. Initially rocky, giving away to smooth swoopy corners, you cross the same stream bed, dry in August, about 4 times. Just as your getting tired of hanging on for dear life, you come to a T intersection after descending for about 1 mile. Hang left across a beautiful meadow. The smooth singletrack eventually winds uphill through the pine to another saddle. Buckle down the helmet, check the brakes, soften the suspension, and let her rip. Butt smooth, wide enough to get a little squirrely, long straight aways along the hillside, a few switchbacks. Too short at only 3 miles or so. You come out to a beautiful meadow, cross a stream, and then make a quick 3/4 mile grunt up and across the grassy southern exposure hillside before climbing again into the trees and another saddle. Now your ready for some final fat tire blasting down less than 2 miles of singletrack, to the lower trailhead which comes all too soon. Hop out on HWY 75, point yourself south back to the car. You've got about 1 back up to where you parked to complete a 16-18 mile loop.
From Sun Valley/Ketchum drive north on HWY 75 over Galena Pass toward Stanley. About 45 miles out you'll see a sign directing you to up Fisher Creek road. Park at the intersection.
Summary: Once the highway section turns into Fischer Creek Rd, the climb is easy, mellow for about 7 miles, which is appreciated by a non-technical rider like myself. The last steep, rocky 100yd of jeep track almost at the top is tough, but should not discourage the average rider. The descents are fun, but be careful of the sand! You'll be fishtailing more than you expect to. I agree with previous reviews that bringing more water is better than too little - we encountered a couple who had brought a bottle each, and needed water donations. This isn't an epic ride, but it's very good.
For those who live at sea level and are visiting, acclimatize yourself the the higher altitude by doing many of the easier rides at a lower altitude first. We did that and it made all the difference.
Recommended Route: Counter-clockwise, starting from Williams Creek trailhead.
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Summary: Other reviews have decribed this trail well. There is a large section of burned area in the Warm Springs/Williams creek section which can be quite warm even in late Sept. Bring lots of H2O. There was a trickle of water in the creeks for our dogs.
***DOGS-If you take dogs with you, #1 make sure they are in excellent shape. Our two Vizslas are hunting dogs and are very fit and they were still totally spent at the end of the day. #2 PLEASE, PLEASE be very careful of 3 cattle guards on fast downhill sections. 1 is avoidable, 2 are not. I had to hit my brakes hard and one of my dogs still got his leg trapped running at full speed, I don't know how he didn't break his leg. Be aware.
Very nice ride, I can't wait to do it again!!!
Recommended Route: Regular route, counterclockwise. (why would you want to climb all that beautiful singletrack and then decend on doubletrack road?) My wife who is not in real good shape was able to complete the ride and loved it. The grunt at the first summit nearly turned her around, but she was glad she completed the whole ride. She appreciated her disc brakes on the downhill.
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Summary: The down hill is good but to much dirt road. You start out on pavement, then dirt road. The down hill is fast and fun but not to technical. Ths would be a great ride in a lot of places but there are a lot of better rides in this area.
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Summary: On September 3-10, 2005, the Valley Road Fire burned a 40,838-acre area surrounding this ride. Several miles of the trail now traverse a burnscape, if that's a word. But it's still a great ride. When I rode it in August of 2006, lupine and a mauve-colored flower provided a pleasant contrast to the monochromatic landscape. The descent on Williams Creek Trail is fabulous, a singletrack classic. Highly recommended.
Recommended Route: Park at the Williams Creek Trail trailhead. Ride south on Idaho Highway 75 to the Fisher Creek Road turnoff. Proceed up Fisher Creek Road, a mellow fireroad for several miles with a steeper climb as it nears the Williams Creek Trail junction.
Summary: Trail starts as a long fire road climb(about seven miles). Its mellow until the last half mile or so, then it gets a little steeper. Once you top out around 8000 feet or so take the singletrack heading slightly left from the fireroad. Then its maybe a mile of nicely bermed singletrack that ends up in a sparsely wooded meadow. From there the trail winds up a shallow grade for a half mile. After this, its a screaming downhill for two or three miles. Then the trail comes out in a treeless area and climbs for two-thirds of a mile. Then comes the final downhill back to the parking area. Awesome trail! Once you get the initial climb out of the way, its basically seven miles of downhill. Great, twisting, 30mph+ singletrack descent. You'll love it. Now ride it.-Total length=17 miles
Recommended Route: Start with the road first, so you get that out of the way, then take a left up the fireroad for about seven or eight miles. Then you're at the top(about 8000') let er' rip.
Other recommended trails in the same area: The only other trail I've ridden in the area is the far more mellow, although rockier, Elk Mountain Loop(13 miles). A good day's riding is to warm up with Elk Mtn. in the morning, grab some lunch in Stanley, then hit Fisher Creek in the afternoon.
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(4.5 of 5)
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