The jacking of Gibson Reservoir

I got to Gibson Reservoir pretty late to meet with my partner and camp. After walking the campgrounds in the dark we settled upon a spot and sacked out for the night. The next day I awoke pretty tired due to nightmares about my travel schedule. When my partner woke up we decided that the only way to make it all worth while would be to do an epic mountain bike ride. Right?

Soon we were climbing up the valley on the Mortimer Gulch Trail. It was rocky and loose due to heavy horse traffic. At no time did we see any signs that mountain bikes were not welcome so we assumed all was well. More on this later.

The air seemed thin and we took many breaks gasping for air. Were we really that out of shape? We broke over a ridge into Big George Gulch. The ride turned seductive. I mean it was all downhill so just keep going, right? At some point it is just too much to go back and we went to the end of trail 259. After being lost for almost an hour we picked up trail 251 which led us right back down to the Gibson Reservoir.

At no time did we meet any signage about trail usage. And we were giddy with all the spectacular downhill. Bear tracks confirmed that we were close to the Bob Marshall. All signs were good for a spectacular day.

The trail back to camp was beautiful and as far as we knew a hidden gem. A gem to be visited again in the future.

It was getting late in the day as we rode on. From the trail spectacular views of the lake spread out before our eyes like a silver blanket. Even the trail itself turned spectacular. I couldn’t believe it. It was so cool.

It wrapped around a cliff overlooking sheer drops to the lake. Was this a fantasy or a dream? … check … check … pinch … pinch!

I had to stop and document this fabulous trail. I thought to myself that this would be my most favorite place to go mountain biking. And still no signs of trail usage information. Nothing … nothing but glorious trail.

“How cool is this”?

“Very cool, I mean what do we do if we meet horses”?

“Good point, maybe just get off the bike and walk to a wide section I guess”.

As we exited the trail a single sign was attached to the info board. My brain refused to process what I was seeing. Searching my brain for past details I remembered that the trail up Mortimer Gulch Trail was legit to Mountain Bikes. We checked. Even our recreation maps offered no information that matched this sign. And when we encountered all intersections there were no signs … until now. Shame on you Forest Service for botching the trail usage in this area.