Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1345276
It was a strong mile up to the lookout on the sum- mit. By all accounts it was more rugged and steep than the Corridor Road, so I was going to shed the panniers for the ride up and pick them up on the way down. That's when Pete asked, "Is that oil normally there?" as he looked at my rear re rim under the rear axle. "Oh, crap." Only, that's not what was really said. The oil dripping out of the 1150 comfy couch final drive was not normal. It was bad, no ma er how hard we tried to think it may not be. And here we were, 60-plus miles of bad road from anything. Not even a cell signal. While I a empted some damage assessment, Pete rode to the top of Burnt Knob and took some pics. Back at the bike, I topped off the final drive with motor oil, since that's all I had. Then reloaded the panniers and began to nervously con nue on to Darby, MT. Pete would eventually catch up to me, and I wanted to get as far as pos- sible from the middle of this no man's land before dark. The occasional high eleva on snowpatches on north-facing banks were a silent reminder that we did not want to spend the night out there. If one must limp a bike along at 15 mph, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more scenic place to do it. Switchbacks climbed for miles before turning 180 degrees around the nose of a ridge to head down another miles-long ridge — on a day that demanded mul ple sunscreen applica ons. If not for the stress of the bad bearing, it would have been completely heavenly. Meanwhile, the bearing seemed to be holding up, but there was a tangible "click" that could be felt through the footpegs with each rota on of the rear wheel. It was not a confidence-inspiring click. We stopped at Magruder Crossing, checked the final drive oil level, and got the ultra condensed version of the Magruder Massacre from a solar-powered, bluetooth-trans- mi ng tourist sign. A er the gold greed mo vated massacre, Magruder's buddy in Lewiston went to San Francisco to drag the perps back to Lewiston to face trial and hanging. He had to protect them from the Lewiston mob in order to show Washington, D.C. that Idaho Territory had a modern jus ce system and was worthy of becoming a state. They were the first sanc- oned execu ons in Idaho Territory, thus proving how civilized the territory had become.