Bear River Plateau by Bicycle - Velo

The Bear River Plateau is at the center of Bear named land features. The Bear River Divide is to the east, Bear Lake and the Bear River Range are to the west and the Bear River is on three sides - all except the south.

It may seem to the uninvolved visitor , that the Bear River Plateau is a noman's land, or a an exclusive ranching area. Actually there is a majority of public BLM land here. But there are no signs in the maze of tracks through the sage. But under the right weather conditions there are some very isolated, beautiful far views - beautiful in a desolate kind of way. It is also an important wild life area.

1.(00.0m,6240ft)START-END EAST: jct Manhead rd - 6 Mile Rd
2.(02.4m,6330ft)profile turns right off 6 Mile rd
3.(09.5m,6830ft)route turns hard left on unmarked route
4.(11.4m,6970ft)TOP
5.(17.6m,5990ft)profile meets Cisco Rd along east shore of Bear Lake
6.(19.8m,5960ft)START-END WEST: low point on Cisco Rd

Approaches

From East. I thought the profile should start at at a ranch on the Manhead Road. However the first part along this road is actually downill. Pavement continues up this traffic free thoroughfare through the sage to the junction with 6 Mile Road. This turns out to be a low point, and that is where the profile starts. (See the map+profile tab on top of page for a visual aid).

This dirt road through a shallow sage bowl leads to a reservoir ruled by cows. A right leads onto what a sign advertises as "mountain road". Otherwise information on where you are is not provided at any intersection. To show just how apparently free and liberty loving the local people are, they shot the sign full of holes, so that it is hard to make out the letters, because of the bullet holes in the sign

After taking this right turnoff "Mountain Road" continues to climb gently in this sagebrush in a valley shaped like a rain gutter. Finally the climax, or so it seems, a series of grain storage towers and an abandoned ranching hut. Yet the road keeps climbing past that, reaching a flowing high plateau on a easily rideable, unpaved road, made from compressed dirt, that sees hardly ever any traffic. The Bear River Range looks like a white long doodle on the horizon (several pictures below). The road makes a right turn following a fence line.This is another possible shoulder summit if you do not take the next left, as the profile does. The first left is a bit tenuous. Soon after that a more established looking path turns left, heading straight west, direction Bear Lake.

This second road crests after following this inclined plane to yet another panoramically staged set of storage bins. With clear light the views can reach from the Unita Mountains to the Bear River Range to other peaks in Idaho that I cannot identify. They all seem distant and small like astrological features in outer space. But the nearness of a transmission tower above the shores of Bear Lake, that I have seen on other rides, provides relative confidence of not being lost (even if nobody knows where I am, and I haven't seen any people since the bar-something ranch).

From West. (described downwards). The straight descend soon meets up with the road climbing up from South Eden Canyon - not a particularly fitting name, unless you like cows and rattlesnakes. The area above South Eden Canyon is another cow infested sagebrush raingutter, but this time also featuring some rock outcrops in the lower region. Actually there are some nice and peaceful camping places in the trees in the lower part. Bear Lake becomes visible from the road, but calling it a view would be an overstatement. ... as for the rattlesnakes. There were two in the road on the way down. The second one almost jumped into my spokes. Good thing for me that it decided to go in the opposite direction of the jump, in the last split second