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| Tour of Idaho Challenge Point
Rules Photos: Martin Hackworth |
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| Tour of Idaho participants must
attempt the route in small groups of no
more than three
- without any
support. No
friends, family
members, significant others or erstwhile Tour riding partners anywhere
close to the route. No help with navigation or anything else
via phone call or any other form of communication. If something
breaks or goes wrong you can't call someone to bail you out - if you
intend to continue. Tour
riders
have 13 trail
days to finish. Tour riders must adhere to the preset intervals.1 No support is a core principle of the Tour. You are not permitted to ship anything to a location along the route or prearrange fuel drops. You may not prearrange or call for any assistance. While it is perfectly acceptable (and advised) that you patronize businesses along the way, you may not seek assistance with supplies or maintenance beyond what any other Tour rider following the rules could acquire. You must either carry everything that you intend to use with you, or purchase it along the way. Put simply, no outside help, and no supply drops. If another team is on the route at the same time as your team you should take care to minimize any interaction. Overlapping tracks will invite scrutiny. Put simply, you cannot engineer an advantage for your own team that would be unavailavble to any other team following the rules. Tour participants are expected to ride all of the trails along the current route using only our waypoints and maps. Each of our waypoint files (generally one per day) has around 100 waypoints. You may add up to 10% waypoints of your own, per day, over the 13 days, except for mystery sections or mystery days. You are not allowed to create route files or use tracks to navigate. You are to navigate from waypoint to waypoint, using maps and gps units with base maps, and our written directions. Tour participants are required to provide beacon links for live tracking (with a couple of exceptions where tracking will be intentionally disabled) and to submit a gps track file within 72 hours of finishing the Tour. The resolution for PLB tracking is 10 minute intervals - no more, no less. And you'll be turning them off in a few spots. Each of the 13 Tour riding days contains several challenge points. All challenge points must be verified with a selfie (or other type of photograph that places you at the spot) posted to our Facebook group, with the hashtag #tourofIdaho. This should be done as soon as possible, but definitely no later than the evening after they were taken, unless a data connection is not possible (which can happen in a few places). Most days have an optional challenge section. A challenge section is not the same thing as a challenge point, the former are optional, while the latter are not. Soloists are required to complete one challenge section. Groups are required to complete the number of challenge sections equal to the number of riders in the group, i.e., two or three. |
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Once you begin a
challenge section you must either complete it, turn
around and return to the original route, or leave the CS along an
approved variant. There's no bailing out in
the middle of a challenge section, unless along a route designated for
that purpose. Tour of Idaho checklist: Tour participants must 1) join the Tour of Idaho Facebook group, 2) consent to individual beacon tracking (the Garmin/DeLorme InReach SE is highly recommended) - this means one beacon per team member and 3) must submit their complete track log for inspection within 72 hours of finishing the route - one track per team member (I will provide you with the email address). For Tour purposes, a team is a group of up to three riders who begin the Tour together and share resources (including lodging). A soloist is a rider who begins the Tour alone and does not share any resources, including lodging, with another individual, rider or not. |
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In
the (not uncommon) event that a rider begins the Tour as a member of a
team,
but becomes a soloist due to a partner(s) dropping out, that
rider must
follow the route for soloists beginning the next trail day.
Further, their former partner(s) must
completely retire from
the
Tour (waiting at the finish is permitted). For example: Two riders begin the Tour as a team. One rider drops out after day one. The remaining rider becomes a soloist beginning trail day two and must follow the solo route from that point forward. The remaining rider is eligible to continue provided that they do not interact with or benefit from the efforts of the retired rider before Sundance (no interaction, period). Sundance. The same rule applies to any team of three that becomes a team of two, i.e., they must follow the two member team variations beginning the next trail day, and not interact with the retired rider in any way before In special circumstances, we may elect to allow a team that loses a rider to ride the next variant down immediately. This will be decided on a case by case basis. The challenge points for each day are listed below. Use these, plus the maps, the photos in the detailed route description and route files for locations and coordinates. We'll show you how they tally at the end of the list. Please note that ** denotes a CP required of two member teams and *** of three member teams. |
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| Day One (7x, 8y, 9z) Utah/Idaho border (near 1Dxyz1) Weston Peak Rockslide (1Dxyz19) Oxford Peak (1DxyzOP4) - this involves a short hike Kents Canyon** *** (1Dyz1) Elkhorn Crest*** (1Dz11) Fenceline (1Dxyz51) Robber's Roost at the Portneuf Crest (1DxyzRR) Inkom Pass (1Dxyz112) Tour Flagpole (1DxyzFP) Bonus sections: a - 1/2 point, b - 1 point, c - 1/2 point (solo only), d - 1 point Notes: Returning teams, or teams that have preridden any portion of D1, must do a number of bonus sections equal to the team size, i.e., 1, 2 or 3. For these teams, these will not count as bonuses since they are mandatory. D1 has a CS. |
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| Day Two
(3xyz) Scout Mountain (2Dxyz17) Kinport (knoll just north of 2Dxyz31) Lake Channel rock chute entrance Notes: D2 does not have a CS. |
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| Day Three (5xyz) Arco Pass Deer Creek Pass MT 1 (TBA) MT 2 (TBA) MT 3 (TBA) Notes: D3 does not have a bonus section. It does have a CS. You must disable PLB tracking for the special navigation section and the mystery section. |
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| Day Four (6xyz) MT 1 (TBA) MT 2 (TBA) MT 3 (TBA) MT 4 (TBA) MT 5 (TBA) Wet Creek Basin (pass above 4Dxyz11) Bonus sections: a - 1 point (TBA), b - 1 point (TBA), c - 1 point Notes: Returning teams, or teams that have preridden any portion of D4, must do at least one bonus section. Three person teams must do at least one bonus section. For these teams, these will not count as bonuses since they are mandatory. D4 also has a CS. You must disable PLB tracking for the mystery section. |
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| Day Five (5xy, 6z) Stewart Canyon/Corral Creek Pass Wildhorse LO Burnt Aspen/Kane Creek Pass Cliff View (near 5Dxyz32) Big Peak Creek *** (Boulder-choked creek crossing before Big Smokey, just southeast of 5Dz2) Smoky Bar Store Notes: D5 has a CS. |
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| Day Six (8xy, 9z) Paradise Peak Pass (just north of 6Dxyz6) Salmon Headwaters (6Dxyz12) Grand Prize Gulch/West Fork Pass (6Dxyz24) Castle/Merriam view (near 6Dxyz29) Little Boulder/Big Boulder Pass (6Dxyz31) Railroad Ridge (Tour high point near 6Dxyz38) Thompson/Cinnabar Meadow (6ear 4Dxyz54) Elevenmile/McKay Creek Divide *** (near 6Dz1) Ramshorn (6Dxyz75) Bonus sections: b - 1 point, c - 1/2 point, d - 1 point Notes: Returning teams, or teams that have preridden any portion of D6, must do one bonus section. For these teams, this will not count as a bonus since it is mandatory. D6 has a CS. |
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| Day Seven (12xyz) Twin Peaks Lookout (7Dxyz8) Eddy Basin View (near 7Dxyz14) Furnace Creek View (between 7Dxyz19 and 7Dxyz20) Van Horn Peak (near 7DxyzVHLO) Alder Creek View (the boulder field below 7Dxyz23) Corral Creek View (before 7Dxyz27) Taylor Mountain Pass (between 7Dxyz29 and 7Dxyz31) MT1 MT2 MT3 MT4 45th Parallel (TBA) Bonus sections: b - 1/2 point, c - 1/2 point, d - 1 point (TBA), e - 1 point (TBA) Notes: Returning teams, or teams that have preridden any portion of D7, must do bonus sections equal to 1 point. For these teams, these will not count as bonuses since they are mandatory. D7 has a CS. Three person teams must do bonus trail d. You must disable PLB tracking for the mystery section. |
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| Day Eight (2xyz) Wallace Lake View (8Dxyz5) Leesburg (interpretative sign) Notes: D3 does not have a bonus section or a CS. |
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| Day Nine (9xyz) Ulysses Lookout (9DxyzULO) Indian Peak (9Dxyz6) Ridge View (the monument on the ridge between 9Dxyz12 and 13) Granite Mountain Lookout (9DxyzGLO) Divide Trail view (spectacular view east between 9Dxyz67 and 68) Lick Creek/Sheep Creek Divide (9Dyz87) Stein Mountain (9DxyzSMLO) Cabin (9Dxyzcabin) Thrill-a Sidehill-a (anywhere near 9Dxyz112 - 113) Bonus sections: a - 1 point, b - 1 point Notes: Returning teams, or teams that have preridden any portion of D9, must do one bonus section. For these teams, this will not count as bonuses since it is mandatory. D9 has a CS. Three person teams must do bonus trail "b." |
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| Day Ten (5x, 6yz) Divide Trail (near 10Dxyz7) Blue Nose Lookout ** *** (10Dyz7) Nez Perce Pass (10Dxyz25) Burnt Knob Lookout (10Dxyz35) Red River view (10Dxyz39) Anderson Butte (near 10Dxyz60) Bonus sections: c - 1 point. Salmon Mountain (two mile out and back hike) - 1 point. Notes: D10 has a CS. No returning team is required to ride anything extra on D10. |
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| Day Eleven (12xyz)* Walde Lookout - you must climb up to the lookout (11Dxyz6) Fish Butte (11DFB) Ant Hill (11DAH) Sherman Creek (11DSC) Fish Creek Cabin (11DFCC) Weitas Guard Station (11DWGS) WIndy Bill Saddle (11DWBS) Castle Creek Lookout (11DCBLO) Scurvy Lookout (11DSLO) Rock Garden (11DRG) Cook Mountain (11DCM) Pot Mountain (11DPM) Notes: D11 has no CS. See the route description page for instructions regarding bonus sections. *Solo teams are required to obtain 3 CP's, two member 4 CP's, and three member teams 5 CP's. Returning/preriding teams are required to obtain one extra trail and one extra CP per team size. |
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| Day Twelve (6x, 7y, 8z) See route description |
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| Day Thirteen (5xyz) Moon Saddle (13Dxyz10) Spyglass Peak (near 13Dxyz26) Jacknife Peak (near 13Dxyz35) Hoodoo Mountain (13Dxyz54) Sundance Lookout (near 13Dxyz73) |
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Depending
upon your route (x, y or z), there are between 76
and 85 challenge points (CPs) required along the thirteen
days of the Tour, with some additions for teams that have preridden the
route. These
may be
either augmented or abated by any of the following:
** You may use your cell phone or beacon to send status messages and upload challenge point photos but not to ask for navigation or physical help (including recovering lost items) - with the exception of communicating with the Tour coordinator. You may check in with family and friends at any time as long as the purpose of that communication is not to solicit assistance of any kind. |
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| *** Shuttle to the beginning of
the Tour and shuttle from the end are excepted from this
rule. **** Scrounging for the same supplies is not only allowed, but encouraged. You should contact the motorcycle shops along the way in advance for any motorcycle needs. ***** Ignorance doesn't count, but there may be other mitigating circumstances we'll consider. Under no circumstances should any Tour rider deliberately use a trail that is marked closed. If a trail is officially closed (for fire or any other reason) it is not required. No off route penalty will be assessed. The only expectation in this event is that you rejoin the Tour route as soon as soon as possible, and not use the detour specifically to gain an advantage that would not be available to everyone else. You can make up CPs lost to trail closures with bonus sections or extra challenge sections. Riding a closed trail, for any reason, is a likely DNF. Not being able to properly interpret a trail sign is not the same thing as an officially closed trail. |
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| Occasionally a trail, though not officially closed, becomes impassable
due to blowdown, landslides or extensive flooding. You are going to end
up sawing trees and doing some moderate occasional trail maintenance
while on the Tour, but no one expects you to spend all day getting 10
miles due to an anomalous event. In the event that a trail is impassable, you are permitted to retreat and find the shortest way around to rejoin the Tour route. Please note that an off route penalty may or may not be assessed in this instance, depending on circumstances. You may also miss a trail or waypoint due to navigational errors. Except for D1, where the route must be ridden exactly and in the alloted time, there is some allowance for this. It's a long way from start to finish, and lots of things can go wrong. You will receive an off route penalty only for serious errors (you are already dinging yourself for time) but you may make these up with bonus sections and extra challenge sections. Whether due to official or unofficial closures or navigation errors, teams must make up lost challenge points and off route penalties. This may be accomplished by riding an extra challenge section (1 point each), and/or riding bonus sections (1/2 to 1 point each). |
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| Soloists need 76 CPs and 1 CS to finish. Two member teams
need 80 CPs and 2 CSs to finish. Three member teams
need 85 CPs and 3 CSs
to finish. If you follow all of the Tour requirements and accumulate the number of challenge points required for your team size2 you will be awarded a finisher number at the end of the season. 1 - In the event of an emergency bivouac, i.e., an unplanned overnight stop due to a mechanical issue, trail issue (such as washouts or excessive sawing), all that is required is for the rider or team to resume travel as soon as possible and make every attempt to resume the Tour intervals. Just being tired probably doesn't count. An emergency bivouac cannot be used to gain any advantage over others who maintain the required intervals. 2 - In the event that a team's becomes smaller the required point total will be pro-rated from the point at which the reduction in size officially takes effect - the next trail day after. |
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