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The Julie Creek trail is a loop trip which starts at the Deadwood campground, climbs to 7000 feet on the Deadwood Ridge, descends rapidly into Julie Creek and then back down the Deadwood River to the Deadwood campground along the South Fork of the Payette River near Lowman Idaho. The narrow, steep trail is open to motorcycles, horses, mountain bikes, and hikers. The entire loop is 24 miles, with 4500 feet of climbing.
To download trail data in GPS Exchange format (.gpx) compatible with GPS mapping software right click on the link below:
To view the trails as a printable topographic map in Adobe Portable Document format (.pdf) left-click on the line below:
To view the trails as a Scalable Vector Graphics File (.svg) left-click on the line below: (See GPS Trail Maps - Scalable Vector Graphics for information on Scalable Vector Graphics)
GPX map by Dave Wissenbach
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Deadwood Ridge from Deadwood River Campround on the South Fork of the Payette river at 3720 feet elevation, to Julie Creek trail at 7075 feet elevation. The motorcycle trail is a very strenuous climb through a beatiful forest of old-growth Ponderosa Pine.
Psycho Rider shows off his new bike in the Ponderosa Pine forest just above the Deadwood Campground
This spring is the source of one of the many tributary streams.
Looking across the Deadwood River Canyon towards the west.
Forest Giant. One of the largest Ponderosa Pine Trees along the trail. This tree is probably 600 years old.
The Deadwood Ridge and Julie Creek trails are primarily motorcyle trails for advanced riders. We saw 6 motorcyles on our trip, including this man on a Honda XR250R, a sophisticated lightweight 4-stroke motorcycle which is relatively clean and quiet.
Like this corner at 5600 feet, much of the trail is very exposed to the steep slope and is therefore suitable for expert riders only. Only 1400 feet more to reach the top.
Slick Rock. There are many outcrops of the Idaho Batholith in this area. These granite outcrops are plutons that rose from deep under the earth eons ago.
After an enjoyable descent down to Stevens Creek at 6490 feet, there's a bit more climbing back up to 7100 feet and the upper Julie Creek trailhead.
Marshy Area with shooting stars
The Deadwood Ridge trail continues on to Deadwood Reservoir
Deadwood river road. Return from Julie Creek along the old Deadwood River Road. Except for the last downstream mile from the hightway to the ATV trailhead, this road is now abandoned because of severe erosion, landslides, rockslides, and mudslides in many places.
The Deadwood Forest Road has blown out in several places because of a combination of steep terrain and flash flooding caused by frequent intense thunderstorms.
Descent 2700 feet from Deadwood Ridge to the Deadwood river campground in just 5.3 miles. Most of the descent is in the steep middle section of this trail. All sections of the trail are rideable on a mountain bike, as long as the rider is Psycho Rider. (I chose to get off and walk a few short rooty, rocky sections!).
The Julie Creek trail is generally steeper than this section.
On the knife edge ridge between Deadwood Canyon and Pine Creek, we are about to plunge over the edge into Julie Creek.
In the middle of the steepest section of the Julie Creek trail looking over Julie Creek ridge into the Deadwood river. We are at the head of Julie Creek. Note that the top of the tall Ponderosa is closer to us than the bottom.
We have descended into Julie Creek and are cruising back to the Deadwood river on the last of the singletrack.
Going down to Steven's point for motorcycles might be a good idea, but this doesn't make sense for mountain bikers, unless you are some kind of superman and want an extra 600 feet of climbing or so.
Deadwood Campground. A very busy place in summer, because this is the put-in for the Class4+ South Fork Payette canyon run.
Julie Creek at the Deadwood River. The abandoned campground is here.
Deadwood river road is closed above this point except to Hikers, ATVs, Motorcycles, Horses, and Mountain bikers. Park here if the parking by the river is occupied by river runners.
Unload your bikes (or motorcycles) here at the rock pile across from Deadwood campground or one mile upstream along the Deadwood river road at the ATV trailhead if the campground area is too busy.
This strong bridge over the Deadwood river is way overbuilt for the remaining traffic of motorcyles and mountain bikers. (In 1997 this roadless area was scheduled to be logged under the terms of a "Salvage" sale but sharp-eyed outdoorsmen noticed that healthy, fire-resistant old-growth Ponderosa Pine was being marked for salvage.) For now, the area remains relatively pristine.
Turn off of Deadwood ridge here to begin a spectacular descent of Julie Creek.
