birth of the idaho spodefest
Sometime in 1997 a group of RMD'ers in the Southeast decided
to get together for a weekend of riding near Atlanta, GA.
About a dozen or so people attended, some meeting the others
"in person" for the first time. Somehow, the gathering
assumed the name "SpodeFest".
"What is a Spode and why are they festing", you ask? From my
friend Mike Hetrick (OldFart) after attending the first
Idaho SpodeFest in 1998:
Spode- An inept rider lacking in natural
talent. This rider often thinks they are much better than
they are.
Fest- Shortened from festival. A gathering of people of like
interests where much joy and frivolity take place.
SpodeFest- A gathering of inept riders lacking in natural
talent in which much joy and frivolity take place.
This first Fest sounded like a good idea and before we knew it, there were three more that year. One was held in Texas, one in Colorado and one in Oregon. I attended the North West Fest, held in October just east of Bend, OR. There were about 15 of us, from Idaho, Washington, California and Oregon for three days of camping and riding. During one of the evening campfire bench racing sessions, I offhandedly remarked, "I should put on one of these in Idaho next year". I had only been riding the Idaho single track trail system for about a year and, as I would quickly discover, didn't really know many of the trails and/or riding areas. However, I did know from what I had already ridden, we had some great terrain to offer in SW Idaho.
Well, even though I thought nobody was listening to my Idaho Fest offer, the next spring one of the guys sitting around that fire called me out. Dennis Kennedy posted a message to RMD saying, "Hey David, how about it, are we Festing in Idaho this year?" On the spot and not really realizing what I was getting into, I said "Yes". I could go into the details on what I went through to organize the Fest, but I think my buddy Mike Hetrick said it well here: Anatomy of a SpodeFest
Thus began a long and successful run of Idaho SpodeFests (ISF). The first one was held in 1998 at Baumgartner CG in the Sawtooth NF. The Colorado boys put on a Fest in 1999, which I attended, so no ISF that year. In 2000 we moved the location a bit farther east to the upper end of the Stanley Basin at Chemeketan CG. We used the same location for 2001 then moved back to Baumgartner, where we've gathered every year since. Baumgartner seems to be everyone's favorite and offers the best combination of the sheer number of accessible trails (loops and destinations), good dispersed camping, right on the beautiful South Fork of the Boise River (swimming, floating, fishing, bathing) and the USFS campground has a public hot springs pool/tub.
For more information, photos and SpodeFest reports, see
the Photo Page