Fossil Bowl

Fossil Bowl is one of the most singular motocross venues in America: a family-run track in the timber at Clarkia, in Idaho's Shoshone County panhandle, founded in 1972 when Francis Kienbaum cut into a hillside building a snowmobile course and 15-million-year-old Miocene leaves came spilling out. Fifty years later the venue runs motocross and fossil digging side by side, with the Clarkia Formation's famous leaf, fish, and small-mammal fossils drawing scientists and rockhounds to the same property that hosts race weekends. The main track is pure old-school mountain motocross, built over rolling hills with big natural elevation drops, step-ups, and sweepers, headlined by the Devil's Drop hill climb and a Creek Jump launched over an actual creek. The dirt is heavy, dark mountain clay: incredible traction with moisture in it, hard-packed when dry, and thick unrideable mud after a real downpour. For grand prix and enduro events, the course leaves the jumps behind and dives into tight, technical single-track through the surrounding pines. The season is short and sweet: buried in snow all winter, Fossil Bowl typically wakes in late May or early June and runs through early autumn. Race weekends, including Pacific Northwest vintage MX rounds and local AMA chapter events, are open to everyone ($15 practice, $10 race-day admission with $35 entries); riding outside events runs on scheduled practice days or by arrangement with the owners, with seasonal memberships available. The tree-shaded pits sit on big flat grassy camping zones, dry and primitive, so bring your own wash water for the clay and everything else you need. For riders in St. Maries, Moscow, and Coeur d'Alene, the Fossil Bowl is a bucket-list stop as much as a local track, and its half-century of continuous operation makes it a genuine piece of Pacific Northwest moto history. Fossil digging is $10 a person for whoever would rather split shale than throw roost. Dates post on the Fossil Bowl Facebook page.