Devil's Gulch

You're taking your chances mountain biking in October in Washington, and our ride proved that in spades. It all started fine with me, Ian, Aaron and Kendall doing the Red Devil trail in nice 60 degree weather. We split where Red Devil meets Devil's Gulch - Ian choosing to ride the trail, well, because he's a badass and we're mere mortals who wanted to ride the road up. However about three miles up the road it was posted as closed for fire prevention. Not wanting to risk a ticket (or getting burned up), we decided to turn around and ride the trail up. Started out ok but we weren't prepared for the extra riding, so we were slow and got separated. At about 5000' the trail became snow-covered, and I slogged to the meeting point. The snow actually didn't hamper the traction too much - there wasn't much of it and it was soft. However Ian had now been waiting for us for over an hour, and in the cold air with the wind blowing he had taken to riding up and down the road just to keep moving. We headed back and met Aaron and Kendall coming up, and with numb feet started the descent. This really is the best ride in Washington, as you have 11 miles of fast single track going down with minimal flats or uphill. And the trail was in perfect condition - damp with just the right amount of moisture to keep the dust down and make the trail sticky. The glorious feeling of reaching warm air as we descended didn't hurt either. We made it back to the car at 6:30 - over 6 hours in the saddle!
Probably the last Gulch ride this year for us as the next snow will bury the trail.