Nisqually Chutes

The morning rush.

Other than the 2 feet of snow we received two weeks ago, it's been an incredibly dry January. The high pressure has brought some sunny, warm weather though and with that in mind 6 of us (and a few others as you can see) rallied up to Rainier today to take advantage of the 50 degree weather at Paradise. Getting prepped to skin at about 9:30, we donned t-shirts, sunscreen and sunglasses.

North Cascades - Rainy Pass

We were up in Winthrop for a family weekend, doing some cross-country skiing and crying about the lack of snow. However, the mountains a short 25 miles west had been blessed with a recent 7" of new at cold temperatures, and the time was right for a tour. Loern and I hooked up with North Cascades Mountain Guides, and Josh met us bright and early on Sunday for our adventure to Maple Pass. We took the sleds from about 7 miles west of Mazama, up over Washington Pass and on to Rainy Pass. We skinned about a mile south on the summer trail to Lake Ann, then up the hill for the skiing. Fantastic snow and 15 degree temps made for a perfect day. The snow was not consolidated at all, and well bonded to the previous layer. We took a run toward Lake Ann, then another down a north-facing slope, then a final run back to the lake. With blubird skies and a strong group of four, it was by far the best day of the season so far.

Paradise to Muir

I took Veteran's Day off and got lucky with a fine weather window. After being cloudy and rainy for several days, we had a brief clearing and low wind forecast for Monday. John and I rallied to Rainer where we could skin right from Paradise. We set out at 10:30 and skinned right up to pan point, where we had to shed the skis to get around some exposed rock. Back on the skins a few hundred feet later and we went right up to Muir. Almost no wind until about 9,000', and gorgeous skies as you can see from the photo (that's Adams in the background). A little water ice had formed on top of the snow near the top and I destroyed one crampon, but we still made it up there by 2. The ski down started icy, with scraping heard far and wide. About 2000' down we were rewarded with some corn and decent turns.

Back at the car (and an ice-cold beer) by 3 and home in time for dinner! Fabulous day.

Moran State Park, Orcas Island

Moran State Park delivers! Even though we were there over Labor Day, before they open the upper trails to mountain bikes, there was plenty of great single track down low. Having never ridden there I didn't know what to expect - but found a map at the ranger station and within 10 minutes was on some sweet single track from the picnic area to Cascade Falls. Smooth trails, some technical and some grunts made for interesting riding. Up from Cascade Falls on the double track, then down to the trail that hugs the southern boundary and back to the southend campground. Some good steep downhills there and good technical; roots and rocky drops. Looking forward to heading back when I can hit the upper trails.

It's hard to get a sense from the photo, but these trees are huge! All the riding was in gorgeous forest like this.

Sometimes it clicks

Butt back, point it forward, keep  your speed - up and over the gnarly roots. Then weight forward, all leg power, spin as fast as possible and get up the steep section. OK, up and over a big stump: speed, weight back, keep pedaling, pull the front tire up just a little and keep pedaling with an eye toward the exit. Another steep section- weight forward and pedal like you mean it. Around a hairpin, over a log, down the hill and up - onto the bridge. Hard right turn, over the log...

After 20+ years of mountain biking I can do the basic moves: short, steep climbs, hairpin turns, stumps, roots, rocks. The fat hand trail (Iverson RR) at Tiger has all of these in spades. I had never, in all my years of biking, made every obstacle on the one-way, mile and half trail. Riding with Aaron on Wednesday night it all came together. I couldn't believe I had actually made every obstacle- it's almost humbling because there's certainly no guarantee I'll ever do it again! Something about the climb up the trail to warm up, the fact that I had ridden it several times already this year and the mental attitude of "I'm going for it" all came together to make it happen. Luckily it's fun even when you don't make everything, but it sure is nice when it all clicks.

Sun Valley Early July

The three of us went to Sun Valley in early July and Ava had her mountain biking breakthrough. Here she is crossing a log bridge; we rode every day and she did one 6 mile ride with about 600' of climbing - not bad for a 12-year-old! I was able to ride Baldy, Adams Gulch and Fisher creek in our four days, along with other rides each day with Ava.

Devil's Gulch - first ride 2013

Heading upAaron, Kendall and I headed over to the Gulch on Saturday, June 15. This is our favorite mountain bike ride, bar none - it kicks your butt with 14 miles and 4000' of climbing (on the road, the easier way up) then rewards you with 12 miles of sweet, sweet singletrack downhill. We were eager to understand the condition of the trail given the extensive forest fires we had last summer - the trail was closed in late August for that reason. June is early to ride the gulch, but there was no snow even up at the top of the Mission Ridge, and the trail was smooth and dry.
  We were surprised to see the road closed to cars just after the access road turns to dirt, and we couldn't figure out why because it was in good condition all the way to the normal parking area. We rode up the road (the trail is for manlier men than us - it takes significantly more energy to ride up), and the second leg was still severly washed out in several places.

Aaron and Kendall at the lower Devil's Gulch trailhead

 

With sore arses, we reached the top of the Mission Ridge trail and dropped in. The forest service had done  a great job of clearing the trail - many blowdowns had to be cut to open it up.

Aaron riding through a scree section on the upper trail.

We quickly came across remnants of the burn, most of which were on the upper (Mission Ridge) trail. The trail was as good as it gets - not too dry so minimal dust kicking up and a perfect 70 degrees. We rode the whole thing in about 4 hours, and finished up with a beer and the fantastic barbeque at Country Boys in Cashmere

 

Ready for the down!

 

 Kendall on the trail, Tronsen Ridge in the background.