Adams June 8

Adams is probably my favorite trip of the year - I block out 5 weeks between June 1 and July 4 to await the opening of the road to Cold Springs, perfect weather and partner availability to make it happen. My wife understands, but doesn't love it. This year the road opened earlier than usual in June, and there were trip reports from the end of May saying the corn cycle had set up nicely. John and I headed down on a Saturday night, arriving last at the camp ground at about 11 (as is customary for us for some reason). Luckily I only drank one beer so had a great sleep, and we decided to slumber until 6 as there's no need to get up there too early. Two of us were fast too - we started at 7 and summited by 1:30. John is a great partner - enthusiastic, collaborative, fit and fun. He appreciates the fact that a day on Adams is a gem not to be taken for granted. Perfect corn harvesting off the top (lookers right of the main track from the false summit to the true summit) and down the SW Chutes. Of course a bit of bushwhacking to get out, but not too bad and overall a spectacular day. With about 7,000 feet of climbing, you're leaving all your worries on the mountain. Looking forward to the next one...

Let's Ride!

The nice weather has been drying out the trails around town and I was psyched to try some of the three new ones the Evergreen MTB Alliance opened up this year at Tiger. Four of us (Loern, John, Kendall and I) rode up to the top of the East Tiger Summit on a beautiful Saturday, talked it up with several other riders before heading down to Preston then up to Fully Rigid. A few technical challenges and a mostly dry trail made for a great ride. We met a guy up there who steered us away from Swamp (?) trail so we rode up the road from the end of Preston, and down Fully Rigid to Joy Ride. Some nice drops (mellow for the Duthie crowd) and technical moves on Fully Rigid make for an interesting ride, but I would definitely like to see some faster downhill sections up there.

All in all a fantastic Saturday out with the boys.
 

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.