Chikamin Creek

An overcast, misty sky greeted us as we drove over Steven's Pass toward Leavenworth early on a recent Saturday. Close to Lake Wenatchee is the Chikamin creek trail system that boasts many miles of great singletrack. Kendall and I parked at the trailhead off the Chiwawa River Road and rode the gravel road up 8 miles to the intersection of the Chikamin trail and the trail that leads left up to the Mad Lake area (the name escapes me). The bit of rain that had come down created perfect trail conditions, so the grunty little sections as we climbed up had perfect traction. It's only 4 miles to the intersection of the other trails but it climbs 1500'.

We turned around at the intersection and enjoyed some of the fastest, smoothest downhill in the state. Then after crossing the road we continued down the Chikamin creek trail, before branching left to Chikamin ridge. The ridge provides that little extra, several steep sections where you really have to dig deep at the end of the day. About 3 miles from the cutoff we headed back across the creek (and up one more steep section - which I made with a herculean effort) and back to the car. A fantastic 2.5 hour ride.

Mt. Adams

"Forget Rainier, let's go do Adams - we can even get a ride in on the way down." That was Aaron's comment Saturday morning as we looked at the forecast for Mt. Rainier: 40 mile an hour average wind speed on the summit. That, combined with the general unpleasantness of a long slog in with a heavy pack made the decision quite easy.


Mt. Adams is the much more accessible peak to the south, coming in at 12,200'. The west face provides two excellent skiing lines: the popular SW Chutes and the less travelled Avalanche Glacier.



The "ride" was a 3-hour mountain bike ride at Little Baldy in the Naches, which we did Saturday before driving to Hood River for dinner - finally making it to the Cold Springs campground at about 11:3o pm.

We started out from camp at a leisurely 8am, and made the summit by 3pm. We were able to skin almost the entire way - starting just after we reached snow about 2 miles from camp.

This is the view of the mountain as you hit the snowline on the South Summit trail.



It was a gorgeous day for skinning; bright sun and t-shirts only required. We went left of the main trail, and were able to stay on snow and take a more direct route than we would have otherwise.






Once at the summit the wind had picked up to about 20mph, and while not bad, it was enough to keep us moving. We dropped into the gap between the summit and the northern peak, and had about 2,000' of perfect corn at a nice 35-40 degree slope.














Once off the steeper section we ended beneath the SW chutes, found the Around the Mountain trail at 6,200', and walked out by 6pm. All in all a fantastic day.

The first photo below shows the route, the second is a close-up of the main ski run.

Devil's Gulch and Little Bald Mountain

Devil's Gulch, the best mountain bike ride in Washington, continues to deliver the goods this summer. The road to the main parking area is still washed out, so you have to go to the base of the Red Devil trail (past the crazy guy's collection of cars, dogs and garbage). We started on the Red Devil trail for a little 1000' warm up, then up the road 13 miles to the start of the trail proper. It was a perfect 75 degree Saturday and although we didn't start until about 3:00, there was plenty of light and it cooled as we climbed up. The trail has been well maintained and improved in the lower section, where it was deteriorating on the steep hillside.

Sunday we drove to Naches and the Little Bald Mountain ride. We parked near the Sawmill Flat campground (Hwy 410, Milepost 91), and rode up road 7106 to the trail (196?). A bit rocky to start, then some ridge riding, but some of the fastest, smoothest downhill rewards you at sections near the top and bottom. A cloudy day with the temp about 70, but dry and fast. Great views as you descend the ridge on the trail.

North Fork Taneum Creek - Mountain Biking

Summer is coming late in Seattle this year, but we had a glorious Saturday at Taneum on June 5. We parked where the Cle Elum Ridge Trail crosses the road, started down that trail then hooked up with the N Fork Taneum Creek Trail. This is an undulating single track that snakes for miles along Taneum creek, with fun downhills and and some good grunts uphill. The recent rain made for a very muddy trail, so much so that when we popped out at our turnaround spot we decided to take the road back. After much debate between Kendall and Aaron about the proper direction, we set off thinking we were taking a short cut but not sure.
Of course it wasn't a short cut, and in fact after another hour on the road we were forced to get back on the Cle Elum Ridge Trail for a final 5 miles of pain before reaching our car. My buddies are some of the fittest people I know, but after 5 hours in the saddle we were pretty worked.

The views on this ride are great - you snake along the river and because you're going so slow, you have a chance to see the scenery a bit. A few creek crossings make it interesting, and there are so many miles of trails that you can go all day if you want.

Washington Pass, North Cascades, May 9 2010

My first tour at Washington Pass was some of the best I've ever experienced. Incredible scenery with jagged peaks all around, a blue-sky day with no wind and demanding yet sane touring. We started at the hairpin and did the Birthday Tour - Here's Aaron looking fresh prior to the exertion...

The first climb took us past Blue Lake to the top of the ridge

Then around a large cornice to reach the top

Here's looking back at what was waiting for us on the other side - the first ski - Madison Ave. Great corn snow on top, a little thick at the bottom.





After climbing out of this basin we hit the next run that takes you back toward the hairpin. This is Kendall showing how it's done...

But we were not finished yet. I think the Birthday tour is about 4ooo', and we needed just a little more - so we headed up to the top of the couloir (I forget the name) you see here, approximately another 2500'. That was about it for me.

Here's the view from the top - you can just see the hairpin at the bottom. A little squall came in as we reached the top, but we never lost visibility and had a good run back to the car.

North Cascades Plan

Highway 20 is open and we're planning to tour at Washington Pass this weekend. The weather has been unseasonably cold and they received some snow this past week. It's supposed to get warmer, into the 60s this weekend and I'll post a full report.

View from the top of Cabin Run