June 26, Chinook Pass

Steve Sandberg drops in for the first run of the day.


Kelly motivated me to go ski Chinook Pass with him. He had talked about skiing Chinook Pass a couple of months prior. I am sure he did not realize the pass would take until June 23 to open. Chinok offers some great end of season skiing. It's pretty nice to be able to start on snow, right from car, in June. Kelly, also, invited his buddy Steve, to keep the pace manageable. Steve had the full downhill setup with heavy Volkl powder skis and Marker duke bindings paired to his Dalbello Pro boots. Kelly took the lightweight approach and borrowed a dynafit setup from me. Steve might have been a little more worked by his heavy equipment, but he looked pretty happy, once he pointed the skis downhill. Did the Naches Peak circumnavigation. Parked just on the East side of the pass, then circled clockwise into the nice backside bowl. Took two runs on the back then dropped the frontside back down to the highway. Timing was perfect as we followed the warming snow around Naches Peak.



Steve

Kelly boots the final pitch to the summit ridge

Kelly

Steve

Still a little bit of the snowpack left.

June 23, Taneum

Took the green dot roads over to Taneum and enjoyed the entire area, by ourselves, as the main access road was washed out this spring.  Pushed Francine's limit on some of the rugged singletrack.


Francine rides through a meadow. 


June 15-19, Bend with Bob

Signed up for another Evergreen MTB assoc. ride organized by Bob Bournique.  Location was Bend, OR., with camping right in the middle of the "Phil's" trail system.   We had about twenty riders, and either I am getting slower, or the standard is getting much higher.  Everyone was in great shape, and Bob punished us for our fitness by laying out some excellent long rides, all starting from camp.

Bob rails around a corner on Mrazek trail

Ken cruising

Half the group

Last day - Gray Butte

Good views / Good descents

Post ride jump!
THURSDAY 6/16 - 28 miles:  KGB - GS - down lower Storm King - up Funner - down Tiddlywinks - Storm King - COD - 4610 road - GS - KGB.
FRIDAY 6/17 - 30.5 miles:  Marvin's Garden - Phils Trail to Helipad - down Storm King - up Deschutes River Trail to Benham Falls for lunch.  Back down Deschutes River Trail to Entrada Lodge - up COD - Marvin's Garden.
SATURDAY 6/18 - 32.5 miles:  Marvin's Garden - Ben's - Skyliner - up 4601 road - down Mrazek - 4606 road to Phil's - Marvin's Garden.
SUNDAY 6/19 - 15 miles:  Grey Butte loop with out an back to Burma Road, and down the trail to Skull Hollow.

June 9, Syncline

Third day of riding.  Maybe we should of picked something with less climbing.  However the views made it all worth the climb.  Unfortunately, we took Hidden Valley trail down, which was narrow, sidehill, and had occasional tough rock sections, all flanked by poison oak.  Next time will do a more moderate trail for the downhill.


June 8, Post Canyon, Hood River

We've ridden Post Canyon for years and years.  Our host at the house we rented for 3 days, David, offered to lead us around.  He took us up Seven Streams, our normal up route to the Family Man area.  We then hit 8-Track, a new trail for us.  At the intersection of The Boot Trail, David had to head back for an appointment, so we continued on without him.  Did The Boot Trail and the new Twin Peaks Trail.  Started heading up Upper 8-Track, but turned around as we didn't want to climb, and didn't have a map.  Took Trail 158 as a sweet descent.  Then went up to Mitchell Ridge and down to the car.  These were probably the best dirt conditions we have had.  Not slippery, very few puddles, and perfect dirt.  It is nice to see the improvements and new trails added to the system.  New signage is also nice, even if they use numbers instead of trail names.  14 miles.

Kevin at the bottom of a sweet descent on Trail 158

Trail name that only a County land manager could love.

June 7, Hood River - Hospital Hill

Headed to Hood River with Francine for three days of riding, around the town of Hood River.  Today, we paid our toll to cross the Hood River Bridge and drove to the hospital in White Salmon, Wa..  Rising above the hospital is a huge hill that has some tasty singletrack.  We tried to make the tough climb to the top even harder by doing the switchbacks from hell (millenium trail).  With the hillside falling away and thanks to the cattle grazing the area, we were barely able to climb the thin ribbon of trail.  Once up top we had stellar views and enjoyed perfectly tacky trails.  A bit of work, but a sweet ride.  13 miles, lots of up.


Francine -Millenium trail - Hospital Hill




June 3, Birthday Tour, North Cascade Highway

Only car in the lot!

Frank leads the way on day two.

The gang

Greg kicks steps to the top of the next valley


Greg

Tom

Greg

Frank


Climbing to Copper Pass

Greg drops in from Copper Pass

Kevin