Dec. 28 Alpental

Still riding the mountain bike, more than skiing.  Hooked up with Seth and Greg this Saturday to get few turns in, on the crunchy slopes of Alpental.  The ground is fairly well covered, but the skiing was horrible, due to the rains of yesterday and the cooler temps of today.  Everything below the fan, to the base, totally sucked.  The top half of the mountain was okay.   Weather was gorgeous and as usual, just glad to be out skiing.
Seth and Kevin topping out, "Chair 2 Summit"

Lower slopes, Alpental


Seth and Greg wind their way up Meister.

Dec. 20 Alpental

Thin snowpack, thick snow, still skiing.
Don Hecker skinning up gunmount.

Don on Debbie's Gold

Don

Kevin

Dec 12, Crystal Mt. Ski Resort

Kevin and Greg Louie

Francine had the day off and was itching to get outside.  With the forecast a little uncertain we headed for Crystal Mt., picking up Greg Louie along the way.  The ski conditions were surprisingly good.  Nice packed powder that was very carveable.  The snow base was a little thin, but we did very little damage to our skis and the ground was pretty well covered everywhere we went.   The sun was even shining most of the morning.  Now, if we can only get a little more up at Snoqualmie.

Oct 30/31 Dirt Riding in the Teanaway

Couldn't get my ride buddies lined up for the same day, so ended up riding two days in a row, over the Teanaway Valley.  Can't complain.

Eric Rides Rock

Scott

Oct 15, Chinook Pass

Kevin boots up from highway 410, Chinook Pass

Greg and I missed the powder dump about a week ago.   Greg still needed to get some October turns, and with no precipitation in sight, we thought we might as well enjoy the sunshine.   We considered hiking up to Green Valley at Crystal, but the idea of driving to 5,400' convinced us to try Chinook.  Snow was looking a little thin, but there was snow on the ground at the parking lot.  We hiked around to our usual spring, north facing slope, and were pleasantly surprised to see pretty good coverage.  Snow was firm, but softening in the sunshine.  We took four laps and called it a day.  We both agreed that we had never worked so little for October turns.  Pretty nice to step out of the car and have snow in October.


Greg skins up the slope

fall corn snow

Day 1 of the new season!

Kevin 



Oct. 13, Rocky Top - Yakima

Kevin navigates the rocks, below the summit of Rocky Top.
Francine had been hearing news of some new trails being built on the hillside above Yakima.   We usually hit Yakima in the spring and head for Cowiche Canyon.  This new area "Rocky Top" is just south of Cowiche canyon.  I believe the bulk of the trail was built this spring.  We ended up doing an 11 mile lollipop loop.  Weather was perfect and we enjoyed blue skis.   As always, whenever considering riding in the Yakima area, check the wind forecast, before you make the drive.  High winds can suck the fun out of these areas.   I brought the hardtail and would have really appreciated some rear suspnsion.  The trail is quite "fresh" and will take some time for the bumps to smooth out.  Not to mention, there are a lot of rocks.  We did a clockwise loop, and generally rode the entire perimeter of the area.  Singletrack starts from parking area, on the Wholly Moses trail - to Green Harvester - to Orange Harvester - then stayed left and left to climb up towards the summit of Rocky Top.  After a steep initial descent, the trail gets more interesting as it works its way along the edges of the area.  Of course, would be much more fun with a bike that has rear suspension.   Nice loop, needs some more usage and work to smooth out the rough spots, but nice to see something new getting built.




Oct 10, Devil's Gulch

Always a hellacious climb.   Trailhead parking lot was open, contrary to reports of road being washed out.  We parked two miles down the road at an open gate, due to reports that the trailhead was still inaccessible.  Trail was in awesome shape, other than a few side creeks had run big during the last rain event.  Quite a bit of erosion at the three stream crossings.  We rode up devil's gulch until it intersected with the mission ridge trail.  Went a couple of miles further, but whimped out and didn't go to the top, about another mile.  It was pretty chilly, the clouds were moving in, and our legs were wearing thin.  Ended up with 25.6 miles including the additional 4 miles on road.   Downhill was a treat, but you definitely pay for it with a grunt of a climb.


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Sept 21, Roslyn/ Rat Pack/ Canyon #6

Decided to head east to avoid the rain.  Trails were primo above Roslyn. then we hit Rat Pack, which was about as good as I have seen it.  Still not fully wiped out, we climbed the logging road back up towards the ridge and dropped into Canyon #6 to finish in Roslyn.  Beautiful day.  13.5 miles.

Trail conditions were making Francine happy

Steep

Same shot - zoomed in.

Sept. 12, Roberts Creek Trails, Sunshine Coast BC

Kevin switchbacks down Highway 103


Yesterday we rode the Hwy 102 trail.  Today, we need to ride the Hwy 103 trail.  When we were bombing down the mystery trail two days ago, we ran into a biker.  She told us how she climbs the trails in the area, so we followed her advice.  We parked in the same spot under the powerlines, like two days ago.  We headed out the Powerlines to climb on Black Tower.  Took that all the way to Cunning Stunts.  Climbed to the road and went up DNZ, as it was in the shade compared to the road.  We were climbing a downhill flow trail with jumps, rollers and gaps.  But generally, we could go around the features.  Hit a doubletrack and continued climbing.  Originally, we were going to climb Janet's Jungle, to get up to the Dude's Bypass trail.  Janet's Jungle trail was going straight up hill, so we continued our nice contour on the doubletrack.  After two more intersections, we were at the bottom of Grant's Grind, where we were two days ago.  Continued on the double track to the next right, and climbed the double track that turned to trail in the clearcut.  Hit a double track and went left.  Didn't go right at the next intersection, but went right at the second intersection, which put us at the bottom of Guy's Gulch, where we had been 2 days ago.  We were so beat at this point two days ago.  Our route choice up today was much easier.

Yet, another bridge, this one crossing a big creek.  Hwy 103 Trail.


Headed up Guy's Gulch to the doubletrack, went right, and made our way to the start of Hwy 103 trail.  Continued climbing on the 103 trail to the top.  On the descent we went right on Red Baron Trail, a "blue square" trail.  This basically went straight down the mountain.  Another painful loss of elevation for Francine, who did quite a bit of walking.  Hit the road, went right, and left onto Charlie Brown to Pumpkin Patch to Lost'n'Found to Patrick's Pass to Black Tower.   Once we hit the powerlines, Francine opted to take Black Tower down to the house, like two days ago. 

Tomorrow we pack up and head home.  Oh - tomorrow is our 16th wedding anniversary.


Sept. 11, Sprockids Mountain Bike Park, Gibsons, BC

5 Way - Heading out Hwy 101 trail to Hwy 102 trail

 We originally discussed driving to Gibsons (15 minutes?) to park the car at the Langdale Ferry, taking the bus back to the house, and starting a point-to-point ride to the car, utilizing a big climb to Hwy 103 trail to Hwy 102 trail to Sprockids Park descending all the way to the ferry at Langdale.  We quickly lost enthusiasm for organizing the bus thing.  So, we drove to the Sprockids Mountain Bike Park in Gibsons instead. 


Lots of practice riding log bridges


We climbed the doubletrack from the car to the Skills Centre.  Found Rock’n’Root to start climbing on Technical Ecstacy to Sidewinder.  We really enjoyed the buff, pine needled trail conditions on Sidewinder.  They even made the steep grade somewhat tolerable.  At a 5 way, went straight onto Hwy 101 trail to Hwy 102 trail.  Continued our climb on the Hwy 102 trail to its end at the B&K Logging road.  Turned around and bombed back on Hwy 102 trail to the 5 way.  Here, we continued up on Sidewinder Up.  Continued up on Pressure Drop.  Went thru many intersections, staying on Pressure Drop.  The signage in the Park is great, but there wasn’t always a “you are here” marker, so you didn’t always know where you were on the map.  Bypassed “Torrent Trail” as the sign said it was REAL steep.  So was Pressure Drop, which was a painful loss of elevation, straight down the hillside.  Ended up on Upper Flume and Lower Flume.  Right next to Upper flume was a nice looking Flow type trail that we should have taken.  Went by the sign that said “Trial to the Ferry”, so since we didn’t park waaay down there, we went right, and the trail dropped us out right at the car.  Nice way to end the ride.  14 miles.Headed








Sept. 10, Roberts Creek, Sunshine Coast BC


Today we rode out the Powerlines, up Black Tower to Patrick’s Pass to Lost’n’Found to continue climbing up Pumpkin Patch, which was on the edge of a clear cut.  Went left on a dirt road to the main B&K logging road.  Climbed about ¼ mile and went left at the next road intersection for another ¼ mile to find Dude’s Bypass on the left.  Contoured here, and took the third left down on Grant’s Grind.  This dropped us out on a doubletrack dirt road where we went right and right again at the next intersection.  We  climbed the double track which turned into singletrack near a clearcut.  Hit another doubletrack, went left and right again, still climbing.  Saw a faint trail on the left and took that.  Hit an intersection, went right and started heading straight up.  Continued up and up, with much hike-a-biking until we hit a road. 
We were confused as this trail did not seem to be on the map, but we found our location by turning right on this road to the next intersection, where we found the start of Hwy 103 trail.  We were fairly pooped, and thought we just climbed Suzies Q, but it wasn’t on the correct place on the map.  So, we bombed down the mystery trail we just climbed.  Went right at the intersection we were at earlier and contoured over to the bottom of Guy’s Gulch trail at a 4 way.  Save that one for another day.  Went straight onto Up’n’Over and down to JB Connector.  Climbed this to the doubletrack and went left at the next intersection to climb to the Mach Chicken Downhill.  Descended and crossed a road and continued our descent onto Sleepy Hollow.  Crossed another road and rode out Rod’s Rocky Road to the Circle Loop.  Circle Loop had been clearcut, so rode around the circle down to the powerline road.  Went left to the car.

Francine added on about 1.5 miles, by continuing out the powerlines about ½ a mile to take a right onto Black Tower.  This trail dropped down to Malcom Creek Road which crossed the highway 101.  Descended on gravel road to a “T” and went right.  At the end of the street was a trail that cut thru the woods “Roberts Creek S??? District public way trail that dropped out on Robinson and a left onto a street just opposite from our treet, Stephens.  Sweet descent to the house.  14 miles.

Sept. 9, Roberts Creek Oceanfront House, Sunshine Coast BC



Todday, we moved into our waterfront beach house.  We took today off from biking and relaxed in the hottub and Adirondack chairs on the lawn.

Kevin basking in the sun

 
 
Francine hiding in the shade

 
Early Morning Calm
 
 
 

Sept, 8, West Sechelt, Sunshine Coast B.C.

Day two found us with weary legs and some steep climbs.  Last nights ride was a little longer than we planned.  The guy in the bike shop yesterday recommended we start today’s ride from our B&B, but since this ride went higher than last night’s ride, we opted to park the car higher.  The trails around here are quite steep. 


Log bridge practice

Francine riding a wide log bridge
 

Headed up super steep Duroid Hill Road, hike-a-biking most of the way, about a mile.  Saw a faint doubletrack that was hopefully our trail.  Went left and continued our climb onto Easy Street, right onto Over Easy and started contouring on Desoto.  Went down on Skullduggery to Beaver Pond.  Climbed to Crowston Lake on Parbac to really start climbing on VFR.  This lead to a steep downhill VFR. Rode VFR to the bottom of Addernach to Lees’s Big Easy, the low point of the ride.  Now we started climbing again to get to the car.  Rode 4D to 3D to the PowerLine trail back to the car.  13 miles. 

Sept 7, Sunshine Coast - Halfmoon Bay

Ferry boat ride to the Sunshine Coast, B.C.
We checked into Nestledown B&B for a 2 night stay in the Halfmoon Bay area.  We think the Sunshine Coast is to Vancouver, like the San Juans are to Seattle.  Only a 45 minute ferry ride from Vancouver gets you to the Sunshine Coast.  Rushed out to ride, at 4pm. 
Rode up Litttle Knives trail in Halfmoon Bay
Rolled down the Lower Road to Sargeant Bay Provincial Park to start our ride.  Headed up Roller Coaster and up Little Knives to the Highway (101).  We rode on gorgeous, moss and pine needle covered trails.  Signage was also nice.  Crossed the highway to Trout Lake.  Then headed on Lumpy, back to the Highway.  Headed up June and up Missing Link, Wally and Fork Off, still climbing up to Woodpecker Ridge.  Finally, after about 7 miles, we started heading downhill. 
Lots of moss and pine needles.

Francine
Hit Datsun Alley to Pterodactyl.  Took a new trail off of Pterodactyl, called Toe.  This took us down, bordering private houses, and well below where we needed to be.  The next trail was called Tac, and we started climbing again.  We were ready to be done, as we needed to eat dinner.  We assumed we still needed to ride Tic, and were still climbing.  After Tic, we kept climbing on Out & In.  Hit Sprockids Run to the school, which finally stopped climbing.  From here it was a long downhill on pavement to the B&B.  Had we known the local trails a little better, and had a better map (which we purchased later), we could have stayed on trails longer.  12.4 miles.

August 30, Crystal Mt.

Crystal Mt. ride with Chris, Corrine, Heather, and Francine.  Trail was a major grunt going up, but was in great shape for the descent.   Always a tough, fun, ride.

Heather leads the pack up the ridge.

Heather, Francine, Chris, Corrine, and Kevin
Mt. Rainier is obscured in the gray.

Chris cruising down Lucky Shot

Corrine drops down to Lower Henskin Lake

August 29, Miller Peak

As usual, great ride.

Vic - Miller Peak in background



August 27, Moto the Middle Fork

Went creeking on the Middle Fork of the Teanaway with Vic.  Unfortunately the first creek flooded Vic's bike and it sputtered most of the rest of the day.  After about 8 crossings and lots of brush we gave up and turned around.

Vic with wet feet

Skirting the deep end on our way home.


August 11, Duthie Ride

Hooked up with Chris, Heather, and Mike, with Eleni in the backpack, to do some laps at Duthie.  Trails were in great shape and it's always fun to see so many mountain bikers in one place.  

Kevin, Mike, and Eleni (future mountain biker)

August 5, Post Canyon / Windsurf

We took yesterday off from riding.  This morning we got up bright and early and did another ride at Post Canyon before we had to check out of our rental house.  The wind was picking up, so decided to windsurf for a couple of hours, before heading home.  Wind was really nice and steady and made for a great day.

Kevin starting to get up on a plane.  Consistent winds with a 6.0 sail made for a fun day.

August 3, 2013, Hood River Day 3 – High Prairie

Francine climbing Cook's Meadow trail

Our legs are getting a little tired.  Even though our rides have been short, there seems to be a lot of climbing on the rides.   We decided to do a new ride for us, High Prairie.  We parked at the intersection of Forest Road 44 and FR120 at elev. 4550 feet. Went west on FR44, and painfully descended on pavement about 2.5 miles and approx. 500 feet to Surveryor’s Ridge Trail #688.  (In the future, we would recommend climbing Trail 474 to FR 1720.  Left here to FR44, to hopefully get a trail descent instead.) 

Rode Trail #688 for about ¼ mile and went left on Cooks Meadow Trail #639 at 2.7 miles.  The trail immediately crosses FR44, and starts out with a good grunt, making you think you will be hike-a-biking for miles.  Luckily, it has seen re-routes with rideable switchbacks and traverses across the hill, definitely made by mountain bikers.  Even though this was a grunt, the grade was really rideable for almost the entire trail.  This trail was in great condition for Hood River in August.  We climbed up to around 5,200 feet and descended a couple of hundred feet to gravel FR4410 at 6.7 miles.  Went left here and climbed 2 miles to 6,000 feet at High Prairie.  Went left on FR4420 and descended for 1.2 miles to the Eight Mile Creek Trail #450.  Here we went left on the trail #450 for our 4.5 mile descent to the car.  Bypassed the 15 mile creek trail on the right on our way down.  Trails were in great condition.  Fun ride.  15 miles.

Cruising downhill at the junction of 8 mile and 15 mile creek trails