August 23, Galbraith trails, Bellingham Day 2

We checked out of our AirBnB ground floor 2bedroom unit and tried to get an early start for today's ride.  We started at the south, main parking lot near Galbraith Lane.  Francine's bike computer battery was dead, so we tried to use her "Hike-n-Bike" app on her phone, but it didn't record anything, so we don't know how many miles we rode today.

Rode up Galbraith Lane and turned right on the second road, went thru two gates, and headed for the climbing trail, 3 Pigs (Brick, Stick & Straw).  These were sweet, easy climbs compared to what we have at home for steepness.  At the end of 3 Pigs, we went right on the Towers Road 3000 to the top.  Being a Saturday, we saw lots of bikers climbing the Towers Road.  They were all friendly and told us which way to go at the intersections, which kept us from pulling out our map.

At the top, we ran into some more friendly bikers.  After a break, and getting directions on how to get to our descending trail, we headed off on Evolution, with an immediate right onto Wonderland.  Descended on Naughty Nelly to the just opened Keystone trail.  The local bike club, WHIMPS, just finished the bridge yesterday, which meant we could descend on Keystone.  Hit the road, and realized we missed the intersection for Bottle Opener.  Really glad we retraced our steps to climb back up and hit Bottle Opener, as it was totally in the trees, with damp, tacky dirt full of pine needles.  Then we went left to traverse on Kaiser, (which had seen recent logging) until it hit the Towers Road 3000, at the top of the 3Pigs trail.  We were here earlier in the day.

Climbed the Towers Road a short distance this time, past the Red Rock  (locater rock painted red) to descend on Pump Track, The Sh*t, Eagle Scout and Atomic Dog.  Atomic Dog ended just below the start of the 3 Pigs trail.  We weren't done yet, so we climbed the first section of the 3 Pigs trail, went left on Pony Express, and finished the day on Dog Patch (new fun trail) to Last Call for a third little downhill of the day.  They were really fun trails with swoopy corners and tacky dirt.

All in all, the trails conditions were fantastic for late August.  They have done a sweet job of building easy grade climbing trails, with multiple options for descents.  We aren't sure why it has taken us so long to come back to Galbraith.  The last time we were here, years & years ago, we were totally lost and really couldn't find the trails from our poor map.

The current map is great.  Intersections for trails and roads are well marked.  They even have Emergency Checkpoints that correspond to the map for reference on where you are.  Signage is great.  Navigation was a breeze.  I think we always knew where we were.  Great couple of days.

August 22, Galbraith Birch Street Trailhead, Bellingham

Found a nice Basement 2 Bedroom Unit in Bellingham on AirBNB.  Parked at the tiny north trailhead at Birch Street, a small parking area with room for about 8 cars, and totally in the shade.  It has been about 10 or more years since we have ridden in Bellingham.  We have heard good things about Galbraith, and it didn't dissappoint.  After the technical trails of Squamish, Francine was quite happy to find smoother trails.  We stopped by Fanatik bike shop to buy the map and get trail recommendations.  The guy in the shop recommended a great Cross Country route.  Francine told him she didn't want the super steep trails with drops and steeps, but was looking for the "Cross Country" trails.  He delivered.

Climbed Miranda Trail, Ridge Trail, Cedar Dust, Bandito, up Tough Love climbing trail, Kung Fu Theater, Here to There, Pick Up Sticks, Fire Circle, and down El Pollo Elastico.  Next we started climbing again up Intestine to Cleavage to Rd 2510 and left onto Rd 2520 to the "G" Aid Checkpoint and a little further to the new Shelter built by an Eagle Scout for his project.  After a short rest & food, we descended Cabin and 187.  187 was a nice bermed downhill trail.  Then we climbed Cougar and Cabin Trail to get back at the shelter at the top.

We had a sweet descent on Golden Spike to SST to Back Door.  Then we had a slight climb thru the neighborhood to get back on the Ridge Trail and a nice descent on Miranda back to the car.  We are so glad we made sure to hit Golden Spike for our last descent to the car.  Golden Spike seemed to be a new flow trail, with jumps (all with ride-arounds), which was in the shade, with damp, tacky dirt with pine needles.  It was real fun.

Oh, the dirt here was perfect for August.  Basically we had hardpan dirt with lost of pine needles.  11 miles.

August 20 - 21, 2014 Whistler

Renata called because she was taking a last minute Birthday trip to go to a Downhill Mountain Biking Camp at Whistler.  Kevin had to work on Tuesday, so Francine jumped on the chance to go ride in Whistler.

Wednesday - she rode the Zappa trails at Lost Lake.  13 miles.

Thursday - she rode Cut Yer Bars, Emerald Forest, Barts Dark Trail and River Runs Thru It.  10 miles.

Renata was in "downhill biking camp" until 4pm, and they headed back to the US, where she dropped Francine off in Bellingham to meet Kevin, where they would bike the Galbraith Mountain trails for two days.

August 20, Moto

Finally got Scott back out on his motorcycle.  First real ride since he blew his ACL riding on a motocross track.  We kept the day fairly mellow and headed over to Lost Lake and Scott pointed out ski lines from back in the day, when he was working with Cascade Powder Cats.  Roads were nicely graded, and will be better with a little more moisture.

Scott and Vic

Backside of Tinkham Peak - Looks skiable,
Silver Peak on the right

Stump Lake  (Keechelus)

August 15, Roslyn

With lots of rainfall, we headed to Roslyn as the sun started to dry out the trails.  Trails were perfect dirt and the new trails below the cell tower were riding great.  12 miles - Roslyn trails

August 10-12, Whistler Bike Park

Thanks to my neighbor Scott Sumner for organizing his annual guys trip to Whistler.   We arrived Sunday morning and were on the lifts by 11:00.   Enjoyed not having to pedal uphill, but it's pretty amazing how tiring downhill mountain biking can be.  We did 13,000 feet of descending our first day covering about 24 miles incl. chair lift rides.   Scott, Steve and I were all pretty much the same speed, so it was fun chasing each other around all day.  Glad no injuries.  Would be very easy to have a bad wipe-out.  Did another full day on Monday, then Tuesday we paid for the 3 ride ticket, 35 bucks, and rode from 9:30 till noon.

Kevin gets airtime on Crank It Up  -  Photo by Coast Mt. Photograhy

Scott on Dirt Merchant

Scott

Scott on Freight Train

Kevin

Steve Topp - Dirt Merchant

Scott and Steve - Top of Garbanzo lift.

Scott, Kevin, and Steve

Post ride Drinks at the Longhorn

Steve

Steve

Scott

August 6, Baker City Oregon, Elkhorn Crest Trail

Francine's ride description:
18 mile pedal mainly up
 mile18 - 20  - walk with bike
mile 20-20.79 sort of back on the bike
20.79 - 24.65 - downhill

24.65 - 31.65 painful elevation loss downhill on jeep road

Scenery gorgeous.  Felt like we went uphill all day with no or little descending as a reward for our effort.  South end of trail had a lot of loose rock on trail.   Probably would recommend going other direction, but harder to set up a shuttle that way.   Perhaps with dedicated driver and good 4wd vehicle to get up road at South end.

Francine at the 6:15am start to try and beat the heat

Don happy that it is cold out still

Don with smoke in the background

Francine

Kevin in our only patch of snow on the trail

One of the two downhill trail sections

Kevin & Don answering the phone call from God

You can see Don in the lower left.  Our trail is in the right, middle of the picture.

We think some heavy rain within the last two weeks
 washed away the trail and covered it with rocks

This must be between mile 20 to 20.79 where Francine
 was back on the bike more than she was walking

Don on the 3 mile downhill to Marble Pass

Francine at Marble Pass, the end of the Elkhorn Crest Trail 24.65 miles.
  We still get to lose a painful few thousand feet on a dirt road.

We saw I-phone photos some hikers took of the big goats
 on the hoods of the trucks, with the kids running around
 them on the ground