June 29, Last day of Vacation - Cooks Meadow and new Cooks Meadow Extension

Today is Kevin's 50th Birthday.

Last fall, they finally put in a connector trail that eliminates the 2 mile stretch of gravel road at the end of the Cooks Meadow Trail, to the top of the ride.  We heard it was snow free, with only a few trees to climb over, so we had to go for it.

Headed up the Knebal Springs Trail to the Super Connector.

Kevin and Hiker at intersection with Super Connector trail

Francine, Kevin, Holly and Seth

After the Super Connector, we rode Surveyor's Ridge trail to the start of the Cooks Meadow Trail.  Once the trail hits the road, we easily found the Cooks Meadow Extension.  It was a new, hand-built trail that got us off the gravel road, and climbed to the high point of 6,000 feet.

Holly Davis

Seth Davis

Holly on Cooks Meadow Extension

Holly

Seth and Holly at top of ride in the meadow at top of Cooks Meadow Trail  6000 feet

Holly and Seth

Holly

The descent on the Lookout Mountain trail back down to the 44Road was in the best shape we have ever ridden.  The berms were all intact, and you could really lean into all the corners, as they were still solid and not blown out.  All the trails in Hood River right are still super solid, due to the rain in mid June.  Primo conditions everywhere.  It will be hard to match these conditions again.  Plus the wild flowers were out.

Tonite we start packing and head home tomorrow.  It's been a busy, action packed month.  We will go home and rest from our vacation.

June 28, 8 Mile and Knebal Springs

Today Kevin took the day off to kite board.

Francine and Holly went out to the 44 Road area.  Holly wanted to ride more than the 10 miles Knebal Springs loop, so we rode both 8 Mile and Knebal Springs, for a 16 mile loop.  After we got home, Seth rushed up to do the same ride solo.

Holly near top of Knebal Springs climb.

This used to be a clear cut.  The trees are growing, and it was hard to find one with the usual view of Mt. Hood.

June 27, Kingsley Shuttle Again

Mt Hood across Kingsley Reservoir,     Photo by Holly

Route is dialed.   Trail conditions are still great.   Seth and Holly arrived yesterday.   Yesterday we did some loops starting from family man in Post Canyon.    This morning it was just Kevin and Holly.  Francine went to Yoga and took a needed day off from biking.  Seth was meeting a friend for a bike ride later in the day.  They did a monster ride with a friend (30+ miles), who amazingly lives about 5 houses down the street.  They rode up to the Kingsley Reservoir (where we have been shuttling) and back down.

Seth and Eli dropped Kevin and Holly off at Kingsley reservoir.   Great view across the lake looking back at Mt. Hood.    Saw one small trout caught.  Temps were almost cool.   Descent back to town was a lot of fun.

Holly enjoying day 2 in Hood River on Trail #133 Borderline

June 26, Monday, Manion Clan Departs

Good few days with the Manion clan    Got some good pedals and a few nice days at the beach.  It was Hot, like 100 degree hot.  Luckily it was slightly cooler at the river.  Heather and Kevin got the morning session before they check out of their rental by 11am and head back to Seattle.

Mike carves a turn near the finish of Mitchell Ridge Trail

Layla, Mike, Sunny, Eleni, and Heather,
 in front of their cute rental just 3 houses down the street.

June 25, Sunday Hood River

Today is going to be hot.  101 is predicted.

We celebrated Kevin's 50th birthday early, as Pat and Larry & Kris/Jack were around.

Kevin and Eleni

Kevin - the birthday boy

June 22 thru 24th, Thursday thru Saturday

The house fills up again.  Pat and Larry, and Kris and Jack arrived today. We had Larry drive us up to Kingsley, and Kris, Kevin and Francine had a fun evening run down Sexy Beast-Dirt Surfer, Bad Moto Scotter, Grand Prix, Middle School, 7Streams.  Kris had a great time and it was a fun ride.

Francine & Kris at road intersection of Dirt Surfer and Trail #160

Mike, Heather, Eleni, and twins Sunny and Laila came in late to their rental house, just 3 houses down the street.  With Mike and Heather trading out on kid duty, we had morning rides and later rides going on.

June 23, Friday had Kevin, Mike and Jack riding Post Canyon with a mini bump-shuttle to the "Near Family Man" area.

Jack near bottom of Mitchell Ridge trail

Later Friday, Francine and Heather had their turn.

Francine riding across Kingsley Reservoir at start of ride

Francine at end of Sexy Beast trail

Francine

Francine on Dirt Surfer

June 24, Saturday, Kevin had to drive home to work.  So, Heather and Jack had the first am shift, and Heather did the route-finding.

Jack on a flat section of the climb on Upper 8Track

Jack on Spaghetti Factory

Francine and Mike had the afternoon ride with the near Family Man mini-shuttle bump, riding 8Track, Bad Moto Scooter, Grand Prix, Spaghetti Factory and finishing on the original (closed) Mitchell Ridge trail.

Kevin came home from work and went out exploring on his moto bike.  He wanted to explore the Forest Service Trails to the west of the Post Canyon Trail 130.  He found some steep, narrow trails.

June 18, Binn Hill Shuttle & June 19 WhoopDee again

Hmm, could be getting a little spoiled using two cars to start further out in the Post Canyon trail network.   Basically there are three spots to car car shuttle.   Closest is Family Man area, then Binn Hill staging area, and Kingsley reservoir furthest out.   From our house in Hood River it is about a 15-20 minute drive to Binn Hill.   Starting out further, let's us avoid the concentrated use seen at the bottom of the trail system.  Plus we get a lot more downhill!  On a busy weekend it is amazing to see how many cars are trying to find a parking spot on Post Canyon Road.   Anyhow a bit of a repeat of our Kinsley shuttle, except we climbed out towards Mitchell Ridge with a steep extra loop onto National Forest land, and a steep black diamond trail,

Francine on Bladerunner

Kevin on Bladerunner

On Monday, June 19th, Francine insisted on riding WhoopDee trail again.  After the Friday and Saturday rains, we were expecting damper trail conditions.   Still a fun ride and still not too hot.

Kevin near top of Whoopdee Climb, near the end of ride

June 15, Kingsley Shuttle

Kevin gets his wheels off the ground

Took June 14 as a rest day.  The 10 mile loop worked us over pretty good.  I guess 3,000 feet of climbing in five miles is a good excuse.  Francine did a little yoga and I got worked over at my massage by Alex.

Francine on Sexy Beast Trail #171

Today, despite the growing cloud cover, we decided to drive up to Kingsley Reservoir and enjoy a 15 mile descent back to the house.   We poked around and tried some alternate routes to the standard Dirt Surfer trail, and came away quite satisfied.  Fun day and the rain held off till we got home.  Raining hard when we drove back to Kingsley to retrieve the car.

Route:  Bypassed first jeep road climb #197,  stayed on the far bank of the lower reservoir until it hit main road,  then took the road over to Sexy Beast #171.    Rode up #160 and down, which is kind of gnarly, but we wanted to check it out.  Next time we would hit Dirt Surfer #170 after Sexy Beast.  Then we would climb #130 to get over to #133 Borderline to check it out.  The trail #133 was sweet.  It will be our new go-to instead of continuing on Dirt Surfer, which is getting quite hammered.

At the bottom of #133 Borderline, we opted to continue on toward Dirt Surfer and over towards 8Track to descend on 8Track, so we could finish on the new flow trail, Middle School #101 below the Family Man area.  We ran out 7Streams and pavement to the house.  15.5 miles.

June 13, 44 Road - 15 mile trail

   Weather has been quite chilly, and rain/showers were predicted for the afternoon.  Nonetheless, we decided to try and ride 15 Mile Creek/Cedar Creek trails up on the 44Road area.  We did the loop counterclockwise.  It is a  reverse type ride, where you descend first and them climb for your finish. The climb out gains about 3,000 feet in 5 miles, which really kicked us in the butt.  Trail conditions were about as good as they get, and we saw no one out there.  This trail is kind of on our do not ride list.  The trail itself is fun but the climb out, after the descent is a brute.  We resorted to walking several sections.   Hard to remember how fun the descent was, after all the climbing.

June 11, Day 12 Hood River

Kevin get's some kite time on the Columbia River

Hillary had a windsurfing lesson at The Hook at 11am, so Jen dropped Kev, Fran and Kelly off at just before Famiy Man for a bike ride at 8:30am (like the other day).  We did the same loop and the trail conditions were fantastic.  We finished on the original mini Mitchell Ridge Loop on the other side of the power lines.  Great ride.  10 miles.

 We stopped by The Hook and Hillary was sailing back and forth across the lagoon.  We went over to The Event Site, where the Outfound Festival was on.  Unfortunately, it looked like attendance was super poor.  It's sad that they went to so much trouble for a new event, only to have no participation.  Kevin, after a couple bad launches, got out on the river for a little more kiting.

June 10, Day 11 Hood River

Francine gets her moto on.

All 4 of us went to morning yoga at 8:30, which was a workout, and got us sweating, while Hillary slept in.  Kelly, Jen and Hillary went for a hike in Mosier.  Kevin hung out, and Francine went to town for a few things.  Once back in Hood River, Jen & Kelly stopped at the salmon stand, run by the Native Americans, to get dinner, but the salmon hadn't made their way over the dam yet.  Maybe next weekend.  So, they picked up some smoked salmon instead.

In the afternoon, Francine and Kevin went for a dirt bike ride in Post Canyon, starting from the house.  They did the baby loop, 112L and Kevin convinced Francine to continue on.  We made our way up trail 130, which was in primo shape, compared to the ruts 2 years ago.  The dirt was as good as it gets.  Francine was even having fun at times, and enjoyed the banked corners.  We kept going up, and made it to Binns Hill Staging area, where we opted for the pavement cruise back to the house.
Had a great salmon dinner barbecued by Kelly.

June 9, Day 10 Hood River

Greg railing corners on Whoopdee, trail.  Hood River, Or,

Kevin started the day with a great massage with Alex at 9:45am.  Then we took Greg on the Whoopdee Trail that is just east of town, as rain was predicted for early afternoon, and the 44 - trails area would be too far away.  With all the rain yesterday, the trail was in the best condition we have ever seen.  The new climb trail for the 3 mile finish sure beats the old jeep road climb.  The rain caught up with us, on the climb at the finish, but we didn't get too wet.  We rode about 10 miles with 1,500 feet of climbing.  Trail is primo right now.

Francine

Greg

Greg

Greg - look at that damp, tacky dirt

Francine

Greg

Francine and Kevin

Kelly, Jen and Hillary arrive tonite.  We had them pick up Thai for dinner at Pho River Wok and Grill, as Greg was craving the drunken noodle (Phad ke Moa) the table next to us had last night.