Nov 21, Alpy

Wow, what a year.  7 days of touring already.  Mixing up the ski partners, I got out with Greg Louie, Don Hecker and Francine.  I guess if you can't have bluebird weather like last Saturday, snowing hard is a good alternative.  Snow was getting deep with 6 -10 inches of new.  Snow was definitely a little thicker than this weekend, but we all enjoyed getting out.  Skied one run down Nash and called it a successful day.  Probably the longest tour Francine has done since she blew her knee.

Francine Zigs up Schluct.  

Etta - Future Patrol Dog

Greg slashing down International

Don

Francine, first International lap of the year

Greg

Nov 19, Alpental



Kevin -  Lower Rollen

 Wow, what a great day.  Hooked up with Seth to power out about 5,000 feet of powder.  We were somewhat suprised to find about a dozen skiers at the top of the mountain.  Despite following them down Nash there was plenty of powder to enjoy.  Lap 2, we couldn't resist laying first tracks into Edelweiss bowl proper.  Then another quick shot on Lower Rollen before another sweet run down International.  Today was the most skiers I have ever seen touring at Alpental.  Pretty obvious that this earn-your-turn thing is catching on.




Seth - Edelweiss Bowl

 



Seth - First Tracks!

 

Nov 18, Hyak

Struggled to keep up with Frank.  He was on fire.  Still waiting for him to get old and slow down a little.  Also dragged out Scott Sumner for his first day on snow this year.  Pretty nice first day with almost a foot of new.

Nov 17, Hyak

Nice to be able to ski in the backyard again.  All the brush work over the summer has really paid off.  Made one backside run and a couple on the frontside with Frank and Tom.

Frank and Tom at the top of Hyak

Frank cruising the backside

Nov 16, West

Area a little more skied out today.  Patrol was out putting pads on the chair towers.  Made two quick laps with Francine and Tom Davies.

Nov. 14 Summit West, Snoqualmie Pass

First ski day at the pass, thanks to about 6 inches of new over the previous rain soaked foot, the snow was actually pretty good.  Coverage looks excellent already, and Summit West should only get better as the week progresses.

Nov 11, Moto - Sasse Ridge Trail

Scott with Cle Elum Lake below

Hooked up with Scott for what looks to be the last motorcycle ride of the year, in the Cle Elum area.  Despite temperatures  just above freezing, the trail was in great shape.  The snow was falling by the time I reached home.  Hopefully ski season is starting next week.

November 2, Tokul East

Francine in the Woods,  Tokul

Francine had the day off work, due to transformer work at the pass.  Made the best of it, with a loop at Tokul.  The trails were in great shape.  Unfortunately, the loggers, look like they are getting ready to cut another swath of destruction.  Ride included Tether Ball, Safety First, first section of Golden Spike, Middle trails back to bottom, then up to Crazy Ivan.  Nice.

Nov. 1, Taneum Motorcycle Loop

Got out with Eric, Mike Reimer, Matt Karaus and young guy Ben.  I think Ben was only 28, which had to be the reason he was so much faster on his Honda CRF 250.   Rode up Woods n Steel, East on Cle Elum Ridge Trail to catch N. Fork Teanaway trail from the bottom, all the way up past the Taneum Shelter to Windy Pass and back on the ridge trail.  I managed to pinch flat my front tire, right before windy pass.  I was planning to ride home with a flat front tire, but luckily Eric had all the tools, including a spare front tire and air cartridges to inflate it.  Our Pit crew managed to change out the flat in under 20 minutes.  Sure made the ride home a lot more fun!  Thanks Eric.

Eric fixing my flat                                                             Photo by Matt Karaus

Oct. 17, SKI Camp Muir to Pebble Creek, Mt. Rainier

DAY NUMERO UNO!  First day of the new season, hooked up with Greg and Frank for some of the best conditions we have had on the Muir snowfield. 

October 7, Miller Peak Time

Hooked up with my soon-to-be neighbor Scott Sumner, for a motorcycle ride up and around Miller Peak.   Trail was in perfect condition, with even a little fresh snow on the sides, as we neared the summit.  This is a classic ride, and was glad to get it in before hunting season starts full swing, and the snow really flies.

September 26, Armstrong Pass to South Lake Tahoe

Final day of riding.    Drove up to the top of Oneidas road, paved, for another point to point ride.  Climbed 4 miles on sweet, mountain biker designed single track to Armstrong Pass.  Ron, a friend of Lisa's, works for the forest service and designed these fun, swoopy, trails.   The grade was amazing.  Everytime we came upon a rise, we would look up the hill to where we thought the trail would climb, Washington style, and the trail wasn't there. Had to look lower to find the nicely climbing trail.  Again, the scenery was amazing with the granite boulders and trees.  The last mile was quite a grunt.  The sign at the start of the trail said 3 miles to the pass; it was actually 4.  At the pass, you could turn right to head to Big Meadow on Hwy89 or left to climb to Freel Peak.  We turned around for a screaming, fun, descent.  8 miles and we were still at the car.  Descended down "Armstrong Connector" for 2 miles.  This is one sweet section of trail.  Great rock sections.  This dropped us out at  the  "Corral" trail, where we rode our first day in South Lake Tahoe.  Descended Corral to Powerline trail and worked our way home for a 22 mile ride to finish the week.
Packed up and  hit the road.  Drove 4 hours to Alturas.  Had some great pizza at Antonios, and stayed in another cheap hotel recommended by the restaurant, Rim Rock Motel.  Spotless clean, but older.  $59.40 per night.  This is a record on motel prices for us.  10 more hours and we were home the next day.  Nice week!

September 25, Kingsbury Grade to Spooner Summit

Francine - Tahoe Rim Trail - Near Kingsbury Grade

Another point-to-point shuttle.  Stats are great on this ride.  Start at 7,800 ft, climb to 8,800 ft and descent to 7,000 feet.  13 miles.

Trail conditions were even better to start the day, as it had rained overnight.  Started climbing right away, with granite boulders and huge trees everywhere.  Tahoe has some amazing landscape that we get to ride our bikes thru.

This was supposed to be our easy, off day.  We thought there was only 1,000 feet of climbing, but the book said 1,900 feet.  We were really feeling our legs, especially at this altitude, and our 4th day of riding.
The wind picked up in Tahoe today, so was quite windy at the "Bench" at the halfway point.
The downhill conditions were stellar.  Thanks to last night's moisture, the descent was screaming fast and smooth.  Seems like most of the trails in Washington are hammered or technical, so not very many screaming fast descents.  Yet another sweet ride.  We did this as a point to point, but if you had only one car I would recommend an out and back from Kingsbury Grade to the bench at the highpoint.  The scenery on the Kingbury Grade side was stellar and I would have loved to ride back down the technical rock sections.

September 24, Mt. Rose to Flume Trail

Since Lisa also drove her car down, we were all set up for point to point shuttles.  Started the Tahoe Rim Trail (bikes on even days only) up the Mt. Rose Highway, at 8,550ft at Tahoe Meadows.  Rode "Tahoe Rim Trail" to "Hobart Road", around Marlette Lake to "The Flume Trail" to "Tunnel Creek Road-Ponderosa Ranch".  Yes, we finished right next to the stage set for the Bonanza TV show.  Except for a 200 ft and 800 ft climb, we rode downhill to the lake, elev 7,723ft.  25 miles and a net loss of 1,680 ft.

The 8 mile trail section starting at the Mt. Rose highway was gorgeous.  Granite rocks lined the crushed granite trail with huge trees everywhere.  The weather was perfect with partly cloudy skies and a slight breeze.  We had amazing views of Lake Tahoe constantly.

Since you can only ride the 8 mile section starting at the Mt. Rose Highway on even days, there were tons of bikers parked, but we only saw a handful of bikers on the trail.

Sept 24 Mt. Rose to Lake Tahoe

Hmmmm, add it to the list.  Tahoe is pretty sweet and and deserves it's spot on your bucket list.  It's been on our list for years, but somehow we never managed to motivate for the 14 hour drive.  Well after tasting the singletrack, I have to say it is well worth it.  Perhaps, I am a little jaded, due to the fact, that 3 of the 4 rides we used car shuttles to increase the downhill quotient.

Francine and Lisa ride the Tahoe Rim Trail

Lisa 

Started the Tahoe Rim Trail (bikes on even days only) up the Mt. Rose Highway, at 8,550ft at Tahoe Meadows trailhead.  Rode "Tahoe Rim Trail" to "Hobart Road", around Marlette Lake to "The Flume Trail" to "Tunnel Creek Road-Ponderosa Ranch".  Yes, we finished right next to the stage set for the Bonanza TV show.  Except for a 200 ft and 800 ft climb, we rode downhill to the lake, elev 7,723ft.  25 miles and a net loss of 1,680 ft.

The 8 mile Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) section starting at the Mt. Rose highway was gorgeous.  Granite rocks lined the crushed granite trail with huge trees everywhere.  The weather was perfect with partly cloudy skies and a slight breeze.  We had amazing views of Lake Tahoe constantly.   The "flume trail" is perhaps the most well known trail at Tahoe.  I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in that actual section.  It has gorgeous views of the lake, but the grade is fairly flat for about 3 miles.  It did redeem itself when the trail turned into jeep road and headed quickly to the lake.  It was high speed to the finish!

Kevin

Marlette Lake then Lake Tahoe

September 23, South Lake Tahoe - exploratory ride from unit

Lisa has a trail out the back yard, along side the South Truckee River, that heads out to join more trails in the hills.  Rode some local trails in the utility district to Pioneer Road.  Crossed that and hooked up with the "Powerline Trail" to Oneidas Road.  Climbed the steep pavement for 2miles to "Corral Trail".  Rode that for 1/4 mile and branched off for a swoopy, curvy descent on "Sidewinder" to "Incense Cedar" to the "Powerline Trail". Climbed that until we took a left and headed back to Pioneer Road.  Basically took local trails all the way back to the house.  15  miles.

September 22, Susanville, CA Ranch Bike Park

We originally planned a mountain bike trip to Oakridge, Oregon, but Lisa Delfiner (Parsons) emailed and was heading to rent her rental units in South Lake Tahoe.  She had 2 units open, a place for us to stay, and was looking for bike companions.  Her dates matched with Kevin's scheduled week off, so we immediately changed plans.  Lake Tahoe has been on our bucket list for some time, but we haven't made it there.

We didn't want to do a 14 hour drive in one day, so Francine looked for places to mountain bike on the way down.  In 2008, Susanville built 14 miles of machine built mountain bike trails.  We drove for 11 hours and made it to Susanville by 7:30pm.  We stayed at the River Inn Motel for a scary $59.40, including tax.  Unit was old, but clean.  I would only recommend one night.

Rode 15 tough miles at Susanville Ranch Park.  Parked at the lower parking lot, made our way up "Heart Attack Hill", to the west side on "Hi Go" to "Round UP Loop".  Back over "Lo Go" to the trails on the West side.  After much up and down, we finally started downhill at 11.32 miles for an all out downhill finish back down "Heart Attack Hill" to the car.  We figured we climbed about 2,000 feet.  They had signs at all the intersections, which was nice, as we forgot our map at home.

Got in the car and drove to South Lake Tahoe.

Sept. 18, L.T. Murray Wildlife Area

Headed east until the rain stopped.  More exploration at LT Murray.  Nice to try something new, that is only an hour away.

Sept 8, Duthie

Went to ride Duthie mountain bike park with my nephew Jack.  I don't think I have posted any ride reports from Duthie.   However it has been a staple for a good ride option.  We started riding at Duthie soon after the "boot camp" trail was roughed in.  We have watched as it has evolved into a great mountain bike "park".  Built almost entirely with volunteer labor, it provides trails to meet all ability levels.  It has a good selection of crosscountry - keep your tires on the ground- trails, but also provides for those that like to experience flying, as it offers several jump lines.  It is amazing how well these trails have held up.  The parking lot is definitely full every weekend, and most weekdays as well. 

Jack works his way through the progression of jumps, getting his skills ready for some of the more difficult trails.

Sept 3, Tour De Snoqualmie

Seth emailed early in the week that he and Holly would be up, at the Alpental condo, for the weekend.  They were hoping for a little mountain bike ride.   With not too many options, we headed for Summit West and a tour across the ridgeline connecting West, Central, and Hyak.   With great views and a mix of roads and trail, made for a good day.  Also had the pleasure of Tom Davies joining in at the last minute, for a group of five, with Francine and I.