July 24, Winthrop - Starvation Mountain

Saturday was a day off.  Kevin & Don went rock climbing, and Francine & Val went to the farmer's market in Twisp.

Today, Val had a meeting in Twisp at 2pm, so we got her to shuttle us most of the way.  Climbed a mile or two to the start of the ride.  Unfortunately, quads are finding their way onto many trails in the area.  It didn't help that this section down to the Blue Buck trail was also a firebreak when they had the big fire a few years ago.  I believe motorcycles are allowed, but NOT quads.  So, we had 5 miles of quad/moto style road/ trail, instead of nice narrow track.  At the intersection of Blue Buck trail, what was once sweet, narrow singletrack, had also been visited by quads.  After about 5 miles, we came to a big intersection with roads.  Surprisingly after this, the quads went another way.  And once we left the burn, we had some fun, narrow singletrack.  Not sure if I would do this ride again.  Too much road, quad track, burn area, etc. from what was once an awesome singletrack downhill.  15.5 miles with shuttle.

Don rides through the burn

Francine

River crossing

July 22, Winthrop - Bear Mountain & Middle Fork Figure 8

Third day of riding. New ride for us.  Climbed forest roads and came down on Bear Mountain Trail.  They ran a race on the first half earlier in the year, so it was a little beat up.  The next half of the downhill was quite nice.  Settled in for another road climb to the Middle Fork Trail.  The first half mile saw the once narrow single track turned into quad tracks.  Fortunately, at .6 miles, the trail contoured around a hill, and the quads had to turn around.  After that, we had narrow, primitive single track.  Nice, sweet descent.  Another perfect day with the weather in the 70's.  15.5 miles.

July 21, Winthrop - Sun Mountain

Val is still on the hard-tail, so Sun Mountain is next.  Convinced Don & Val to drive up to the mountain and ride more loops up there.  Parked at Chikadee Trailhead.  They usually ride from their place.  Did Rodeo, Fox, Black Bear,Winthrop Trail, Patterson Lake, Up Radar Creek, down Magpie to the cabin and had lunch.  Went out Yellow jacket, Fox out to Aqualoop.  Back on the road to Yellowjacket, up Cris Cross to Overland and back to the car.  Great ride, as the trails were nice and hard pack.  We are used to coming in October, when the trails are loose and real dusty.  Thank the wet spring.  17.7 miles.

Patterson Lake Trail - Headed to Radar Creek

July 20, Winthrop - Buck Mountain

We got invited to Don and Val Hecker's place in Winthrop for the week.  We had a great time last year, and were excited to go back.  Temps are only in the 70's, as opposed to the 90's.  Val's suspension pivot was fried, so she had to rent a 29er hardtail until the parts came in, so we had  leisurely breakfast before heading out to the trailhead.  Everything in Winthrop is green with their wet spring.  Had a nice 3 mile climb up the road before hitting the trail.  This ride, which was once trail pieced with roads, is now awesome narrow singletrack.  The new upper section seems to be the obvious way to ride the loop.  Coming off the top, the bushes are growing, making the swoopy, turny trail a little hard to see.  Near the end, Don wanted to also ride to Buck Lake, but we were done, and Val needed a different seat, so we booked down to the car.  Trails were hadpack and smooth and narrow.  This is a must do, short loop.  13.5 miles.

Val

Francine

July 17, Golden Spike, Tokul

Kelly took us out to show us the Golden Spike trail, a new connector between Tokul West and Tokul East.  Trails were a little wetter than we expected.  Went up Tokul East to Golden Spike and down Tokul West.  Great to have a new option to change up the ride and be able to ride both areas.  Can't wait to go back when conditions are drier.  14 miles.

July 13, Cooper River Trail, Salmon la Sac

Caught the Cooper river trail in excellent shape.  Thanks to Tim B and EMBA for brushing out the section along Cooper Lake.  Rode up to the Wilderness border, halfway to Pete lake, then spun around and rode back to the Salmon La Sac trailhead.  About 14 miles - do this out and back - old guidebooks recomended some kind of loop.