April 25, 2017 - Klamath Falls, Or. - Spence Mountain

Tom getting a little air beneath his tires on Hooligan.

Spence Mountain is only about 10 miles north of the Running Y Resort.  We rode 13 miles of fun, Mountain Bike built trails, that were constructed within the last couple of years by the bike club, Klamath Trails Alliance.  They still have what looks like 20+ more miles to build in the "proposed state".  We started biking around 10:30am, with temperatures at the trail head at a chilly 41 degrees at 4200 feet elevation.  Kevin's normal outside low temperature parameter is that it has to be above 40 degrees for a fun mountain bike ride.  Even so, we encountered snow as we perserved uphill.

Kevin climbing in snow up South Ridge Trail

We climbed a beautifully built trail for about 5.5 miles to the top of Spence Mountain via the Spence Mountain South Ridge trail.  They wound the trail thru nice manaznita, trees, and rock outcroppings.  Even though the area was logged a few years ago, they left enough standing trees and Juniper, along with the manzanita, to make the area pretty to ride thru.

Kevin, Val and Tom at the top of Spence Mountain

Francine and Val navigating our only snow on the trail.

At the top (5849 feet), the north side of the mountain had a considerable amount of snow, calling for an out and back.  Once off the summit, and only 1/2 mile of trail lower, we peeked around the corner towards Upper Hooligan, but found too much snow as well.  So, we continued backtracking down a couple of miles to the road crossing on South Ridge trail, and turned right onto the dirt road for a mile or so to the intersection of the Hooligan trail.  We were still able to ride the bottom two thirds of Hooligan.  We loved the downhill on their directional, down-hill trail (blue square) for a super fun, flowy, user built flow-trail.  Trail conditions were perfect, and the sun even came out for most of the descent.  We all couldn't believe how well constructed the berms and corners were.  These guys gave serious thought to all aspects of construction.  Even the jumps were built so you didn't have to kill all your speed if you weren't getting air.

April 24, Klamath Falls, OR

Tom and Lori will join us with Don and Val in Klamath Falls for 3 nights at the Running Y.  They are getting their own unit.  Today is an off day, as the weather isn't quite cooperating.

Finally a picture of Lori

Don, Tom and Kevin

Tom and Kevin

April 23,Klamath Falls, Or. - Moore Park

First ride from the Running Y Ranch.  Again, we can thank Pat and Larry for access to our 2 bedroom unit for the week at The Running Y Ranch in Klamath Falls, Oregon.  Just a couple of miles south of where we were staying, you can tie into the Klamath Ridgeview trail.   We managed a 19 mile ride by the time we rode to the far side of Moore Park and back.    Lava rocks intterupted smooth dirt to add some technicality to the ride.  Some of the hill climbs got our attention.

Val on -TBag

Francine and Val on Southie

Francine on 5 Gallon

Val descending 5 Gallon

Don heading towards home (Running Y) on Klamath Ridgeview Trail

April 21, Ski Mt. Shasta

Wendy Hecker (Ewing)  ready to ski Mt. Shasta

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Wendy enjoying the ski down

Don

Val and Francine rode Clickaputi trail by Shasta Dam

April 20, Mule Mountain Loop

Hooked up with Val's brother, Brad, who lives in Redding.  He has been doing the Redding Mayor's Challenge.  They have set up a collection of mtb rides to encourage the town to get out and ride.   The website is a great resource for the available trail options and loop ideas.  Brad had completed almost all the rides and only had a couple of the advanced rides left.  We hooked up with Brad at the end of his work day, hitting the trail about 4:00.   We were also joined by Val's daughter Wendy.  Trails were in great shape, and despite some solid climbs, we had a great time.   The trail to the summit was in excellent shape and we were glad we made the push to the top.

Francine on Mule Mt. Loop

Francine

Brad makes the summit

Don and Brad check the views from the
top of Mule Mt.

Brad coming down the summit trail

Don on Terminater Trail

Brad gets wet feet near the end of our ride

April 19, Mrs Piggy and the Westside Trail

Going with a bicycle shop recomendation, we went to check out the Westside trails.  We parked at the Upper Cold Springs trailhead and headed up, up steeply on the Westside trail to the Top of the World.  From there we descended down Mrs Piggy, intending on connecting a larger loop.  Unfortunately Mrs. Piggy dead ended on private property, where the owner had blocked the trail with several toppled trees.   We retreated back to the Westside trail and down to the car.  We then ran out the Cold Springs trail as an out and back.   Not a bad ride, but definitely not as good as some of the other trails we have ridden this week.

Don leads Francine up Mrs. Piggy

April 18, Trail 58 to French Fry Loop

Francine riding up Trail 58

Val on Kevin's Trail

Cruising on French Fry

Steeper than it looks

April 16, Mule Ridge Trail

Francine cranks up the Mule Ridge Trail

Don on Cosmic trail

Francine

Kevin

Val descending on Princess Ditch Trail

April 15, Hornbeck to Upper Sacramento Ditch Trail

For our first ride, the Heckers wanted to see if we had gotten our asses in shape.  Day 1, 26 miles roundtrip from Quartz Hill trailhead to the Lake Shasta Dam.  Trail gradually gained elevation as we climbed up to the dam.   Nothing too technical, just lots of smooth trail.

Shasta Lake Dam

Riding on up.

Full dam. Upper spillway gates were opened in February
for the first time in twenty years

Val and Francine

Don enjoying the descent

Francine