Bloated Skiing: May 2018

May 27, Raging River Full Loop

Look of the future. DNR sign post.

Lot's more trails still to be built.

We had to pick up the white car from the shop in Fall City today (recharge AC), so we made a bike ride out of it. Originally, we were going to ride Tokul, but at the last minute changed plans for Raging River. Francine has ridden it twice, out and back, to the clearcut, before the grand opening on May 19th, and conditions were great. This is a lollipop ride. You start on the stick, and go left, clockwise around the lollipop, making your way back to the stick for your fast, screaming fun descent. They now have an uphill only trail called Upward Mobility to Stan's Overlook, about 3 miles? From there to the end of the stick, to the intersection with "Return Policy", you are on a two-way trail, with pretty good sightlines. When we got to the clearcut (about 7.5 miles), our original destination where we were supposed to turn around for an almost all out descent (except for a short .5 mile uphill), we opted to complete the entire loop. After about 9.5 miles, we hit the top, and we descended No Service down to the river at the bottom. This is a black rated trail, which had Francine walking in a few spots, more as we got closer to the bottom, where the trail gets steeper. At the end of the trail, went right on the road for about 1/2 miles to the start of the uphill on "Return Policy". The bottom mile of the trail is in a clear cut, but there seemed to be much more shade than I remembered. Must be time of year (did last year in July & August) and temperature (was 85 each day last year). After about 1,000 feet of climbing, we were back at the end of the "pop", and ready to start the screaming descent on the "stick" portion of the lollipop. How can a trail be this much fun? The sight lines were generally fantastic, which meant there were sections you could see no one climbing, and seriously let the bike rip. The corners, rollers, berms, and high speed sections were an absolute blast. Again, how can riding your bike be this much fun. Once back a Stan's Overlook, the new descent only trails start. "Poppin Tops Upper" is rated black, but really only because of two, sort of steep, bermed, corners/switchbacks. Totally ridable for Francine, with just a little apprehension on the first time. This should be changed to a Blue-Black rating. This turns into "Poppin Top Lower", "Flow State Upper" and "Flow State Lower", all blue rated trails. We normally don't like flow trails, which all 4 of these are, but they were so much fun and in awesome shape. 20 miles. 4100 feet elevation. What an awesome descent. Quite tired though.

Francine on "No Service". Only hand built trail in the loop

May 20, Rat Pac

Steve blasts through creek at bottom of Rat Pac.
Trail reroute returns to old exit above high school.

Steve and Scott wanted to ride Rat Pac in Cle Elum. Parked at Scott Gray's, Seattle Firefighters back driveway. The High School Mountain bike races were being held in Roslyn that day, but we climbed up thru the Roslyn Community Forest, that is being logged mid-week, and didn't see any racers. Climbed Alaska (currently called Forest of Endor on trailforks), off of 2nd and Alaska street. Hit the single track trail on the right, called Trees on trailforks to its intersection with Lower Contour (called Todd's Traverse on trailforks). Lower Contour turns into Grotto, which painfully makes its way up to the top of the Ridge. Steve said the last time he climbed with a Roslyn resident, and he was able to ride the entire time. We assumed he climbed Fourth of July Trail to the ridge. We are going to try that next time. After making Steve hike-a-bike so much, as he doesn't have the easy gearing that we have, we opted to skip Upper Rat Pac, and just head down Rat Pac. Trail conditions were perfect, damp and tacky after Saturday nights rainstorm. Scott S didn't make it very far, before he heard brakes sounding like metal on metal. Stopped and looked at his brakes, and that is what they looked like. So, Scott got to make the descent on just the front brake. Super fun descent on primo dirt conditions. Trail second half pretty much an all new route. Extension to Cle Elum seems to be gone. Makes getting back to Roslyn pretty easy.

Scott

May 18, Lost Lake Whistler and Galbraith Bellingham

Francine at the end of our second ride. Galbraith trails in Bellingham were
in primo conditions thanks to recent rain.

Today is the opening of the Whistler Bike Park, and originally we were going to purchase the 3Ride Ticket and visit the bike Park on our Cross Country bikes. But, last night, we realized that this weekend, May 18-21 is Victoria Day Weekend for Canadians. We worried about crossing the border late on a Friday, due to the 3 day weekend extra Canadian people at the border. So, we opted for a quick cruise on all the Green easy Lost Lake trails with Rick. We have never rode the entire Tin Pants Trail (usually hit the blue trails). Rode Tin Pants to its end and picked up Donkey Puncher to the Elephant Bridge. Crossed that bridge and made a right onto Molly Hogan, finishing at Lost Lake. Once there, we made our way to the base of Whistler, to check out the Bike Park opening scene at the base. We got there about 5 minutes before 10am, and it looks like they started loading around 9:45am or even earlier. The line at that point was minimal, and people were streaming down the hill. We were only there for a few minutes before rushing back to our cars to make the trek back home. When we got closer to the boarder, the signs listed the Peach Arch with 80 minutes, Truck Crossing 70 minutes, and Sumas at 20 minutes. So, we bypasses the first two crossings and headed to Sumas. We actually crossed at Aldergrove, where there was only about a 5 minute wait. Rick went thru a few minutes behind us, and said they opened even more lanes as he went thru. We need to make note that there seemed to be a shift change around 1pm, and tons more employees seemed to come on at 1pm, as the lines at Peach Arch and Truck Crossing were down to 5 minute wait as well. Rick was up for riding, so we planned to do the Green Circle, easy trails at Galbraith. Went up Last Call to Lost Giants to Cow Belle to Lone Wolf and crossed the 2020road to continue on Green Connector. Went right onto Pony Express shortly, to a left to climb Jack and the Beanstock. At this point Rick, who hasn't been exercising at all, let alone riding his bike was ready to head back to the car. So, we descended 911. After a short descent, Kevin gave Rick his bike to ride. He was all grins. We retraced our steps to the end of Last Call, where we said good bye to Rick. 4 miles. We kept riding, and climbed Last Call to Lost Giants to Cow Belle to Lone Wolf to Green Connector. Then at Pony Express, we went left to climb Tough Love, to a left onto Kung Fu to the road. Went right to the top of Cheech & Chong's Wild Ride, which was a super fun bermy descent, just right for Francine. Continued descending on Meth Lab to Rank Advancement. Made our way back towards the parking area on Gate and Switch, to Last Call to the car. The trails were in primo shape, especially in the trees, as it rained earlier in the day. This side of Galbraith certainly had more cross country trails. We really didn't get very high, as we only rode a little over 9 miles. We really need to come back and ride more. 9.4 miles.

Rick at Lost Lake

Short lines for opening day for those who got out of bed early.

May 17, Ski Whistler

Rick scrubs down Extreme Couloir on Blackcomb

Rick arrived Wednesday night for a short 2 night stay, so he could ski on Thursday. Francine took the day off, and Kevin joined Rick on Blackcomb for a ski day. We woke up to a cloudy day, which meant the snow might stay a little firmer throughout the day. The lifts don't open until 10am (actually 9:45am), so after a leisurely morning, we left to ski around 9:30am. The free parking at Blackcomb Base II, still exists so able to park right near the gondola. The sun came out as we headed up the gondola. Still plenty of terrain open for so late in the season. After looking at the mountains, while riding the trails in the valley below, it was nice to get up to the Alpine for a day.

May 16, Billy's Epic, Getting our climb on.

Across the valley from Whistler/Blackcomb is where most of the new trail development seems to be happening. Every year we find some fresh trails to ride. Francine put together a great climbing loop from Rainbow Park. Climbed almost 3,400 feet, with excellent views back at Whistler. Trails down were typically rugged, and it was a little tough for Francine to get the flow on the downhill. Black diamond trails at Whistler seem to mean "risk your life". You have to really commit to the steep and rough lines.

Rode to Rainbow Lake before we hit the trails to higher views

Francine descending a new trail, A Cut Above

Still on A Cut Above

May 15 Whistler Cut yer Bars to Delineator to Bob's Rebob

We tried to get an early start today, since it was supposed to be 83 today, but we didn't get going until 10am. Headed over to Cut Yer Bars area then over to the Alpine Meadows neighborhood on the paved Valley trail, to climb to the start of "Delineator", a blue square rated trail that we haven't ridden. For a blue rated trail, it was as easy as it get in Whistler, as Francine was able to stay on the bike for the most part, even though it kept her on her toes.

After Delineator we rode "Shit Happens", a black run for a short bit before the turnoff to "Creamsicle" a Blue Run. Delineator/Creamsicle ended up at the Spring Creek neighborhood, where we found some benches, sat in the shade and had a snack. Then we headed over to Alta Lake road to the bottom of "Mel's Dilemma". Climbed "Mel's" to the first left intersection to "Nectar Connector" and climbed "Get Over It" to "Bob's Rebob Lower" back to Alta Lake Road. Crossed the road and did a short section on "River Run's Thru It" to Rainbow Lake Park.

After Rainbow park, we took the Valley Trail home. 15 miles.

Kev on Delineator

Intersection of Shit Happens and Anal Intruder. We went left onto Shit Happens until the intersection with Creamsicle

Francine on the bridge on River Runs Thru It

May 14 - Whistler Lost Lake Singletrack "Zappa" themed trails

Rick has an opening in his quarter-share week in Whistler at The Montebello, so we are here in Whistler. Rick has a sweet, 3 bed/3ba that we have stayed at multiple times for both skiing and mountain biking. Francine picked up Kevin from work at the fire station, and at 8am they were on their way. Traffic was super light thru Everett, the border, and even Vancouver. I think leaving at that time meant that all the moms were still at home, putting the kids on the bus, and hadn't left the house yet.

80 degrees in Whistler. Kevin had a long night at work, so after his 1 hour power nap, we headed out for a bike ride on the Lost Lake trails. We've done these trail many times, and they are always a lot of fun. Great "intermediate" trails, and easy to follow loop. We pretty much did all the blue trails around the lake, with a detour to our standard lunch spot, the float plane dock on Green Lake.

There were plenty of people sunbathing at the Lost Lake park, and even swimming in the lake. We stopped to check out Whistler Village and finally home. 10 miles.

One of many cedar bridges in Whistler trail system

Bike park opens on Friday. Crews were shaping the trails to the lifts

April 26, Flagstaff

Today is our last day, as we fly out tomorrow, Friday. We were originally going to ride the Hogs Trails, which would have taken us by Chicken Point, but opted for Flagstaff where it would be 10 degrees cooler. The Hog Trails, (High on the Hog, Hog Haven and Hog Wash) were probably too technical for Francine on this trip, especially since she has been riding in a drug induced fog, where she has pretty much been totally out of it on the rides. Chuckwagon is another trail that we didn't make it too. Unfortunately, the first mile of Chuckwagon or so is now overrun by hikers, making their way to the Devil's Bridge hiking trail. There is a huge parking lot for the trail, and the overflow has tons of cars lining the road near that parking lot. Kevin is also interested in Hangover Trail, but Francine has no interest. He said that Highline is only rated Advanced, while Hangover is rated Expert, so that is clearly out of Francine's interest.

We had smooth sailing on the 40mph road up Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff until the final climb. We pretty much repeated the ride we did last year.

Climbed Fort Vally to Lower Moto turning right onto the AZT (Schultz Creek) to a right turn on Secret trail to the short 1/4 mile to the upper parking lot. Climbed the Forest Road 6353 to Little Knarly. Little Knarly has been turned to a forest road, probably from the fires in Flagstaff last summer. Descended Lower Brookbank and started climbing Upper Brookbank to Sunset trail to climb to the top at 8800 feet. Rode out to the viewpoint of the east valley that looks like a forest fire went thru recently.

The top half of Sunset was super smooth, bermed and riding great. The lower half was still fun, but definitely had more pitch and you had to be on the brakes more. We finished on Schultz Creek trail, which was fantastic. It wasn't very steep, but just enough to barely need the brakes, and for a trail that can be shuttled, was still very narrow with super fun corners. There were a few rocky sections thrown in to keep you on your toes. We couldn't believe how fun and fast that trail was. Great way to end our trip.

16 miles.

Short walk to the view point

Kev at viewpoint, overlooking big valley that looks like it was on fire last summer.