Travels – Page 7 – The Ramblings of MTBBill

Green Mountain SP

I have been getting in some good after work rides out at Green Mountain State Park. This place is my current “local” trail with the trailhead just 10 minutes away. For my first ride back out here I kept it simple doing and out and back on the Wildcat trail to the Green Mountain peak. Round trip was 8.4 miles with 1,740 feet of climbing. The views included the Olypmics Mountains, Mt Rainer and downtown Seattle. Later in the week I was reminded that trails can come and go on timber land and following one of the trails I remembered from eight years ago netted me a solid 10 minutes of bramble bushwacking at the bottom of the far side of the mountain from where I started. I was not exactly chasing daylight at that point but once you get under the trees it seems much later in the evening. I found myself putting a bit more gitty up on the pedals to get back to the trailhead just to realize I had more daylight left than I expected. Good times!

Lower Dungeness- Gold Creek

Had a great day out on the Olympic Pennisula. I revisited the Lower Dungeness and Gold Creek loop I had done some number of years ago. The last time I was socked in with clouds but today was clear skies and sunshine. Such good singletrack. I do have some tweaks to make to my review of this trail. Look for those at some point.

Siouxon Creek Trail

The last day on my commute up the coast trip included a return to the Siouxon Trail which I rode a portion of like 15 years or so ago. This time I did a much bigger chunk of it that included some rough climbing on bits that do not see anywhere near the traffic the stuff along the creeks. Fantastic waterfalls and pools along side the trail were just killer. Really good stuff. I am going to update my site on this trail.

I forget the scientific name for this berry but I believe its called Bear Food.

The trail goes across the top of this one.

I believe the scientific for this is Clover Freakinyuugeus

Paradise-Royale Loop

The Tolkin Campground I stayed at was literally at the trailhead. After some coffee I had off on a really early morning ride on the Paradise Royale loop. The trail is roughly 14 miles long with quite a bit of elevation gain.

But you don’t start off climbing. From the trailhead its tasty downhill singletrack.

The trail were purpose built for mountain biking and hats off to the designers. The climbs are not unrelenting despite the elevation they gain.

The ride finishes up with a climb back to the trailhead and my campsite.

After a late breakfast and a catnap I drove down the mountain to the little town of Shelter Cove.

Rugged looking section of the Lost Coast

I had originally planned on checking out the town, camping for a second night were I was currently at and lake my way to Portland the following day. After seeing the town, I opted to move on up the coast. I made it Crescent City that evening which would make the next day’s drive shorter.

Bear Creek

Yesterday I started a roadtrip that is going to taking me Washington state for a month of work. Instead of flying up I’m taking a handful of vacation days and driving myself up. I am going to some camping, mountain biking and scenic driving on my way up. My first day was a fairly short drive as I went up to Kernville in the afternoon to met up with Jeff Sherman and Bill O’Neil for and even catching up on life.

A bit smoky in area due to a wild fire in Yosemite

The following morning we headed up north. After dropping off a vehicle in Camp Nelson, we made our way back up to the Ponderosa/Quaking Aspens area for the start of the climb.

The climb up the Summit was substantial and downright burly steep in spots.

Getting to the top of the climb is worthy of celebration.

Once on Bear Creek the elevation shedding starting in hurry. Technical in many spots, rippingly flowy often, it was good stuff. The highlight was dropping down through a grove of Giant Sequoias.

Below the grove the trail flora transitioned to oak trees and trail became a bit more flowing with enough grade to be a rip fest

We enjoyed a tasty beer at the bottom. I had the luxury of not having to do the shuttle return back up the mountain so I drove down into the San Joaquin valley and made my way north. A great opening act for this roadtrip.

Back in the Saddle

I have been off the bike for quite a chunk of time with lots of competing interests taking up my time. I have a slew of home projects, a long overdue visit from my parents, some difficult work in town as well as some work travel.

Great view — I worked under harder conditions.

It was not bad, just not mountain biking. I worked in Hawaii for a month which included having my wife out for a week.

We are still smiling here, we still have climb back down this slick ridgeline.

I did not doing any mountainbiking in Hawaii on this trip but I did do quite a bit of hiking.

Plenty of great things to see by foot i. Hawaii.

It was however quite nice to get back to San Diego and hit up some hometown dirt again.

What is not to like about this kind of trail action.

Vacation and Laguna Mountains

So I have not been riding much as of late.

Nichol and I managed to do a traditional vacation that included a handful of days in Hawaii.

Now Nichol and I have been to Oahu numerous times related to work but this was our first time there in a strictly vacation fashion. We have both done most of the “mandatory” tourist things on the island in the past so we were under no pressure or schedule to do anything. It was really nice.

In addition to vacation, there has been lots of house stuff that has been capturing my interests and time as if late. Man caves don’t build themselves!

But that does not mean I have not been riding. I have been hitting my local “off the books” ride here and there along with getting out to the Laguna Mountains. I just have been hitting the trails with as much regularity as I normally do. Pretty sure I’m gonna pay for that later.

Utah Weekend – JEM, Goosebumps

Our final day of the weekend trip had me waking up to stiff legs.

We both desired to get back home at a reasonable time, so we opted for something efficient and fun. After breaking camp we parked at the JEM trailhead at the base of Gooseberry Mesa.

The last time I rode your when doing this as part of the Hurricane Rim Loop that consists of the Goulds Rim, JEM and Hurricane Cliffs trail. Since then there has been a lot if trails added in this area, it is now its on system.

We ended up riding JEM, More Cowbell, Dead Ringer, Goosebumps, Cryptobionic, and some of the JEM Loop Route. (Not in that order) What a fun time we had. After a celebratory beer it was time to get back to the land of playing working stiff. It was another great adventure in Utah!

Utah Weekend – Grafton Mesa

Day Three took us out to Grafton Mesa which I had heard lots of awesome stuff about but had never been out on.

Grafton did not disappoint.

We also did the Pigs In Space and Meanderthal trails along with a portion of Reach Around.

You know you are some good trails when they come with exfoliation services.

We did not take the techno-gnarly trail off the mesa as we had not made any shuttle arrangments and were not feeling up for major dirt road grindage to get back up on the mesa. Clearly I will have to go back!

Utah Weekend – Little Creek Mesa

Day Two had out at one of my all time favorites in the area, Little Creek Mesa. Sean had ridden one of the loops out here, but had not been out to the point so I was more than happen to do some showing around.

We started out in the main loop and worked out way out the the western rim of the mesa.

Western Rim Little Creek Mesa — Western Rim of Little Creek Mesa

We then worked out way out the North Point.

Gooseberry from Little Creek — Looking at Gooseberry Mesa from the North Point of Little Creek Mesa.

From the North Point we continued on around and hooked up with Magic Carpet Ride.

Back at camp we enjoyed tasty beers before working on some bourbon while solving world hunger. Well maybe not world hunger, but may have put a dent in the bikes in wilderness issues. Ugh maybe it was which sections of the Pacific Crest Trail should be open to bike.

One thing we certainly did figure out. It did not suck to be us on this day.

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