Panorama
Our group summited Klone Peak only to find what we all had secretly suspected. Our clones were in fact real and mocking us.....
Klone Peak near Leavenworth and Entiat. Starting from Maverick Saddle at 4200 feet. Summiting at Klone Peak at 6820 feet. 24 miles 3640 elevation gain/descend all singletrack.
i had signed up for a BBTC (local bikey club) ride a few weeks ago. It was starting from the same spot that a ride i had signed up for was taking place. That ride was the one where i discovered my bike linkage was hosed and i was left to hike and take pictures. Although i salvaged a good day, i gotta say being stranded was frustrating, and while i was wandering thru the woods i knew the area had great promise. So i was eager to get back out to that area and put some rubber to the dirt.
Anyways a few days prior to the ride, the event was cancelled, since their was a death in the family for the ride leader. So the call was made for someone to lead the ride and i took it immediately. Main reason was there was a trail i hiked (Lost Lake Trail) that i knew would be a blast to ride. Also after studying the maps there was another trail that appeared to be a better alternative to climb up to Klone Peaks. It appeared better as it passed the aptly named Two Little Lakes, rather than staying on Mad River Trail as an out an back, exclusively, which i suspect was going to be the chosen route. So this was going to be an opportunity to test these trails, and drag some unsuspecting mt. bikers with me.
Anyways i was right and everyone agreed that the route was extremely nice. Starting out as rolling climbs up a woodsy river, a nice climb thru alpine lakes and meadows, a challenging climb, epic view and rocky sketch descent off of Klone Peak, and of course a super fun fast switchbacking bomb run off of Lost Lakes Trail, just as i had suspected.
At the end of the ride i was spent, but i found at least one ride that i categorize as a must do once a year.
Mike spinning past Two Little Lakes (South)
Craig navigating a corner off of Klone Peak
Finally a full view of Glacier Peak. A volcano almost as close to Seattle as Mt. Rainier but obscured by the high peaks that surround it.
Pulled off the USGS website.
From: Mastin and Waitt, 2000, Glacier Peak -- History and Hazards of a Cascade Volcano: USGS Fact Sheet 058-00
Glacier Peak is the most remote of the five active volcanoes in Washington State. It is not prominently visible from any major population center, and so its attractions, as well as its hazards, tend to be over-looked. Yet since the end of the last ice age, Glacier Peak has produced some of the largest and most explosive eruptions in the state. During this time period, Glacier Peak has erupted multiple times during at least six separate episodes, most recently about 300 years ago. ...
The stunning snow-capped volcanoes of Washington State have long been recognized by Native Americans in their language and legends, and they immediately caught the eyes of U.S. and European explorers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. By the 1790s, Mounts Baker, Rainier, and St. Helens were noted and named in the first written descriptions of the Columbia River and Puget Sound regions. In 1805 Lewis and Clark noted Mount Adams. By the mid-19th century each of these four volcanoes had their place on a published map.
Glacier Peak wasn't known by settlers to be a volcano until the 1850s, when Native Americans mentioned to naturalist George Gibbs that "another smaller peak to the north of Mount Rainier once smoked." Not until 1898 did Glacier Peak appear on a published map under its current name.
From: U.S. Forest Service, Wenatchee National Forest Website, 2002
For thousands of years Native Americans traveled through this area to the meadows and peaks of the North Cascades in search of plants and game. The first white man to record seeing Glacier Peak was Daniel Linsley, surveying in 1870 for a possible railroad route for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Mining claims were filed in the Glacier Peak area during the North Cascades "gold rush" of the 1880s and 1890s. Except for the Holden Mine, just east of the Wilderness, all that remains of early day mining and trapping activities are abandoned mine shafts, rusting equipment, and a few rotting cabins.
Seen with wonderful clarity from Klone Peak i'm left to wonder that the slight fear many hold from Mt. Rainier is misplaced with the obscured danger of Glacier Peak. Out of sight out of mind, but maybe someday....boom! :evil:
Anyways beyond the armeggedon tangent i gotta say that the ride was a total blast. Pardon the pun.
Our group summited Klone Peak only to find what we all had secretly suspected. Our clones were in fact real and mocking us.....
Klone Peak near Leavenworth and Entiat. Starting from Maverick Saddle at 4200 feet. Summiting at Klone Peak at 6820 feet. 24 miles 3640 elevation gain/descend all singletrack.
i had signed up for a BBTC (local bikey club) ride a few weeks ago. It was starting from the same spot that a ride i had signed up for was taking place. That ride was the one where i discovered my bike linkage was hosed and i was left to hike and take pictures. Although i salvaged a good day, i gotta say being stranded was frustrating, and while i was wandering thru the woods i knew the area had great promise. So i was eager to get back out to that area and put some rubber to the dirt.
Anyways a few days prior to the ride, the event was cancelled, since their was a death in the family for the ride leader. So the call was made for someone to lead the ride and i took it immediately. Main reason was there was a trail i hiked (Lost Lake Trail) that i knew would be a blast to ride. Also after studying the maps there was another trail that appeared to be a better alternative to climb up to Klone Peaks. It appeared better as it passed the aptly named Two Little Lakes, rather than staying on Mad River Trail as an out an back, exclusively, which i suspect was going to be the chosen route. So this was going to be an opportunity to test these trails, and drag some unsuspecting mt. bikers with me.
Anyways i was right and everyone agreed that the route was extremely nice. Starting out as rolling climbs up a woodsy river, a nice climb thru alpine lakes and meadows, a challenging climb, epic view and rocky sketch descent off of Klone Peak, and of course a super fun fast switchbacking bomb run off of Lost Lakes Trail, just as i had suspected.
At the end of the ride i was spent, but i found at least one ride that i categorize as a must do once a year.
Mike spinning past Two Little Lakes (South)
Craig navigating a corner off of Klone Peak
Finally a full view of Glacier Peak. A volcano almost as close to Seattle as Mt. Rainier but obscured by the high peaks that surround it.
Pulled off the USGS website.
From: Mastin and Waitt, 2000, Glacier Peak -- History and Hazards of a Cascade Volcano: USGS Fact Sheet 058-00
Glacier Peak is the most remote of the five active volcanoes in Washington State. It is not prominently visible from any major population center, and so its attractions, as well as its hazards, tend to be over-looked. Yet since the end of the last ice age, Glacier Peak has produced some of the largest and most explosive eruptions in the state. During this time period, Glacier Peak has erupted multiple times during at least six separate episodes, most recently about 300 years ago. ...
The stunning snow-capped volcanoes of Washington State have long been recognized by Native Americans in their language and legends, and they immediately caught the eyes of U.S. and European explorers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. By the 1790s, Mounts Baker, Rainier, and St. Helens were noted and named in the first written descriptions of the Columbia River and Puget Sound regions. In 1805 Lewis and Clark noted Mount Adams. By the mid-19th century each of these four volcanoes had their place on a published map.
Glacier Peak wasn't known by settlers to be a volcano until the 1850s, when Native Americans mentioned to naturalist George Gibbs that "another smaller peak to the north of Mount Rainier once smoked." Not until 1898 did Glacier Peak appear on a published map under its current name.
From: U.S. Forest Service, Wenatchee National Forest Website, 2002
For thousands of years Native Americans traveled through this area to the meadows and peaks of the North Cascades in search of plants and game. The first white man to record seeing Glacier Peak was Daniel Linsley, surveying in 1870 for a possible railroad route for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Mining claims were filed in the Glacier Peak area during the North Cascades "gold rush" of the 1880s and 1890s. Except for the Holden Mine, just east of the Wilderness, all that remains of early day mining and trapping activities are abandoned mine shafts, rusting equipment, and a few rotting cabins.
Seen with wonderful clarity from Klone Peak i'm left to wonder that the slight fear many hold from Mt. Rainier is misplaced with the obscured danger of Glacier Peak. Out of sight out of mind, but maybe someday....boom! :evil:
Anyways beyond the armeggedon tangent i gotta say that the ride was a total blast. Pardon the pun.
). MMike is the only person i know of that didn't like it here, but what does he know, he's not a real mt. biker anyway.... :devil: 
But just typing this is taking tons of effort!
