Been working about 100 miles out of town.
Staying at friends in Bellingham and on my way to visit family on my Reservation.
With bikey i'm set for 2 smaller solo rides.
One that's fairly popular and another i doubt hardly anyone has ever set wheels on.
Cutthroat Creek Trail
12 miles 2300' out and back
North Cascades is reknowned for it's alpine scenery.
Steep granite peaks jutting skyward,
it's rugged,
it's an outstanding place to be out in the sticks and ride.
The clouds chased me along the highway.
So it's not suprising to me that when i settle in for a ride they demonstrate that summer is officially over.
A nice stretch of gentle climbing singletrack to warm up.
After a few miles the rain decided to finally break.
It was a nice change of pace, i haven't ridden in rain for over 4 months.
The dry parched forests have been needing it,
a few forest fires in the area we starting to get out of hand.
To the lake.
After taking some quality moments at the serene lake
listening to the knocking of a woodpecker and other chatter from assorted birds...
i begin the ascent to Cutthroat Pass.
The climbing never get's too steep.
A nice grind with of course a few switchbacks.
Really this is one of the finer trail rides on the planet.
The trail moderately flowy,
with a nice combination of buffed packed earth and rocky choppy goodness to keep you honest
All the while the high rocky peaks in your periphereal.
Outstandingly scenic and beautiful,
along with the fun descent of what you climb,
it's got the whole package.
Finally reaching Cuthroat pass,
the clouds had again rolled in.
Years of riding in this state has taught me that mountain weather can change unpredictably.
So gearing up i pondered my next step.
Socked in with fog i was a little dissapointed i wasn't going to get a money panorama shot...
So after getting caught talking to myself,
i take heed of a camper's advice and ride just a little spell on the Pacific Crest Trail
to get an outstanding view on the other side of the Pass.
Just when you think you're alone on top of the world...
Stunning, my photos really don't do it justice...
Satisfied i was ready to head down the mountain,
i made it no further than a fifty feet back down the trail when i realized that the clouds were passing.
The camper tucked back into his tent with his woman must have thought me truly strange,
riding all over this alpine terrain in such an indecisive sporadic way.
Oh well us mt. bikers are weird, why fight it...
(and yah it's worth mentioning the descent was very very good)
Thirteen Mile Trail
Oh about 7 or 8 miles in and back for 16 or so total, with around a couple grand of guesstamated vert....
Saddle up, after visiting my family on the "rez", it was time to do some exploring.
The trail starts on my reservation and quickly finds it's way up
and out of the Sanpoil River Valley and into the Kettle Range.
Rocky cliffs and steep rocky trails greet you as you begin.
An alterior motive of checking this trail out would be that i'm hosting a club ride here next year.
A huge 40 plus mile XC shuttle with this trail being the ending point.
So while enjoying a pleasurable climb, the descent back to the car was my primary focus.
As if that usually isn't anyways on any other ride i do....
Took me a mere 7 minutes to clear, always good trail karma...
After a quick jaunt up past the cliffs the trail mellows,
turning into the delightful fast smooth trails with occasional rocky sections that's typical for the Kettle Crest Trails.
And occasionaly turning primitive that doesn't require too much of a keen eye to spot where the trail is,
or maybe i'm just good at this kind thing.
And since this is range area it wasn't far fetched that on the very very worthy descent i run into my nemisis. Nothing worse than Kettle Range Cattle, so we meet again.....
Well what a nice short little getaway it was, with some nice trail riding.
i'm pretty stoked was able to finally bag Cutthroat, and do a little sneak and peek on Thirteen Mile. i'm extremely confident next years Sherman Pass to Thirteen Mile is going to be nothing but outstanding.
Staying at friends in Bellingham and on my way to visit family on my Reservation.
With bikey i'm set for 2 smaller solo rides.
One that's fairly popular and another i doubt hardly anyone has ever set wheels on.
Cutthroat Creek Trail
12 miles 2300' out and back
North Cascades is reknowned for it's alpine scenery.
Steep granite peaks jutting skyward,
it's rugged,
it's an outstanding place to be out in the sticks and ride.
The clouds chased me along the highway.
So it's not suprising to me that when i settle in for a ride they demonstrate that summer is officially over.
A nice stretch of gentle climbing singletrack to warm up.
After a few miles the rain decided to finally break.
It was a nice change of pace, i haven't ridden in rain for over 4 months.
The dry parched forests have been needing it,
a few forest fires in the area we starting to get out of hand.
To the lake.
After taking some quality moments at the serene lake
listening to the knocking of a woodpecker and other chatter from assorted birds...
i begin the ascent to Cutthroat Pass.
The climbing never get's too steep.
A nice grind with of course a few switchbacks.
Really this is one of the finer trail rides on the planet.
The trail moderately flowy,
with a nice combination of buffed packed earth and rocky choppy goodness to keep you honest
All the while the high rocky peaks in your periphereal.
Outstandingly scenic and beautiful,
along with the fun descent of what you climb,
it's got the whole package.
Finally reaching Cuthroat pass,
the clouds had again rolled in.
Years of riding in this state has taught me that mountain weather can change unpredictably.
So gearing up i pondered my next step.
Socked in with fog i was a little dissapointed i wasn't going to get a money panorama shot...
So after getting caught talking to myself,
i take heed of a camper's advice and ride just a little spell on the Pacific Crest Trail
to get an outstanding view on the other side of the Pass.
Just when you think you're alone on top of the world...
Stunning, my photos really don't do it justice...
Satisfied i was ready to head down the mountain,
i made it no further than a fifty feet back down the trail when i realized that the clouds were passing.
The camper tucked back into his tent with his woman must have thought me truly strange,
riding all over this alpine terrain in such an indecisive sporadic way.
Oh well us mt. bikers are weird, why fight it...
(and yah it's worth mentioning the descent was very very good)
Thirteen Mile Trail
Oh about 7 or 8 miles in and back for 16 or so total, with around a couple grand of guesstamated vert....
Saddle up, after visiting my family on the "rez", it was time to do some exploring.
The trail starts on my reservation and quickly finds it's way up
and out of the Sanpoil River Valley and into the Kettle Range.
Rocky cliffs and steep rocky trails greet you as you begin.
An alterior motive of checking this trail out would be that i'm hosting a club ride here next year.
A huge 40 plus mile XC shuttle with this trail being the ending point.
So while enjoying a pleasurable climb, the descent back to the car was my primary focus.
As if that usually isn't anyways on any other ride i do....
Took me a mere 7 minutes to clear, always good trail karma...
After a quick jaunt up past the cliffs the trail mellows,
turning into the delightful fast smooth trails with occasional rocky sections that's typical for the Kettle Crest Trails.
And occasionaly turning primitive that doesn't require too much of a keen eye to spot where the trail is,
or maybe i'm just good at this kind thing.
And since this is range area it wasn't far fetched that on the very very worthy descent i run into my nemisis. Nothing worse than Kettle Range Cattle, so we meet again.....
Well what a nice short little getaway it was, with some nice trail riding.
i'm pretty stoked was able to finally bag Cutthroat, and do a little sneak and peek on Thirteen Mile. i'm extremely confident next years Sherman Pass to Thirteen Mile is going to be nothing but outstanding.
Reminds me of visiting/riding Crystal Mountain (and Whistler) in 96 only nicer with snow. 