Plan for Thurs was morning ride from green gate, back to town for laundry, a shower, and beer.
Geared up at Green gate, where still legible is a Hot Tomato sticker, pulled bike off fork mount, placed the front wheel in the fork, then threaded the maxxle thru. Shit: spun freely, no more threads to engage. There went the ride. Reversed course headed back to town. Did get a shower and clean clothes, later a 10 Barrel beer. Dropped bike off at Sunnyside. No fork. rescheduled work for Fri. Fri no fork. Due this Monday.
No bike for weekend. Legs started twitching in anticipation of a backpack trip…. maybe. But where to go as the Oregon Cascades are legendary for mosquitoes as I can attest to. Where to go that would be out of a lakes basin. I remembered on the Met Win trail where it crosses the Middle Fork of Tumalo creek would be a desirable place to spend the night. A strongly flowing creek only would not be hospital to the suckers. Question arose about snow and what will my body’s response be? Sat I drove up to Dutchman Flat snow park , a starting point for the Tumalo mtn trail. I put on my high top hikers and my hiking poles then put one foot in front of the other as I joined many hikers both climbing and descending. Nice day. well worn trail, some places very steep. Gained 1,356′ in 2 miles, big hump. topped out at 7,775′, way above Bend.
Years ago I visited Bend during ski season. I was primarily a back country skier. I parked at Dutchman and geared up for a tour climb adventure. I followed various up tracks. Heavy snow falling. Globbed on to another skier just below the summit which was obscured in white out. Deskinned and changed into down hill power gear. He said he knew the way off the ridge, follow me. He was randonee, I was on no fat tele skis. Shit, almost waist deep fresh dry pow. I just remember punching turns all the way to the bottom, some times my vision was blocked by face shots. Other skier complimented me as I was the first tele skier he had ever seen ski the line non stop. So good skinned back up for another go. Crazy. I was driving my Westie that developed engine issues which prevented me from visiting an aunt in law. I slept down just outside of town. The next day i returned for another go, this time with another skier. same fun. Snowed all night and while we were again letting gravity give direction. Today remnants of the cornice remain.
The summit provided a crow’s nest view north towards Middle fork. Snow patches were noticeable. A rider commented on TrailForks that deep snow is present. I didn’t get that impression. The down hike beat my brakes. Back at the van I decided to give a back pack hike in to the creek a go. I pulled out my gear. I needed to verify the workings and conditions of my stove, water filter, tent, thermorest, and good I put together sufficient food from past unused. Burning old stove fuel yet stove ran. Pumped water thru the filter. Other stuff checked out. Packed up then headed out hiking with a heavy load on my back. Hiked trails I have ridden. Just before the FlagLine junction I ran into patches of firm spring snow. Once past the patches became more frequent and bigger. Boots can kick steps. Encountered a biker coming from where I was headed. He was beaten from dealing with unrideable snow. I continued and made it to the creek. I selected a likely spot on pumice. Stiff breeze was nice. Didn’t notice any mosquitoes. The wind died down as I was finishing my freeze dried dinner. My legs became ground zero for the suckers. Splotches of my blood. I watched ants retrieving carcasses to return to where? Ended up crawling into my tent separating myself inside mosquito netting. My tent is very minimalist small which means cramped quarters. My legs are prone to cramping that the cramped space could trigger a cramp and I would have a bitch of a time to stretch it out. I was able to sit up in my therm o rest chair for reading by headlamp. I woke before sunrise then laid snug in my down bag. I crawled out of my bag and brushed the underside of the tent: water dripped. The dew was so thick it flowed up under the tent canopy. Sleeping bag got wet. Pack was drenched. Chilly, too cold for morning feeding. Ate oatmeal, cleaned up, packed, then hiked out. Snow was more firm. Made it back to van and crowded parking lot. I chose to leave and drive down to Swampy snow park which is not crowded and prolly warmer, a good place to hang the wet stuff to dry. Success. Everything dry and ready for next trip.
UPS tracking calls for fork delivery tomorrow. I am hoping that Sunnyside is able to install it in time for a late ride. I have been sharing fork arrival info and they have been creating schedule time.
Today I hiked the return trip non stop, almost 2 hrs. Body is stiff but functioning. Passed stress test. Took a shower to remove dried blood. Great to be not supporting the next generation of mosquitoes. 9:30 PM, door open, window down, 67 degrees. Tired.