Where the idea of living on the road was first for me discovered. I met a guy in the campground that had been on the road for 33 years. I was just a weekender and short vacation road trips “liver” at that time, I started later, I am working on 12 years.

Internet signal at the pass.

Ramble recollections.

Spokane visit was pleasant. I drove into town Tuesday morning traveling US 2 across dry land wheat farming on huge acreages with hardly a house in sight. Land is flat with a slight hill rolled out. Can’t see any vertical relief. evidence that that heavy thunderstorm on Sat washed field dirt across the highway such that it had to be lowed away. Lunch at Ultimate Bagel a favorite connection. Met with $ Dennis for $ chat, drink beer, and visit. Several hours later I met with Tom for yearly 2 beer payment for storage in his basement. Learned about the Perry st area. Checked out Bike Hub bike shop. Dinner at a bistro. Arrived late at my former neighbors’ house and driveway. Tom told me berries were killing it up on Mt Spokane. Next ride.

Wed I scooted early for MT Spokane. I parked at what is called “The Beach” outside the $10 entrance fee for the park. I put my berry picking baggie in my pack. This will be a big hump ride to get up to the berry patch elevation. 20 mins of road pedaling to drop off onto the dirt. Right away the runoff impact was noticeable as there was a flow track on the trail. Down low the path was narrower than higher up. Pedal hump up. At berry picking spot a local guy said he lives at the bottom of the mountain that captured 3″ of that rain. I picked maybe 4 hand fulls. Several others were picking. Lots of them in places but not overly large. Looking forward to my scratch pancakes tomorrow. At Smith Gap I tired into the main downhill. Trail is a piece of shit from sustainability, so badly eroded. dark under dense tree cover. 12.7 miles climbed 2651′. That’s a lot of elevation per mile.

Dinner at The Elk, a long time favorite. Dale is still there. made it back early enough to visit with neighbors.

Thurs was laundry day and a Riverside State Park ride. I use the same laundromat in the past. Years ago when my right arm was not working the ladies there helped me fold my shirts and sheets.

Drove out to Seven mile area parking off a side street. Geared up. Pedaling I was hearing a metal against metal again like yesterday as I was finishing my ride. I stopped and spun the wheel. Hmm, dragging. Restaged the brake caliper, no change. The hub has problems. I pedaled back to the van. I googled I9 to find a repair shop. Bike Hub was one. I called the same Perry st location. Danny answered my service call. He called me by name because my voice is distinct as he remembered me from a previous shop I used. Plus the phone had caller ID. I plead my situation. He said bring it by and he would see what he could do as he was down 1 wrench and time was booked. I arrived at the shop. We greeted each other like long lost buddies. He finished the bike in the stand then he moved me next. Pulled off the rear wheel, yes, something ain’t right. Pulled it apart to find one of the bearings had grenaded and was in pieces. This explained the noise I heard. Bearings… He read the numbers on the bearing. I called a local bearing company. They had the bearings. I drove off to retrieve. Using google maps took me to places in Spokane I had never been. I was not a wanderer when I lived here. He put in the new bearing and the hub is back to being happy. My bill was partially paid by beer. I thanked all for the help and the juggling they did to fix my hub.

I walked back to the Perry ST brew pub. I sat at the bar. a guy took the vacant seat to my right. Shortly i Started a conversation that started rolling. I needed to find dinner. I left before I could drink the beer he was going to buy me. Later I drove to Millwood to a new brew pub. Late night back to sleep.

Friday I was free to go. I drove away for Spokane and my old neighborhood to ride Mt Coeur d’Alene another favorite. It’s on the east side of namesake lake. Drive up Beauty Bay road for a little ways negotiating numerous wheel traps in the broken pavement. Parked at same spot under very big shade cedar tree. Geared up and pedaled away climbing right away. Dirt bikes no longer can ride these trails. Trail is under deep tree canopy, conifer forest, cedar, Doug fir, tamarack. Trail also was washed clear. Ride up 257, ride a short connecting piece of logging road to continue down to the junction of 227 for the monster hike a bike climb out. Numerous fallen trees across 227 presented a challenge to my weak right arm in lifting my bike over the trees. 2.52 miles climbing 1227′ to that dirt road. Very serious hump, mostly all rideable. However 22 up was worse: 2 miles taking a hard 39 mins climbing 1627′, much of it was hike a bike steep. 227 connects with caribou ridge for downhill fun.

Wild deep tree cover.

Back at the van. Next up was the drive to Helena, MT. I 90 driving. Over 4th of July Pass into Silver Valley then climb up Lookout Pass then descend into Montana. Long drive. I stopped to prepare a late dinner then finished the drive to MacDonald Pass and the continental divide.

Moved ahead an hour. The new 7 AM was my 6 AM.

Learned that a bike hike and beer festival is happening in Helena today. Notable are more shuttle seats. I dropped the 2,000′ feet to town. I parked near Blackfoot brewery. weather forecast wanted 40% rain. In town the skies were not threatening. An older guy stopped to visit. I checked the shuttle web site to learn a 10:00 shuttle, I had 30 mins to get ready. I made it. Mountain flyer is a free shuttle that carries riders and bikes the 8 miles up the road to the start of Helena Ridge trail. Van was packed. Ride starts climbing right away. Tread is broken rock. Hump. Earlier I had 1 hit of extract which puts me over the edge. Too much good stuff. Trouble pedaling a good line over the chunder. Local conditions. Once on top the trail runs the ridge with several short ups mixed around several long downhill pieces. amazing skilled 7th graders caught me and showed me nothing but fleeting glances. They stopped at one point and I joined them. 1 boy, who was riding a hard tail, asked if I had a multi tool as he had no rear brake. What a rider using just his front brake. He used my tool to move the lever away from the bar to engage the brake. Then they were gone again. We rode Show Me the Horse trail which drops back down to gulch road. At the road I turned uphill to climb up to another ridge. Beetle killed P pines, many had been felled to reduce fire hazard. Another downhill over this broken rock. Learned from watching the boys is to aim where I want to go and let speed increase the gyroscopic effect on the wheels and be gentle on the loose. Finished with a pavement coast back to my van and brew pub. In MT at brew pubs a drinker is allowed a set amount of beer, the quantity is written on a chit you carry. As I stepped up to pay my 1 beer tab the guy I met earlier stopped for a visit. He bought my beer.

I chose to drive back up to the pass for the night. I am outside the campground. Chilly. At 10 PM it is 50 degrees. I ran the furnace this morning. I will use it again shortly after I close the door.

Tomorrow is another Helena ride I hope to score another shuttle to ride the same trails. Monday I will head to Bozeman.

Today is Monday, I am on my way to Spokane for connections tomorrow. Sat a real gulley washer fell that knocked down the smoke air in town. What a storm, I drove thru it on Sat missing the hard downpour that scoured what I rode and drove thru. This morning I rode the Reds then drove east to this isolated place in the coulee. Prolly the last of the big open skies until east of Denver. Big open sky contrast from the Cascades.

Writing this now w/o internet in word to be pasted when
service is connected.

So, anyway. Maybe work backwards from today. But maybe need to go back several days to put it in sense. Weather forecast Saturday and Sunday at Winthrop area was for red flag warning and flash floods with heavy rains. Supposed to be after 11. I was camped up the road from the Buck mtn in a vacant driveway. Something dropped down on the van roof and scratched. Something falling from the sky, not from a tree and scratching like claws. I banged on the wall to no effect. More scratching. I opened the door to see a raptor fly away. Then a light rain fell before bfast. Shit, I planned on riding Buck mtn before the 11 forecast.  Rain quit, broken clouds, possible big sucker hole. I drove down to the TH and geared up. Still dry skies. Did pack rain jacket. I repeated this ride. 42 min hump up the road climbing 988’ in 3.53 miles. Head up in anticipation of the start of the trail. No longer hurts. The first part of the ride uses old non maintained haul roads until the single track. Trail climbs in and out of several drainages in a big cirque. At the first fence crossing, a style(?), a roll up and over narrow opening. My proprioception shorted my right hand which clipped the right edge of the railing. Shit, splatter, firmly placed on the ground. The final stop was my head smashing a wooden fence post. Concussion protocol, good to see, however, 2 spots on my legs were cut allowing a blood flow down my calves. Anticoagulant med fucks with clotting allowing blood to flow. I rode a ways before accepting the fact that the left leg was not going to clot without help. I carry a first aid kit with what I needed to stop the flow. I was able to reach the left leg to put on a large bandaid. The right calf was in a partial blind spot to cover but blood stopped. Shit. Having a first aid kit is one thing, being able to bandage is another story. Finished the ride. No lessen to learn. I checked the gap which gave about 2 inches per side. I got caught. Shit, down further I clipped a tree with the same hand this time banging my little finger knuckle.

Back at the van. Decided to return to Cashmere to ride
Devils Gulch again to put off going to Spokane. Forecast for Cashmere was the
same as Winthrop. I did drive thru a brief violent almost high speed wiper
downpour. Bought groceries for 2 days then drove up Mission creek to lower
Devils Gulch. Rain had fallen. Then I drove over patches of eroded dirt. Must
have been a pretty hard rain. Slept at TH, location was determined by XM
reception which was a matter of feet one way or another.

Sunday the forecast called for sunny and dry. A truck pulled
in with 2 bikes. 2 guys got out, packing mid life girth. We have electric bikes.
They “pedaled” away before I was ready. Mission creek is running almost
chocolate pudding. I picked to ride here because if rain did fall, it did, that
it would knock down the dust and bond the dirt. Mission creek over the years
flooded out the road that the FS has abandoned it. Several places are sketchy
to negotiate plus several wet feet crossings. I followed the e bikes which are
legal. I never caught them. Made the top. Old school hiking trail taken ove by
dirt bikes and now mtn bikes. Challenging downhill with lots of blind corners,
encroaching brush, water hazards, skinny, hidden leg scratchers, nice descent
angle keeping me focused and heels down. After a hike a bike creek crossing I
swung my leg over the top tube, put my right foot on the pedal, then pushed
off. WTF? Both wheels hit stops which stalled me. I lost my balance then fell
to my left finding tree parts. Fuck, blood is streaming down my forearm from my
left elbow. Pretty bloody. I stopped and pulled out the first aid kit. I put a gauze
pad over my elbow then worked to apply the magic tape to hold it in place. 1
armed paper hanger. I was not getting the wrap done. The trail runner I passed
earlier arrived whom I enlisted his help to wrap the tape. He then ran away
down trail. I got back on my bike continuing my descent. Shit, lots of front
braking speed. Where did that runner go? I should have passed him. I finally
did. I told him I needed to pedal to stay ahead of him. I scraped a hidden
branch / tree which ripped another hole right beneath yesterday’s tear. I let
it bleed.Lots of water hazards mostly from dirt bikes but not as bad as today.
Back at TH the electric bikers were getting ready leave. One guy finished with
4% charge. I asked him to bandage my elbow after I cleaned it. I drove back
down the creek then turned up Sand creek for sleep spot.

Today I checked my body functions as I worked my way out of bed. Parts move with freedom. Perfect for a repeat of the Reds: Red Hill and Red Devil. Repeating the same ride from last week, same day. Today the trail has numerous dirt bike whoops, some with muddy water, some places there was a narrow shoulder to ride to stay out of the hole. Lots of exposure, dicey riding a skinny with the outslope falling steeply away. Dirt bike ruts, pedal strikes. Slippery mud. Rain had flowed down the trail eroding rocks into the rut. Shit, skillful descending the back side of Red Hill. New rear brake pads were beneficial for speed control. Connects to almost a mile of Devils Gulch before the start of Red Devil which is 4.86 miles climbing 762 and loosing 1017’, took 46 mins of umph. The descent at the end made the effort acceptable. All by myself. Cleaned up then drove out of the creek canyon to Cashmere.

Thursday was ride Sun Mtn trails then drive down to Twisp for laundry and shower. Mike gave me permission to sleep in his driveway in town. Clean clothes and body. Twisp is short on tourists, just locals. Old played out resource extraction town with a little bit of new blood creating a newer scene. Back in 1970 I was here to put out a fire. We were flown in from Roseburg, OR on a jumper plane then bused to Twisp arriving before Bfast. Our crew was 12 strong physically conditioned guys, mostly college age all wearing orange fire shirts. We entered a restaurant for bfast, not many customers at that hour. A juke box loaded with music of our time was inside. Several songs were played. One of our guys asked to turn the volume up which happened. Shortly a local got up and pulled the plug. Several of our guys went to the juke box and plugged it back in. The affected locals threw a huff then left. 12 against 4. Local tastes were not current to the anti war protests.

Sun Mtn trails. Guy at Winthrop gave me a ride route on the trails. Some new trails built by Evergreen: Climb it and Pete’s Dragon. Years ago I used to race a WIM series race here. Today’s ride used some of those trails, some parts I remembered. Black Bear is fun.

Sat while sitting in my van at The Barn at Winthrop a guy walked up to me and called my name. ? It was Russ from where we worked together at Boeing Spokane.

And so very upper 90s hot. Forecast for central WA has been for heat warnings. My unresearched idea was to drive up the Methow to Winthrop to escape the very hot. Well, to some extent. Still last night even sleeping at 3566′ the temp just dropped below 70 degrees. I dug out my battery powered fan after I woke up sweated. Brought enough relief to sleep but don’t know how much my body recuperated. So anyway, today is a don’t produce sensible perspiration rest day here.

So, experiences have accumulated just waiting for my recapturing. Perhaps jumbled for future figuring out.

Last Tuesday I picked up my sandals after a last ride at Phils. I have been liking Kents all the way down and some part of it for a climb. Just a fun exertion of sufficient balance to choose this loop.

Monday night I hosted the editor of Bend’s Source weekly, she interviewed me for a story about camping on public lands. Captain Craig chicken dish was a smash.

Next up was RD 44 trails S of Hood River. Not a hard drive from Bend. Tues. night I slept at fabulous view shed of east side of MT Hood.

I learned of a loop here that I repeated. One of my chosen best. I drove down to lower start of 8 Mile Creek which humps mostly directly up the creek on my RFX. Different forest and tread.

The climb was pedalable up with a later screamer coast back down. This sign states trail etiquette

Seeing very visible signs

These trails and remote location to me is what mountain biking is to me: Adventure. I rode the Super Connector which ties Knebal Springs and Surveyors. I helped build a piece of it. Surveyors has been rerouted to get it off the aqueduct road, much nicer. Then the grunt climb up Cooks Meadow to the top at Lookout. Newer purpose built piece that is riding in well in spite of several too steep to pedal sections. The lower hits the dirt road then becomes Upper which is very new since I rode here last maybe 3 years ago. The trail plays nicely with the elevation gains, all pedalable. Almost the entire area is contiguous to city watersheds which somehow reduces logging. Deep tree cover as nature created it.

Trail tops at 6,000′, wilderness boundary is on other side of sort of improved road, improved in that the tank trap ruts have been filled in with irregular sized quarried rock. Look far ahead to focus on immovable object to remain upright. Elevation loss on road. Finally single track exits and real fun happens. Trail drops 2,000′ back to van. Hard riding in dark shade with broken spots of bright sunshine: I can’t see thru to upcoming tread features. Then the 8 Mile descent: Just hang on to a very well natured bike. 21.4 miles climbing 2844′ pedaling for 3 hrs 12 mins. Just another special caliber ride. Drove back to same sleep spot.

Thursday was laundry day per preference. Plan was to drive down to Hood River to clean clothes and body. Both cleaners shared a common wall. Visited with Mitchell, owner of Dirt Finger bike shop. Grocery shopped. Bought new bottle of rum. The I drove to Tieton river rd dead end for Goat Rocks hike the next day.

Friday at TH I packed my pack. Weather forecast called for 20% chnace of showers when I last had internet access. It will be a possible rainy visit as has been common with previous visits. I want to see McCall Basin again. Last year a forest fire burned over the trail for several miles. Hiking in a first season after a burn. Places the fire was very hot yet several feet away no burn. Underbrush plants like vanilla bean(?) are green.

Places the fire was hot enough to burn the organic out of the trail tread which is mostly loose volcanic dirt, particularly noticeable on the outslope which is blown out. Exposure is a real thing. Horses traveled this trail, Good for them trusting their mount. The trail climbs traversing steep mountain side. Several flowing streams crossed the trail including the last one which used to be a wet feet crossing which is now blown out exposing dry rocks.

Clouds moved in dropping drizzle. The Tieton trail dead ends on the PCT. I rested. Several what I will say were thru hikers blew by wearing rain protection. I followed suit. I headed S on the PCT, where I had walked in the other direction back in 1978 on my thru hike. Further on a hiker passed with a rain cover on his pack. I again headed an example.

McCall basin side trail split off.

The trail dead ends in the basin. Brush overhung the trail edges dripping water on my sort of dry boots. I put on on my rain pants which covered the boot upper. Credit to the goretex liner. Then the challenge began of bush bashing climb out of the dead end basin to the alpine basin on the back side of a no trail ridge. Only with the snow gone I found a steep trail. Umphf climb into basin. Clouds cover Old Snowy. And rain was falling. I hiked to a clump of trees with several level spots for my camp. This basin is wild. For years I would hike to here to spring ski from the top. Wonderful hairy skiing.

Clouds cleared off early evening. Next morning bright and clear for a spectacular view of same.

Back on PCT I hiked with a thru hiker till Tieton trail dropped off. Thru hikers have such small packs and wear almost running shoes and just scoot. Connection with my past.

Back at the TH the air was hot and dry and I had time so I hung out my stuff to air dry then put it away.

Next up is Devil’s Gulch outside of Cashmere, WA. I dallied to let the sun lessen its warmth. I made it to Blewett Pass for the night.

The next day I drove to Cashmere then up Mission Creek to Devil’s Gulch TH. This ride is another of my favorite rides. It is almost equal amount of road climbing to downhill single track. 22.5 miles of which 11.5 are downhill. Climbing price was 2 hours for 1 hr downhill. The trail blowouts had been repaired for dirt bikes and us. Deep tree cover.

While I was gearing up a rig pulled in, 2 guys, maybe in their early 50s, got out. Guy asks about the trail, said they were on electrics and it would be good. They talked about “pedaling” up the Gulch. I never saw them and their rig was gone when I returned. I was curious. They seemed to lack experience.

I spent the night over at Sand creek TH positioning myself for a suffer fest of the Reds: Red Hill and Red Devil.

The ride direction was up Red Hill then down to Devils Gulch for a short piece then take Red Devil back. Red Hill is a hump 4.1 miles climbing 2548′. Do the math for climbing feet per mile. I pedaled most of it.

Then this sight:

Trail finally left the destruction

Then came Red Devil which climbs then descends several ridge snouts before finally downhill back to van. 13 miles climbing 2723′. Nasty.

Plan then was to drive up to Winthrop where I am now to again escape the heat. Not so much. Slept way up Cub Creek at 3566′, Winthrop is 1847 and hotter.

Been at this for several hours, I chose to move on to other things. Might be here for several more days, temp is forecast for lower 90s and possible rain.