Had to have gone up. How we do the going up has choices from all the way from riding up what you will descend to other end of choices to paying for the hoist. I use all 3 situation dependent, I do pay for Oakridge shuttles on Alpine. I prefer to find another way up instead of pedaling up the to be down. Sometimes the direction of travel could go either way. I seek to lessen my effort as direction choice.
How did I get there?
Back in Bend seeking established patient treatment to figure out my headache. I left Spokane Friday morning. I took the more scenic state highway 27 down thru S Spokane county and beyond going thru the Palouse region of rolling hills of loess now cultivated to growing dry land wheat. Crop has been harvested, primary color is golden brown stubble. Something to see: miles and miles of square miles of tilled land.
I chose making multiday trip to bend for a requested Wed DR appointment. Route choice was to ride Moscow Mtn above namesake town. Back when I was living in Spokane I traveled to this riding area hosted by the guy who negotiated permission of the private timber land owner to allow bikes and to build trails. His results continue to grow. The trails are purpose built for mtn bikes as sole user albeit horse and hiker are allowed. Sustainable. Fun and challenging to ride as a mountain biker. I will say that this system is my most favorite trail system.
I rode the western trails as only a short piece of dirt road was needed to TH. More trails are further east accessed from another TH requiring miles of gravel, or lengthening ride from this end. I have ridden here maybe 3 other times. For me one strike as there is no nearby camping so I could ride for several days. Ride starts out climbing steeply right away, warm up in now. I picked a Trailforks route to follow which takes out my figuring trail and direction choices. Worked for me. 10.5 miles climbing 1886′, average speed was 5.99 mph.
The drive from Moscow to Hood River is over private land. I planned on bottom out camping at Rufus on the Columbia but just off I 84. I checked campgrounds along the way finding no openings. I mapped my route going S thru Moscow. For information sake I asked Google for directions. Route came back different than my plan which avoided road construction delays. reverse direction going back thr Moscow which is Home to Idaho Vandals. Continued north back to Spokane then turned west at Colfax. Afternoon was getting late, I started looking for a sleep spot before Rufus. Road signed for airport. Drove short distance to it to see it was not public anymore and difficult to see how it could perform as an airport. Back on the highway. Shortly I spied a CXT outhouse off the road. CXT outhouse indicated developed parking site. I turned left on the side road. I spied a white SUV with a light bar on top stuck in road side ditch, no shoulder. I parked in the TH parking lot which is for Panda Pond. No posted can’t sleep here signs. I walked out the road to check on the rig in the ditch. A state trooper greeted me who was the rig driver. He was stuck needing a tow. He said he attempted a turn around thinking there was a shoulder. Not so. So I did most of the talking with him as he waited for a buddy to show up and pull him out. Buddy arrived with pickup and chain, in 1 pull car was back on road. I asked about camping at pond and he said it was state land and it was OK to stay which I did.
Sat I continued drive to Hood River for visit at Dirty Finger, Mitchell’s shop, and provisioning for 2 days of riding up on RD 44 trails. Visited with Mitchell who has seen me 3 times this year, 2 more than normal. I carried tap water 1 gallon at a time from his sink tap to the fill port of my water tank. I filled fuel, 26 mpg. I drove uphill and up mountain to preferred camp site off rd 44. I hoped that it would be empty which is was. Whew, one less problem to solve. Spot is right where Super Connector goes by which accesses trail system. Ride from camp.
I Invited Lee from Hood River to join me for a Mon ride while I was in cell coverage.
Sunday I repeated an earlier ride of Bottle Prairie etc. Bottle is a going down trail, would not be a pleasant climb. Climbing back up Knebal etc lessened the effort. Choice. Down towards Knebal I noticed copious numbers of these whatever,
nature dropped them here, what are they?: Golden chinquapin.
Never seen them before and the present trees of P Pine, tamarack, fir, and Doug fir were known by me to produce these bundles which were well armored with spines all over.
Imagine figuring a trail thru the likes of this tree cover. And this is flat land.
Spring flowing at Knebal, sign says stock only. Per FS info they do not test the water so they have to state non potable. However, this water would be fine if filtered for safety and prolly pure enough to drink straight from the tap. Years ago Ian joined me on rides here, one ride passed by this spring. very hot day. Ian was out of water, we detoured to the spring for his hydration. We got there, the incoming pipe was just a dribble. I shared my small remaining water, enough for us to get back to camp. This summer the spring pours forth. Nobody in campground. Climbing out a solitary woman rider descending came upon me as I was sessioning a root problem. She had to stop, good for conversation. She has a Sprinter paid conversion and is short time employment as she is retiring in a year to travel.
Further up I came upon 2 guys off their bikes. One asked me if I had a pump which I did. One guy’s front tire was not holding air. One guy said they left a pump behind because they never used it before. I asked about a first aid kit. One produced a large kit, bigger than mine. I asked how many times they used it. Never. So guy pumped satisfactory pressure into his tire. They thanked me and continued their way, same direction as me. I remained behind resting. I pedaled away then found them again with the tire flat and no pump. My van was about 100 yards trail distance away, I said push your bike to my van and my floor pump. I relearned tube changing as he was not tubeless. Put in his spare tube then pumped it up, air went in but didn’t stay. Fortunately he had another tube and this held air. Their route was down Surveyors ridge and the end of the ride. At my van trail choice was either direction. I told them the shorter way was going my way which would eliminate distance and climbing to pick up Surveyors further down. I didn’t see which way they went before I left. Duh? We come upon each other, now a 3rd meeting, guy still had air in tire. One of them wrote a comment to this blog. Happy you guys made your ride and acquired lesson learned.
I finished my ride. I changed out my stem to a shorter one in hopes of keeping the front wheel on the ground on climbs and eliminating my sawing of the bars. I had that stem in the JOBOX. Shade tree mechanic made the swap. I also swapped out the Formula front brake rotor that had a small wow in with a galfer that was in my parts stash. Torque tightened fasteners.
Spent the night same spot. Lee drove up while I was part swapping. He wanted to know where to meet for tomorrow’s ride and also for a short ride for him. Lee talks, my ride was done, evening was coming on and he had not started. Go Lee, get it in while you can still see which he did. We visited till twilight.
Plan for our ride was created once he arrived on time the next day, yesterday. Lee is a local. He proposed riding Cooks Meadow down, contrary to my direction. I was agreeable. The descent of 8 mile had several steep pieces that would have to be pedaled up. The trail is a widened single track, like a legacy hiking trail. Descending it was fast, I didn’t look forward to pedaling up. The attraction was descending Cooks Meadow trail that I had only climbed. We rode the route in reverse of my previous rides. I did push my bike up several times. Once on Cooks real fun started. Purpose hand built deep tree cover single track letting gravity provide locomotion. Seemed like forever to get down albeit shorter than climbing time. Future rides will go in this direction. I can put up with climb to get the descent. Ride data was 6 mins slower this way but more fun.
Spent the night, 4235′ 36 degrees this morning.
Today I finished the drive to Bend. I did not get my tomorrow DR appointment. Going to be here until head ache solved. Still hot and dry, October 4, upper 70s fall weather.
Trails at RD 44 are on pumice dirt, just as fine as ST Helen’s ash in Spokane. Riding by myself I never seem the dust plume I kick up. Riding behind Lee I learned of the cloud that alters the view of the trail in front of me. He takes his young dog along, her paws sent up dust.
Bend living.
I bought my own loppers today.