Today I left the very popular ranger Creek primitive camping area just after bfast. Traffic continued to pour in during the day, got too crowded. Car campers w/ generators watching TV just below big RVers that do it in climate controlled comfort.

Back up since last posting.

Thursday I rode Suntop in fog. Drove to Greenwater for $0.50 shower and stopped @ The Dalles for refill of good h2o. As i am leaving the XG a guy in a hooded parka waves me down. Low and behold it is Ryan from NUT & HR rides! He is picnicing w/ his mom in the rain. He tells me that he and Andrew plus others are gathering for rides in Snoqualmie Pass where I plan on riding next. Enjoying a bunch of guys, going to connect w/ them in Ronald, WA, maybe drink beer in tavern in Roslyn, home of Northern Exposure.

Friday I looked out thru skylight and saw a patch of blue sky. Yes, able to ride Corral Pass and either Palisades or Ranger Creek. Clouds closed back in before I could push off. Going to try anyway. Wearing knee warmers and long sleeved jersey and packing a rain coat I set off. The ride up the logging road is brutal: about 90 mins of steep climbing, something like 3000′, to TH in the fog. I was sweated up and put on the rain coat for warmth, I could have used long fingered gloves. Found Noble ridge trail shared w/ groups of hearty hikers. Following Zilly’s guide. I made the mentioned intersection w/ Ranger creek but it wasn’t marked. I continued out Noble ridge onto a very steep side slope in the fog. I was following another rider’s track. Guide was confusing but I made my route match what it read I thought. I rode this trail back in ’05 and my memory was not jiving. I continued down the ridge and finally droped down onto a road that I should have not been on. Shit, miles from beer and warmth. Turn around push back up the steeps and cross the exposed side slope again back to unsigned intersection. No fresh tracks but way more usage. Found next intersection signed for Ranger Creek which I remembered. Great, back on route. I dropped to the shelter. It was about 3:00, dark, & misting. I could go the longer more difficult route down Palisades w/ exposure, roots, and no view or drop down ranger Creek that I hadn’t ridden which was shorter and unknown. I chose the unknown shorter route. Trail did drop w/ lots of for me unrideable switchbacks. Nice thing about these wet trails is they are covered w/ conifer needles w/ no mud. The roots were suspected slippery to which I paid very close attention to. The lower section was less steep and more fun to ride. Dark under the canopy hiding the roots. Dropped out almost @ Buck Creek rd w/ a short spin back to camp. Big day measured in vert, not distance: 22.71 miles, 5274″ vert climbed, and burned 3492 cals.

Back @ camp I splurged h2o & washed off the Spot. No shower as it is in upper 40s.  Campers continued to pour in.

Before bed last night I saw stars, great clearing weather but upon waking the sky was still overcast.

I am taking a rest day today after 2 hard days of climbing to drive over Snoqualmie Pass. Back into Puget Sound population density. Stopped @ Greenwater for another shower to be people presentable.

Clouds are lifting slowly. Forecast is sunny. I will have full view of clearcuts around Snoqualmie.

I bought Greentrail maps for the area I just rode. AMazing mileage of logging roads. I joked about Idaho having a lot of mileage but the White River drainage maybe has more.

This weekend is 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Ties in w/ Kesey’s Further. I was in Oregon working for the USFS during the festival. I learned about it reading a Time mag article on the plane ride home. That school year both of my roommates had attended Woodstock. I drove near the site last fall but due to self imposed time constraints I chose to keep driving.

Being in the wet for over a week one of my cabinet doors warped and won’t latch. I am hoping that the drier weather East of Snoqualmie will unwarp the door. West of the Cascades is the wet.

back to Suntop fall: My fall was broken by my camera in my jersey pocket. I dented & punctured the casing. Olympus says they will survive a 6′ drop. I dropped it from waist high. OK, my body weight and force of fall increased the force applied. I might be w/o a trail camera for awhile for either this one to be repaired or arrival of new one. Bummer.

Off over the mountains.

Camped just below StampedePass East of Snoqualmie. Drove up the pass w/ low clouds, couldn’t see Chair Peak. Parked @ rest stop and looked @ slopes of Summit and later Ski Acres. They were big back in the day, nowhere as great as 49 degrees N of Spokane where I skied for 18 years.

Drove up logging road to Stampede pass where the PCT crosses. My memory fails me on my hike thru here. Somwhere we camped near some cabins and then hiked down a road to the railroad tracks and hiked to Rock Chalet that is no longer standing. Parked @ wide spot on road and climbed the hillside seeking huckleberries. Success! Not the 4 gallons that Tom & Lynn picked but then my freezer is short of that kind of space. I have berries for my scratch pancakes for bfast tomorow really something to look forward to. Pancakes are made w/ walnuts, buttermilk, egg, butter, flour, cinnamon. Real maple syrup.

Parked @ Lizzard Lake near a series of high tension lines that sometimes snap & pop. 50 degrees w/ door shut.

Rained pretty hard in early evening. In the get out of bed AM I saw the moon and then the clouds closed back in. Told myself Suntop or bust.

Rode Skookum again then turned uphill on logging road for Suntop. 90 mins of baby chain ring grind up constant climb on logging road. Great that everything was wet from rain and no traffic. No point riding the 1.5 miles up to the lookout from the saddle because the view of Rainier in the fog was just as good w/o riding the extra. Dropped into forest to almost deep dark to the point of needing a headlamp. Trail was washed clean leaving about 8″ of buffed tread that I threaded. Found some unripe large huckleberries. Fell on a right hand switchback due to mental lackadaisicalness: just brain farted and turned too sharply stalling the front wheel and inertia took a header over the handlebar splat on soft ground. No one saw me so it doesn’t count as a fall, my rule.

Drove down to Greenwater for another 50 cent shower and then into Enumclaw for groceries and wash. Girl who issued my $30 forest pass at Diamond Lake punched 2009 as hte year the pass is to expire. I was outdate the moment I signed the debit slip. A FS person here issued me another pass w/ 2010 punched. This avoided an issue w/ a contested  citation somewhere down the road.

Yesterday there were 6 land yatches parked @ Ranger Creek XG. Another joined today. From a vantage point in an old clearcut I saw their parked rigs. At first i thought it was a cluster of buildings. Diesel pusher rigs, different set of retired people.

Back up into forest again w/ hopes of dry weather for Palisades ride tomorrow.

Roots on Skookum took concentration to stay upright although I never experienced a slip out.

And on the ground. I am in Crystal ski area’s parking lot for screaming internet access and gently falling rain on the roof. Reminds me of my 1978 PCT hike thru here.

Yesterday I rode from Ranger Creek airstrip where I camped to Huckleberry road #73 for Suntop lookout. I rode Skookum Flats which is a lot tamer than I remember from first & last time I rode it. Fun ride on present bike setup being able to sit up more upright and greater ease to loft front wheel. Still rooty. Started misting part way thru and then morphed into a gentle mist. Clouds were down which would obscure signature view from Suntop. Revised ride plan to stay down and ride the trails on far side of road. I turned down mtn thinking the Palisade trail was that way; the needed map was in the van. I rode back a FS road that parallels hwy 410 and saw all these interesting cabins. Talked w/ one owner whose place reminded me of perhaps Hansel & Gretel’s wicked witch house. He built it 40 years ago. Learned that I should have turned up river. Passed a woman meter reader doing the electronic sit in the cab meter reading. She was reading an article in Nat Geo Adventure mag: what to do when lost in the woods.

Found the trail entrance off hwy & rode rooty trail back to it’s exit @ Buck Creek. Too cold for an outside shower so I drove back down to Greenwater for $0.25 for 5 min hot shower. Checked out Wappiti Woolens where they marveled at my faded pink flamingo hat and reattached the wooden bead that holds the tie downs as a cinch. I always feared my had would fly off during a telemark figure 11 move.

No internet or weather radio reception. Previous forecast was for wet. Drove to secluded campsite off Suntop road but XM radio reception was broken up and I wanted to listen to the Mariners game broadcast by Niehaus and Riz. Listening to human talk stimulates my social skills, music just pacifies me. Drove back  to Ranger and parked on an old concrete pour pad for reception and dead level sleep. Mariners lost in the top of 9th.

This morning rain fell w/ conviction: no riding today. I drove up Crystal rd and found internet connection like I expected. Forecast is for partly cloudy on Friday and the quandary as to life plans. The views from Suntop and Palisades are first rate. I suspect the roots have to be slippery when wet. I can hang here and see what Friday unveils or move on to the dry side of the Cascades and ride tomorrow for sure. I am soo stressed from not having a schedule forced on me and I lack the desire to create one for myself. My life is basically find a ride, ride it, buy groceries, and camp, and to it again the next day. Its not like people are derailing my simple life choices.