I went down to Hood River to do a little riding and shoot the the third race in the Fluidride Cup series.
On Saturday we went out and rode some of amazing singletrack that circles Mt. Hood. The weather was beautiful and the trails were in pristine condition. I have yet to find another place with XC trails that are as good as those outside Hood River. The climbs are perfectly graded to keep you legs screaming, while not so steep that you can’t turn your crank over and are forced to hike-a-bike. Finally after cresting the climb, you are treated to 5 minutes of pure bliss. The sweeping curves on the descent are wide enough to ride wide open and there isn’t a death cookie to be seen.
On race day, the weather took a turn for the worse and by lunch it was pouring rain. I was forced to shoot in the trees to stay somewhat sheltered, but it was really dark and balancing the strobes with the ambient was challenging. In any case, it was a great race. You can check out the result on Skibowl’s website.
I finally made it back to the mountains this weekend and found a great stretch of singletrack. Since this was a solo mission I didn’t grab my camera and get any pictures.
The Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie is a multi-use trail and I was afraid it was going to be overrun with Seattlites trying to escape the city on a sunny weekend. Fortunately, I made it up there pretty early and only ran into 3 bikers and 4 hiking groups in 15 miles of riding.
All the pertinent details can be found on the BBTC’s wiki.
Description:
I didn’t ride the entire trail system. My crank started coming loose about 7 or 8 miles in from the TH. But, I loved what I did ride. The first 3 miles are pretty techie–it’s completely ridable, but you need to be comfortable popping up over logs if you want to stay clipped in over the endless trail retainers. After the first couple bits of climbing, the trail turns into pretty flowly singletrack. And all those little step ups are super fun on the descent.
Rating:
(For the lower 8 miles)
Tech: 3/5
Grunt: 2/5
Definitely worth the hour and change drive. Just make sure you go on an odd day so that you can actually ride the trail.
Each time I drive to the park via the Gardiner entrance Emigrant Peak looms in the eastern sky of the Paradise Valley. Emigrant Peak is an impressive geologic structure. It rises steeply more than 6000 feet from the floor the valley. It is a classic, non-technical scramble than rewards climbers with panoramic views of the Beartooth, Gallatin, Madison Range, and Absorka Mountains.
Approach Description:
We chose to park at Gold Prize Trail head. To get there follow the road to Dailey Lake and make a left before the dirt road descends to the lake. Follow the trail through a burned out section of forest. The trail then arcs left and climbs steeply to old jeep track. Follow this section of double track until you spot a creek crossing and trail ascending to the right of a stream. This trail will deposit climbers into a large meadow which slowly ramps up in steepness until a large stand of trees.
Climb Description:
From the meadow you have two choices. The route described on SummitPost.org and in Turiano’s Select Peaks will have climbers follow a fence line on climber’s left into the trees. We did this and made our way through the trees. This is somewhat of a pain, as the slope is about 40 degrees and is forest floor, which does not offer the best traction.
The other option to aim for a large rock formation on climber’s right of the meadow. Gaining this formation, scrambling over scree and talus begins very quickly.
Either route will deposit climbers on the northwest ridge. The ridge is made up of easy class 2 scrambling over 40 degree talus. There are a few short class 3 sections where use of your hand is necessary, but these are very easy. The final summit ridge is quite exposed, especially in early season when snow makes the ridge a knife edge with 50 degree slopes to either side of the climber.
Ascent Time: 4 hours
Descent:
We stayed on the NW ridge to take advantage of the scree and avoid the trees, but otherwise retraced our steps.
Descent Time: 3 hours
Rating:
II Class 2 (Short section of Class 3 scrambling)
