Mountain Bike Bill, The Dirt on the Dirt

Category: Trails

Trails in General

Black Mountain – Coast to Crest

Fresh back from working in the Puget Sound area it was time to hit up some of the local stuff.  I got up at O-Damn Early to hit up a new bit of trail and the Black Mountain Truck Trail near Ramona.

O-Damn Early

Ramona this time of year can get really toasty and Pamo Valley can really turn into a pizza oven.   The plan today was to get some elevation on me before things got to really cooking.

The new trailhead staging area off of Pamo Valley. The pine trees on the top of the mountain is my destination.

I made it out to Pamo Valley good and early.   The new staging area is quite large and can accommodate plenty of cars and horse trailers.   I made quick work of getting ready to roll as it was only going to get warmer.    The trail starts out in the northeast corner of the lot and parallels the road for a short bit before crossing over.   A word of caution, the first section of trail near the road was ate up with goat heads.    If you are not running some type of sealant system you may find yourself having a frustrating day right from the get-go.

This new section of the Coast to Crest Trail eliminates the need to ride along the Pamo Road to connect the Lower Santa Ysabel Truck Trail to the Black Mountain Truck Trail.   It is 3.2 miles long and overall I think it is a nice addition to the trail system.   It undulates on the hillsides following the general route of the road but is not just paralleling the road.   It does cross the Pamo Road several times but I really don’t consider that much of a detractor.

McGuyver Time!

Shortly after I got onto Black Mountain Truck Trail, my dropper seat post started acting up.    It started sagging about 1/2″.   I was able to just raise my post up some in the seat tube to compensate, but it was not long before it dropped about 2-2.5″ down.    I did not have enough seat-post to compensate for this.  The first thing I tried was wrapping some duct tape around the upper part of the post.  It worked for just a short amount of time before the whole tape mass just slide up the post.   Next I tried reposition the table and give some extra clamping power with some zip ties.   This worked better but not for long.    Trying to do a long climb without full leg extension can be rough.    I was about to throw in the towel an head back down the mountain when I saw a sizable stick.   I was able break and trim the stick to just the right length to wedge between the seatpost clamp and the bottom of the seat.    Once I got it jammed in place I zip-tied the stick to the post.    This fix held up and I was back in business.

The remaining five miles or so of climbing I had ahead me after fixing the post when well enough and while the temps were climbing they were not bad at all.   I was joined at the summit by a couple of jeepers and their dog and I had an enjoyable time shooting the breeze with them for a while before heading back down the mountain.

 

The top of Black Mountain lookin to the south west. The new trailhead can be seen at the south end of the valley.

As I descended you could feel the temps climbing and it was really hot down at the valley floor.   I opted to not take the new connector trail back at this point and just zipped back on the road.    I did a total of just at 20 miles and 3,300 feet of climbing.

Rainy Day Banner

One of the things I like about the typical loamy soil of the Pacific Northwest is that it can stand up to some rain.   So a little drizzle or rain is not automatically a ride stopper.

Such was the today’s ride out at Banner Forest.   Here are a few pictures.

Moss moss and more moss

Cool trail names

What would have been a bust in San Diego turned into another fun after work ride up in the Puget Sound area.

 

Ranger Creek/Palisade

Plan A was to ride on the Olympic  Peninsula today but that whole area looked socked with clouds.   Plan B was to head east for the big ride I had planned for the following weekend.   A return to the Ranger Creek and Palisades Trails.

Time for some significant climbing!

I first rode out in August of 2010 and it was fantastic.   This time was still fantastic and slightly different.

Chicken Soup for the MTB Soul

 

The elevation gain be deceptive to the eyes in the forest. You legs and lung will tell you the truth after a while.

As I climbed further up the trail, I could see that some fire damage had occurred in 2017 up near the ridge tops.

Little Ranger Peak

I would guess during the last mile up to where the Ranger Shelter would be, started going through some fire damage along the trail.  The trail was in pretty descent shape

The shelter that was at the junction of the Ranger Creek and Palisade Trails burned during a forest fire. This I pretty much all that remains
When I stopped at the location of the old shelter, I had to deal with some horseflies and gnats. Luckily I was prepared with bug goop!
Mt Rainier in the not so distance

Once I got rolling on the Palisades Trail, the views did not disappoint!

If this looks like it would be awesome to ride, you would most certainly be correct!

What also did not disappoint was the riding on Palisades as well.   Fast, tight and technical root bits made for a banging good time shedding off the elevation gained on Ranger Creek Trail.  One thing is for certain, it did not suck to be me today!

Good Times on the Palisade Trail. Last photo taken before ripping down the trail!

360 Trails, Purdy WA

This trail is located turn the town on of Purdy, WA in the Gig Harbor Area.   It is good example of what good city, county and user group relations can get accomplished.    Here is a link to the park’s map.

Most the forest here is new growth, kinda recently worked land is the vibe I get.    There are is a lot of purpose built MTB trails.  Some of them are even one way.

Most of the trails area XC type trails with a little bit of tech here and there.   There is a pump track as well as pump trail.

Even a wee bit of a log riding as well.

 

Top of the upper jump lines

There is a set of jump trail near the upper end of the trail system that allows for some progression as you develop your skills.

Down near the bottom of the trail system are a couple of serious jump lines (not the ones pictured above)  they are not joke jump lines.  (Marvik and NWT3K)

Not all of the trails are on the current city map of the place, but if you check out Trailforks, you can see the delta.  Interestingly enough trailforks is missing some trails that is on the city map of the place.

It is well worth a visit, but I have to admit, it does not have the same classic Pacfic Northwest trail appeal that I get at some of the other nearby places like Green Mountain State Park and Banner Forest.

Green Mountain State Park

Green Mountain State Park is located within about 15 minutes of where I am working here in the Puget Sound area so it is part of the post-work ride rotation.

The Olympic Mountains seen along the fire road climb.

There are plenty of way to ride the trails out here at Green Mountain State Park.   I have not created a dedicated page on my site for this place yet.    Here you can find some of my previous posts on this area.

Most of the trails in this area are on Trailforks.com.  The Wildcat Trail is one of many trails out in the area.    It is well worth a look see for the network out there.

The Wildcat trail is one of the hardest ways to get up the mountain and it will certainly test your lungs and how well you can handle redlining into the anaerobic end your cardio reserves.   Lately I have been taking a longer series of fireroads up to the top of the mountain and then take Wildcat down.   Well mostly down there are some uphills even on the descent to keep you honest.

Downtown Seattle in the distance as well as Mount Rainier peaking out in the distance.

A great workout with good views on clear days.    A good way work out the stress of a solid day’s work.

 

Mt Saint Helens return

So I am working in the Puget Sound area of Washington for the next few weeks. This is a great time be up in this area of thr country. Last year I went out to Mt Saint Helens and rode the Ape Canyon and Plains of Abraham trails. It was a pretty incredible ride but the weather did not cooperate so my views were quite limited. Here is report from that day

On the top of my MTB list for this trip was a return outing to here when the weather was clear. My first weekend here and the weather report looked good so I pulled the trigger. Boy was I rewarded for it.

Along the Ape Canyon trail looking at the south fsce of the mountain.

I saw a lot more of the mountain than last year even before I got to the trailhead. The climb up Ape Canyon was fantastic and the further up I went the better things got. The tops of Mt Adams and Mt Rainier were even visible in spots.

The view from the top of Ape Canyon

The view when you reach the top of Ape Canyon is incredibly impressive. In the pan shot above you can see the Rainier, Adams and of course Mt Saint Helens.

The south-southeast slopes of the mountain.

It is crazy to think that much of the foreground was forest before the eruption in 1980. The mountain used to have a typical volcano shape to it but the eruption blasted off 1,300 feet off the top. This is just the non-blast side of the mountain.

From here I rode the Plains of Abraham trail over the eastern slope of pumice and lava rock. Riding through here I once again felt very small seeing what the power of Mama Earth can do. There were also lots of wildflowers and other low growing stuff.

The northestern slope as seen on the fireroad out Windy Gap.

The trail takes you around to the northeastern area of the mountain where you can get your first view of the side of the mountain that was blown off. In the picture above you can see the trail in the ridgeline.

Spirit Lake and the “log raft”

The singletrack dumps you off a ridgeline and onto a dirt forest service road. I took that out to Windy Gap and the onward to the Smith Creek trailhead. Here I was treated to a nice view of Spirit Lake and the “Log Raft”. The lake took the brunt of the blast and most of the water was thrown up into the higher elevations in the form of a wave estimated to be about 850 feet high. When the dust settled and water drained back into the lake it was a much larger and shallower lake that had 40% of it surface area covered in the floating trunks of the trees between it and the mountain. Check out this wikipedia article on it. Moat of those trunks are still floating on the lake.

I thought about dropping the Smith Creek trail to do a more epic loop, but I wanted to retrace my steps and descend Ape Canyon to finish the ride.

In the trees of the Ape Canyon Trail

Retracing my steps was plenty of work but I was once again rewarded with killer views and the descent down Ape Canyon was the source of multiple joygasms. What an opener for this trip!

More Cuyamaca

I was back out in the Cuyamaca Mountains this weekend.

Spring is still hanging on. Today I started out on the west side singletrack and then crossed over to the visitor center and then took the Coldwater trail northward.

If you look close there are two turkeys in the field.

The climb up and over to the Stonewall peak fireroad was quite manageable. This is a really well built trail that I have found to be manageable and engaging in both directions.

Blooming goodness in July!

Once at the top of Stonewall Peak fireroad I turned east. Technically I was in the California Riding and Hiking trail (CRHT) at this point but the next section north of here is what I consider the “real trail”. When I reached the junction of the CHRT and the top of Soapstone Grade fireroad I had to think about my options.

It has been over a decade since I found myself and this location having arrived from the west. I have long ago given up on climbing Soapstone grade to this point as the Upper Green Valley singletrack at at the bottom of this grade is so much better. My other option is to climb the next section of the CRHT which would be good but it is fantastic in the southern direction. I decided to descend Soapstone grade and then climb Upper Green Valley singletrack.

I have been doing a fair amount riding lately and I feel I have been on the fitness and injury mend as if late. I felt really good on this climb and I think I did as well as I ever have in recent time. I still can’t beat that that much younger version of me but that is a different story. I ended up climbing the La Cima trail over to the Lucky 5 staging area (a first for me). I resisted the urge to poach the PCT back to CRHT today and made my way back along the La Cima trail to the CRHT and back the way I came. It was glorious!

La Costa Bike tweaks

So I recently made a tweak to my Santa Cruz Bronson. It is built up as an XC rig and it rocks! It is a single track carving machine. The minor compromise I feel have had been making with this setup is that is not the most confidence inspiring rig when thingd get downhill and gnarly. I’m not talking downhill bike gnarly but both wheels on the ground kind of normal. It is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, I just feel I can “over ride” the bike. I hate all the micro-genre names but I wanted to shift more towards a trail/enduro feel on the bike.

I ended up trying something simple and relatively inexpensive. I switched from a 90mm 0 degree rise stem out for a 70mm 17 degree rise. I took the bike out to La Costa to see how this felt. As I predicted the climbs felt a bit awkward at firdt as my weight was shifted back slightly. On the climb I had plenty of switchbacks as well as some steeper pitches. By the time I made it up to the top of the climb I was feeling comfortable with the new setup. I descended down the back side and then up to the towers. This improvement was immediately noticed and I was feeling much more comfortable with the downhill chunkish bits.

Oh and the trails, the backside stuff was a bit overgrown with the flowerinf weeds starting to dry out. Meaning I got a free exfoliation treatment. Good Times.

Lake Hodges

Lake Hodges is not in bad shape right now. On this particular outing I combined both the south side and the north side trail

South side of Hodges

All together I did about 24 miles of fairly quick paced riding (for me). I did not add in Bernardo peak. If I had that would have made for some pretty legit “in town” mileage. I think I have caught myself being a trail snob and passing by this place to go ride something better. It was nice to give myself a bit of a mental reset on this area. I don’t care how fit you are you should be able to come out here and find a way to both put a smile on your face and wipe it off all while putting some burn on your legs.

North side trail by the dam

If you think I’m stretching things a bit, try combining Raptor Ridge, the south and north side and Bernardo peak in a single ride.