Ranger Creek 4100 feet Elevation gain

I rode up Ranger Creek today, up the trail, not via Corral Pass. Notes below are reverse from Zillys Kissing the Trail ride 48 guidebook. Ranger Creek is snow free till the shelter, as well as the intersection higher up. This is the intersection from Ranger Ck trail 1197 with Dalles Ridge trail 1173, reference guidebook, mile marker 9.4. Although I rode along the ridge a ways past that intersection, I did not see snow. A group of bikers had come from Corral Pass and hiked over a mile thru snow sometimes as much as 3 feet deep, largest section around a half mile, as I heard (I was riding solo, so not confirming their part of their report). They said you could ride about 1.5 miles past the intersection mentioned above before hitting snow.

My ride had an hour thru White River trail before heading up Ranger, about 45 minutes of riding along the ridge mentioned above (great views in both directions along the ridge), and the climb. As I was descending I ran into another biker so I headed up again as it seemed a bit safer to ride with someone as it was getting late. With all that, I was a lot more tired at the end of the day than expected. The trail is not crazy steep, but it climbs consistently for a long time.

Just to bring us to reality, myself and the other guy were two solo riders who hooked up near the top, and the unknown rider who joined me got all bloodied up from an endo. Just a flesh wound, he'll be fine. I love solo riding, especially for big climbs, but maybe it would be wise to start earlier (did not start till 12:30) so that in the event of having to hike out, there would be sufficient time.

A chainsaw would come in handy for a few blowdowns, but nothing to complain about.

I take issue with the guidebook rating this trail as expert level. Sure it takes a lot of energy, but this is far from expert level.

If you are OK with having to stop due to snow, or willing to hike thru a lot of snow, this ride is for you. Very fun day, a lot of singletrack mileage despite snow at the top. Reached very high speeds in big ring on the descent, woo hoo!

The picture is from the top of Ranger creek if you take a left on the trail to 1173, most people will want to take a right to continue on to Noble Knob.

Link to http://www.nwsource.com/outdoors/scr/of_detail.cfm?category=Biking&rt=41218 for guide book reference, but this is for sissies who climb up the road. It really is best to climb up the trail.

Tyax Warner Lake

Kevin Kincaid organized a Float Plane ride. We took the plane from the campground to Warner Lake. We camped the night before and it was dumping rain all nite. Luckily the rain abated just before the ride started. We landed on Warner Lake, and there was snow on the ground. A bit ominous. We had a killer ride, 6 hours of hard and fast biking. Right after the ride ended, the rain started dumping again!

Description of the ride:
http://www.bbtc.org/recreation/calendar.php?event_id=3469

Some cool pics from the ride:
http://www.bbtc.org/recreation/show_image.php?image_id=1448
http://www.bbtc.org/recreation/show_image.php?image_id=1447
http://www.bbtc.org/recreation/show_image.php?image_id=1446
http://www.bbtc.org/recreation/show_image.php?image_id=1431

Lunarscape landing on the Plains

Mt St Helens NIGHT RIDE. Only Armando Malo allowed. There was a full moon out. Riding from Windy Ridge down Smith Creek, up Ape Canyon, across the Plains of Abraham to Windy Ridge as a loop. Zillys description of ride

Departure time from Puget Sound area was 12:30 PM, actual start time of ride was 5:30 PM, sunset at 8:14 PM, twilight at 8:47 PM, moon rise at 9:03 PM. The plan was to do the climb in daylight, enjoy the sunset up high. That did not happen due to late start, but it was nice to start the climb as the sun set. At times the full moon was directly in front of us and up the trail, such that it seemed like we were staring a freight train down in a tunnel!

A quality night light was necessary, HID is best but 10W OK. It is a loop, so the plan was such that if battery time ran out, we would wait until the cougarsö eat us. Radio recommended.

Armando and I agree that this ride is among the top 3 rides we have ever done.

Riding down Smith Creek was a total blast (sorry, pun intended)! We stopped many times for pictures. After one stop, I was ahead of Armando and got to the creek crossing before him. After waiting about a half hour for him to catch up, I thought maybe he had crossed the creek low (you should cross high, where the trail meets the creek), so I started down the creek looking for traces of his crossing, such as foot or tire marks. Eventually he arrived at the creek at the right location so I went back up the creek to regain the trail. Evidently, he had gone back up the trail thinking I had run off it as he normally would have caught up to me earlier. This was a reminder to start together or get a radio, as we basically had lost each other right as the sun was setting.

Due to the late start and leisurely events down Smith Creek, the ride up Ape Canyon was in the dark, but no worries. Well, sort of worried about the large animal in the forest that seemed to be near us for 20 minutes near the top of Ape Canyon - we think it was a bear, did not actually see it, but saw bear tracks leading up to where we heard the noise.

Along the Plains of Abe and Windy Ridge, we rode with the lights off, as the moon illuminated the trail nicely. No wind up top, perfect weather. After about 23 of the 27 miles, we took a break to enjoy a flask of Patron Añejo on the Plains of Abraham. 45 minutes later, after much laughing, we continued the ride. Wow, what fun to finish a ride powered by quality Tequila and a full moon! I took a couple falls on Windy Ridge, but I didn't care. Although I generally like to end a ride on the descent, this worked out best by ending at Windy Ridge after a substantial climb - thus we ended the ride with the best moonlight ride ever.

Doing the Smith Creek Epic, ending on an uphill, was a big ride. I would only recommend our route to someone who has already done the epic - an epic ride is big enough, you don't want your first time on it in the dark.

This was a rare opportunity, perfect weather, full moon. Precautions to take would be to take a buddy along, so they feed the bear instead of you. Some exposure, esp. on Windy Ridge. Moonlight with the HID off does add risk but we were more than happy to take that risk. During the climb, I was running a bit low on energy, so bring energy stuff. As the sun sets, it does get cold despite season being warm, so bring a couple light layers, according to your judgment.

The one thing that would have made it better would be to take a sleeping bag along. We really wanted to sleep on the Plains of Abe.

We finished the ride at 1:30 AM, but got home around 6AM, as the sun had already risen.

Ken at Smith Creek Viewpoint 08.19.2005


Ken Rippin down Smith Creek


Armando at Smith Creek


Ken at Smith Creek

Armando Plains O' Abe, wishing we could ride up Loowit Trail to watch the volcano explode


Plains of Abraham. Why is Ken happy?