Feb 192013
 

The weather forecast for rain and/or snow last night turned out to be mostly wrong, it was cold but no rain or snow. This unbelievable winter weather is not going to last forever so, if you can, get outside and take advantage of it, even for a few minutes. Had to hit the trails, so off to Post Canyon. Usually, at this time of year it is unrideable, but with this weather we’ve been having, it’s kind of a new experience.

Post Canyon 2-19-13

After a long holiday weekend of people using the trails, some of the singletrack is pretty chewed up and muddy. There is a serious “freeze-thaw” effect going on higher up that is adding water to some of the trails. Most of the trails are OK.

Post Canyon Singletrack

Once again there is rain in the forecast, they are going to get it right one of these days…

Feb 182013
 

The unbelievably nice weather continued through the past weekend, near 60° and sunshine. Sunday we headed out west to the Tillamook State Forest for some mountain bike riding in the Coastal Mountains of Oregon. It wasn’t as sunny near the coast as it was in the Gorge, but partly sunny with a few scattered, light showers is about as good as it gets in this temperate rainforest in the middle of winter. We headed out on the Wilson River trail that winds through the rainforest

Wilson River Trail 2-17-13

Surprisingly enough, the Wilson River Trail goes past Wilson Falls

Wilson Falls 2-17-13

The WRT has a lot of climbing and some serious exposure, so it would be more of an intermediate to advanced rider type of trail. Of course, if you get off and walk the sections you can’t make, it’s not a problem, but you wind up doing a lot of walking.

WRT 2-17-13

Pretty good day of riding on the WRT and perfect timing as well. As we packed up and headed east it started raining pretty heavily, it would have been a bummer to get caught in a winter rainstorm.
Today is Presidents Day, I was running an errand in White Salmon and decided to swing over to the Syncline for a quick ride. No doubt there were a lot of people here over the weekend but the trails were in perfect condition. Did a couple up and downs on Little Maui

Little Maui 2-18-13

A lot more people here because of the holiday, but not too bad. It looks like the weather is changing, rain and maybe snow are in the forecast for tonight.

Feb 162013
 

The great weather in the Gorge continues, hard to believe it is so nice here in the middle of February. Because of the dry winter weather, some of the local trails that would normally be way too muddy to ride this time of year are in perfect condition, almost like late spring/early summer. One of these spots is Post Canyon. Post Canyon is a unique place, a combination of private property, county and state land allows building of “North Shore” type trail features on some of the trails. There are also miles of XC oriented singletrack trails with plenty of technical riding, climbs and downhill sections.
The cold morning fog lifted and it was bright sunshine and blue skies for the rest of the day. We started out at the bottom and rode up towards the Family Man area

Don-Post Canyon Bridge

Family Man is an area of bike features geared for the beginner to intermediate freerider. There are log rides, bridges and jumps, but they are only a foot or two off the ground which is a good thing because, unless you are an expert bike rider, you will have to bail here and there while you are improving your riding skills.

Ron-Post Canyon-Family Man

Don-Post Canyon

Don-Post Canyon-Family Man

Just because the trail features are off the ground doesn’t mean they are easy. Some of the log and rail rides are pretty long, you have to concentrate to stay on track

Don-Family Man Log Ride

Post Canyon is well known for it’s challenging trail features. These jumps and tricks are not for beginners by any means. This is serious riding for advanced riders with big suspension bikes and probably some degree of body protection. Post is a world class spot so you better have world class skills if you tackle these advanced freeride trails because getting seriously hurt is a real possibility.

Post Canyon Jump

Here’s a short video showing some of the features around the Family Man area

Because Post Canyon is so well known, it can get pretty crowded, especially on weekends, so we usually go somewhere else to ride. We were able to sneak in there on a Friday morning in the middle of winter on a sunny 60° day, being lucky enough to be in the right spot at the right time paid off this time. Also, the trail stewards for Post Canyon, the Hood River Area Trail Stewards(HRATS), have done a great job recently of building and repairing the trails and features so Post Canyon is in perfect condition. All in all, a perfect day at a classic mountain bike spot.

Feb 112013
 

After Saturday’s ride on the relatively flat Klickitat Trail, it’s time to get back to the roads in the local hills. Sunday was another awesome sunny day, can’t stay inside. Usually, the weather around here this time of year is dismal; and I’m being optimistic about that. When it’s dry, sunny and 45° in the middle of February, you should be out the door. Even though the legs were a little sore from the 23 mile ride the day before, it’s out in the sun and up into the hills.

Old Dalles Road 2-10-13

The dirt/gravel road we usually ride on is really steep and kind of long. When you get closer to the top, there is still snow on the side of the road, especially in the shade

Roadside Snow

There are a few singletrack trails up here, but this area is mostly dirt which turns to sticky mud when it’s wet. It doesn’t really dry out until spring and we don’t want to wreck the trails by riding on them when they are muddy so we stick to the dirt/gravel roads in the winter. Not as much fun as singletrack, but it’s a good workout and the scenery is not that bad either

Mt. Adams

Starting to wonder why the weather has been so mild lately and how long it’s going to last.

Work on the WatermanAtWork.com website is continuing. Photos of mountain biking on Surveyors Ridge have been added and there is a new section with vintage mountain biking photos, including classic NORBA racing from the early 90′s. We are working on more mountain bike photos that should be up today, then more photos and videos, lots more to come.

Feb 092013
 

We are really getting lucky with the winter weather here, mild winter so far for sure. I hope that doesn’t mean winter will last until August like last year, but what can you do? A little cold this morning, but clear skies, so we head out on the trails. Today we went back to the Klickitat Trail. A little chilly at the start of the ride, puddles on the trail were iced over, frost on the ground. We rode as fast as we could to get out of the shadows of the hills around the Klickitat River gorge and into the sun

Don-Klickitat Trail 2-9-13

Not all fun and games though. Don got a pinch flat a few miles into the ride

Flat fire on Klickitat Trail

On the Klickitat Trail, there is water all around. Here’s everyone riding across a small water crossing in front of a waterfall. Here’s Erin

Erin-Klickitat Trail 2-9-13

Yael

Yael-Klickitat Trail 2-9-13

and Don

Don-Klickitat Trail 2-9-13

Here’s the crew at a Klickitat Trail head

Klickitat Trail Crew 2-9-13

Really fun day of riding on an unbelievably nice winter day.

Feb 072013
 

Today we were lucky enough to ride the Klickitat Trail, some call it the Klickitat River Trail, on a beautiful winter day. It was supposed to be showers and cloudy but it turned out to be clear and sunny! We’ll take any nice day during this time of year, today was a nice one.
On the continuing theme of going mountain biking where we don’t normally go, mainly because it’s not too often that it’s mostly dry and sunny in early February, today we headed to the Klickitat Trail that runs next to the Klickitat River from Lyle, Washington through Klickitat and on up past Wahkiacus. The scenery along the Klickitat Trail is world class, that’s for sure

Klickitat River 2-7-13

When you get past the Fisher Hill bridge the trail turns to singletrack and runs right next to the river. When you ride to the north, which is upstream, going at an easy pace so you can take in the amazing scenery is a good idea

Klickitat River Trail 2-7-13

This is a “rails to trails” route that follows an old railroad line that ran from Lyle, through Klickitat and on to Goldendale, Washington. There are a couple bridges along the way

Klickitat River Trail Bridge

Not much water under the bridge today, but animals are around. These paw prints look like they may be from a raccoon or maybe a skunk.

Raccoon Prints

Even though the Klickitat Trail is well maintained, trees blow down all the time, especially in winter

Trail Blowdown

The Klickitat is a world class fishing river for steelhead and salmon. There are a lot of nice fishing holes on this river, you can see a lot of them from the Klickitat Trail

Klickitat River Trail 2-7-13

The trail follows the river and weaves in and out of the forest

Tree Lined Trail

Another bridge over a small creek

Creek Crossing

Ride upstream as far as you can; past Turkey Hollow, through Klickitat and into Swale Canyon. Thirty one miles long, one way.

Klickitat Trail 2-7-13

Turn around and head back down the canyon to the Columbia River!

Feb 032013
 

Today we headed out to the Syncline, an area of trails near Bingen, Washington. The Syncline is a spectacular geologic formation; an ancient basalt flow. It is also a very popular spot with mountain bikers, dog walkers and hikers. Maybe even an equestrian or two. The popularity of the Syncline with mountain bikers has led to problems in recent years; erosion, illegal trail and/or feature building, friction between hikers and mountain bikers who are on the same trail with entirely different reasons for being there as well as conflicts with private property owners. Some of the trails have been closed to mountain biking, most notably the Coyote Meadows/Coyote Canyon Trail and the trails in the Catherine Creek watershed.
This another spot that is close to where we live but almost never ride here. Today was a perfect day for the Syncline; a beautiful winter day, the recent snowfall has finished melting off below 3000′ or so a day or two ago and it hasn’t rained for at least three or four days. We met up with a bunch of our mountain biking friends at the trailhead and had a quick look at the lower falls

Syncline Crew 2-3-13

Then we headed up the Jeep trail, switchbacking our way to the top

Elizabeth climbing a Syncline trail

There was snow on these hills just a few days ago. It’s been warm for this time of year and the snow has melted quickly getting the seasonal streams flowing

Erin crossing a fast flowing creek

We came down the Little Moab trail, a trail that winds along the top edge of the Coyote Wall. The trail was in pretty much perfect conditions but there are some technical sections that would probably be rated “intermediate”, at least. There is more than one line down but it’s a relatively short trail. Fred tackled it a singlespeed, he’s a pretty good rider. For most people, a full suspension bike is the way to go

Fred rides Little Moab

Sections of the Little Moab trail come very close to the cliff and it can be very windy here so you have to be careful

Little Moab trail on Coyote Wall

So a pretty good day of mountain biking at a pretty good mountain biking spot. It’s still winter and it looks like there is change of weather coming up in the next few days.

Also, I have to send out a big thanks to this mountain biker. I got off my bike to take my jacket off and left my camera on the side of the trail. I rode a little farther, realized I didn’t have my camera. When I rode back down to get it, a biker coming uphill picked up my camera and gave it to me. I told him I would put his photo on the internet, here he is

A Nice Guy

Jan 312013
 

Winter weather has been in effect for some weeks now. Even if snow has melted in the lower elevations, there is still plenty of snow just a thousand feet or so up in the surrounding hills. It was fairly warm yesterday and downright balmy today, nearly 50°! That’s pretty warm for the last day of January. It’s fairly dry down here in the valley(plenty of mud to be had if you look hard enough) but once you get up to the 1500′ elevation or so, it gets a little messy with the “freeze-thaw” effect.

Old Dalles Rd 1-31-13

Plenty of snow left so the slow melt deal we have going on now is causing a lot of melt runoff which in turn makes for a lot of mud. I might have ridden the road bike today but the roads are still covered with lava rock cinders they use when it snows, which is not a great situation for bike riding. Anyway, the road bike is set up in the trainer.
Supposed to have a few nice days coming up, looking to get outside a little more.

Jan 212013
 

Saturday we were on the Oregon side of the Columbia River to ride our mountain bikes on Gorge Trail 400, on Sunday we headed directly across the Columbia to check out the Stumptown Slosh Disc Golf tournament in North Bonneville, Washington. It was cold and windy, a pretty good challenge for even good disc golfers like the guys who are in this tournament. The North Bonneville Disc Golf Course is a bit different from many other disc golf courses. Not too many places you can be distracted by a spawning salmon in the creek next to you.

Hole 6 -North Bonneville Disc Golf Course

There are a lot of trees on the North Bonneville course that, along with the wind, make it a challenging place to play, no matter how good(or bad) you are

Tee Shot at North Bonneville

The course looks different than in the summer; the grass and evergreen trees are still green, but the deciduous trees leaves were on the ground, blowing in the wind. And, the blackberry bushes that eat your disc if you make a bad shot, are dormant

Tee Shot at North Bonneville

Here’s a short video of the the Stumptown Slosh

North Bonneville is a great place to play disc golf. It doesn’t cost anything, anybody can play. There are a lot of other outdoor activities like mountain and road biking, hiking and fishing around North Bonneville if you want to spend the day or the weekend.

Jan 212013
 

Still no rain or snow, but still pretty cold, but not cold enough to keep us off the trails. We headed back to Gorge Trail 400 for further exploration of this trail system we don’t really ride much, especially in the summer because when the weather is nice, these trails are packed with hikers. I met up with Don under the Bridge of the Gods, we managed to convince a couple of our other riding buddies; Lee and Magesh, to brave the cold weather and ride with us.
Here’s Magesh at Ruckel Creek

Magesh at Ruckel Creek

And Lee riding through the cold, dark forest

Lee 1-19-13

It was cold to be sure. No mud because the ground was frozen solid. Plenty of icicles on the side of the trail. In the higher elevations, the trails were covered with frost and or ice, making for some exciting riding.

Don - Frosty Descent

Don had a pretty nasty crash towards the end of the ride, but luckily, even though it looked pretty bad, he came through with a couple black and blue marks and some overall soreness you might expect after being slammed onto the frozen ground. Big time fun!