Even though this spring has been exceptionally mild, there are still rainy days and cold days as well as rainy and cold days. Like many outdoor activities, you must become somewhat of a weather forecaster to plan what to do and where to go. With mountain biking around here, the weather is a factor as well as the trail conditions. Right now, the trail conditions range from too muddy to ride, to perfect, depending on the amount of rainfall in the previous few days. By dodging the storms, or running away from them, we’ve been lucky enough to ride some the best local trails in near perfect conditions.
With storms approaching from the west but trails still in great shape from a stretch of dry weather, Don and I hit Post Canyon again. As I’ve said before, Post Canyon is a great place to ride, one of the best spots in the Pacific Northwest, for sure. We’d ride it all year except it gets over-the-top crowded in the late spring and summer so we go somewhere else. We know we get to ride Post Canyon with conditions like this for only a few weeks a year, we take advantage of it and savor every minute because we won’t be riding here much longer.
Don and I have been honing our big air skills on the Post Canyon features
As expected, a significant storm blew in from the Pacific Ocean and headed up the Gorge. With rain falling as far east as Hood River, Don and I headed east towards the central Oregon high deserts to Deer Hollow. Even when it’s raining twenty miles away, the Cascade foothills block almost all the rain. The trails were in perfect condition and there were blue skies above.
The next day, still raining from Hood River west, we headed back to Deer Hollow, where the trails were dry and in perfect condition with hazy sun overhead.
Since then, it’s been on and off rain, but we did manage to sneak in a ride at Post Canyon with pretty good conditions.
We are hoping the showers we are experiencing today will end and tomorrow will be dry and Sunday will be good to ride.