Recent forest fires have been taking their toll on the local mountain biking trails, most of them being closed due to fire danger in the past week or so. The lower elevation trails on private timber company land are probably closed for the rest of the summer, leaving only the trails higher in the Cascade foothills available for mountain bike riding. For the past couple weeks, there has been a large forest fire that reached the eastern edge of the Mt. Hood National Forest and a number of prime mountain bike trails were closed due to fire danger. Yesterday, with the firefighters getting control of the fire, access to some of the trails was opened again so we headed out to have a look around.
Some of the Forest Service access roads were open, but some areas were still closed. There was heavy equipment moving up and down the road, evidence that the fire may be under control, but was still burning a couple miles away. There were plenty of signs of the recent fire fighting efforts.
There have been thunderstorms and rain showers moving through the area for the past few days which has helped firefighters to gain control of the large forest fire. The rain and lack of riders due to the trail closure also left the trail in just about perfect condition.
It was a beautiful day, blue skies with puffy white clouds and the sun shining through the forest canopy along Surveyors Ridge Trail.
The view of Mt. Hood was spectacular, some clouds making it over the western Cascade foothills and into the upper Hood River Valley.
All in all, a pretty decent day for mountain biking
Labor Day weekend is upon us, so we will most likely lock the front gate and lay low at the Hood River Hideaway until the last wave of summer tourists head for home. Maybe a quick ride tomorrow at one of the local spots that not many people know about, we’ll see.