Sorry to be so late to blog the news, but it was a heck of a weekend here in the PacNW. You never know exactly what you’re going to get around here and that was surely the case last weekend.
On Saturday, a bunch of new friends came out to ride Surveyors Ridge. Yes, it’s the middle of June, warmest spring on record, but Friday night the weather forecast was for snow down to 3000′ or so, the trailhead is at 3300′ and we were headed up towards 4200′. We got to the trailhead, no snow, but pretty darn brisk. Maybe high forties with a solid 15-20mph wind and gray skies. Pretty standard stuff for the Gorge, but if you came out for a weekend of fun, stepping out into that kind of environment from your warm car was a real wakeup call.
Nobody quit or bailed, put on all the clothes you brought and let’s get going! The ride starts out with a ten mile uphill grind, that warmed everyone up. Even at max altitude, there was no snow and the sun even came out for a few minutes, we hit the upper trailhead and down Surveyors Ridge trail.
The weather was a little harsh, but the recent rain left the trail in the best possible condition; couldn’t be grippier. Don, a Surveyor’s regular, made the most out of the situation
All the time we were riding, we could see rainstorms blowing up the Gorge. Luckily, they never reached the east side of the Hood River valley, but the wind sure did. On top of Surveyors trail, you could hear the 30mph+ winds howling through the trees right above our heads.
Well, nobody froze to death, got injured or wrecked their bikes and everybody got a good story to tell. All good. Headed to the Sawtooth Roadhouse for some Double Mountain IRA and BS amongst new friends.
OK, back home for a few hours sleep then down to North Bonneville for the North Bonneville Disc Golf Association(NBDGA) Amnesia Open 2012 disc golf tournament. After freezing our asses off up in the mountains the day before, Sunday was warm and sunny. I got sunburned in North Bonneville! That’s something you will not hear many people say. The 20 hole course was tough, weather was great, couldn’t be better.
The NBDGA Amnesia Open featured one of the most challenging disc golf holes I’ve ever seen. The basket was on an island in Hamilton Creek. You had to cross a bridge to get over the creek(and the spawning salmon) to get to the hole.
A good shot on this hole put you in contention for the win. If you were slightly off, well, we call it “fishin'” around here.
North Bonneville is a great place to spend a summer day with the family, check it out sometime.
Went for a ride today up in the local hills, beautiful day; sunny, warm, perfect day for a bike ride. That’s all good, but after the wild weekend and bike ride in the mountains, I’m exhausted; Good Night everybody, more tomorrow…