We got up this morning, and upon the recommendation of the campground host of local things to see and do, we went to the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery. Cool, but eh, it's a fish hatchery, so not much to talk about...
Bill's been dying to go mountain biking, so after returning from the hatchery and getting a quick bite to eat, we geared up, jumped on the bikes, and rode towards the trailhead at the Redfish Lake campground area.
We figured that the 3 miles from our campground to get to the trailhead would be a good warm-up for us. FAIL. The trail was nice singletrack for the first 30 yards, and then at the trail fork, we headed left and encountered a seriously rocky trail that twisted and slowly climbed through dense forest. Both of us were having issues breathing. For me, that's not surprising with the asthma and all, but Bill got a taste of what it was like to not get enough oxygen to your muscles during a workout. Welcome to elevation.
We encountered an entourage of horseback riders who commented that this was a particularly rocky trail to be riding mountain bikes...you don't say???!...and after we had to stop for a rest and were passed by hikers who had previously moved out of our way, we both decided that we weren't having much fun and we should try going counterclockwise and take the other trail. Done and done. This was much easier and much more fun...until we saw another trail marker for Marshall Lake and jumped on that. The trail climbed, and climbed, and climbed some more. It was extremely rocky and we were off of the bikes more than we were on. We'd ride 30 feet, encounter an especially rocky section, dismount, walk, ride some more, repeat.
We met a woman on the trail who was happy to also be pushing her bike up the path. She said her husband is hardcore and since she wasn't having fun on the other trail, she told him she was going to go do something else and then meet him at the beach. Pretty cool, but if this trail is your idea of the easy trail, I'd hate to see what your husband rides. :)
The climb to the top resulted in about a 1000 foot elevation gain (per our topo map). Not major considering most of the climbs around here, but we hadn't covered any real distance so it was a butt kicker. In some sections, it was hard to get enough traction to push the bikes on foot. Once at the top, it was worth the discomfort getting there.
(Notice Redfish Lake at the bottom...that's where we started...)
I was so focused on riding and getting to the top that I hadn't noticed that my sunburn from kayaking a few days back was worsening and resulting in blisters. Ow. I can't tell you how many times I've had sun burns that resulted in blisters. This is why this pasty white girl usually avoids the sun like the plague. Most folks seem to think that I exaggerate about my aversion to the sun - which is why I'm happy to share this pic and say "pasty white's not so bad after all, now is it??!!?". Keep your tans and your melanoma...
Sections of this trail reminded me so much of the rock gardens at Gambrill and the Watershed. It's been a long time since I've done that stuff, and my skills were a little rusty and my confidence was lacking bigtime. Fortunately, when we took the Alpine Way trail down the side of the mountain, I quickly regained said confidence. The downhill section totally rocked (pun intended) and I was grinning the whole time I was bouncing from one rock to the next. I LOVE downhills. I mean, I REALLY LOVE them. Flying through the trees wondering at what point you're going to wreck and giggling the whole time is just a lot of fun. I don't enjoy all the work it takes to make those few minutes happen, but man is it a great payoff.
At the bottom of the trail, we were so stoked and having such a great time we decided to go finish the trail that we had jumped off of. It was a great, rolling, pleasant piece of singletrack that ended at an open meadow at the Wilderness boundary.
Bikes aren't allowed in the Wilderness area, so this was our turnaround point.
We chatted with a couple who was hiking the trail for quite some time. When the woman noticed my blisters, she came over to take a look. She said she couldn't help herself - she was a nurse. Her husband, who was a doctor, came over and looked too. He said "I've never seen anything like that" - which made me really happy once I found out he was an OB/GYN. Uh, yeah...good thing you've never seen anything like that before....EEEK!! ;)
We raced, yeah...we're competitive, so what...back to the trailhead and were laughing and smiling at each other the whole time. We were cranking along, hitting some jumps, and just jamming through the forest and along the creek. It was a GREAT ride that kept smiles on both of our faces the whole way back to the campground.
Overall, we did about 15 miles. Good for the knee, good for getting used to the saddle (ouch), good for building up the leg muscles, and good for getting my confidence back.
Ah...I love it here. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment