BLANCHARD MOUNTAIN RIDE

View from the Samish Overlook Hang Glider Launch: Samish Bay, Samish Island and Mount Erie in the distance.

With Galbraith, Chuckanut and Lookout mountains so close to Bellingham, we don't ride Blanchard Mountain nearly as often as we should. It's just that little bit farther from town and to really explore its charms--of which there are many--it'd end up being a six-hour day, which we can't always do. 

John checks out some of our road-riding routes: Chuckanut Drive, Colony Road, Bow Hill, Samish Island and more. 

So early on Saturday, we loaded up John's truck with bikes and gear (including Darrell Sofield's way-useful Amazing Map of the area), drove to Lake Samish (where we parked) and pedaled toward the Summerland Road entrance of the Pacific Northwest Trail. (C-c-c-c-o-l-d too, like 30s.) From there it was following white blazes on trees and rocks up, up, up, up, up via mix of dirt road and singletrack, eventually hitting the way-steep-in-spots British Army Trail which delivered us to Lizard Lake.  

A lovely bench on the Lily Lake trail offers  the opportunity to swim a few laps.

 From there we traversed the mountain, picked up way-fun Max's Shortcut and Larry Reed trails and made our ways to the Overlook. The view was absolutely breathtaking (a huge plus of leaving really early--7 a.m.--is that morning sun is perfect for photos): islands, water, fingers of land poking this way and that and it seemed we could see the curvature of the earth. Wowzer!

Tight squeeze in John's truck.

 Return was gravel road B-2000 to the Lily and Lizard Lakes Trail which has got to be one of the longest sustained singletrack climbs around here. We got off the mountain via Alternate Incline, one of my all-time favorite descents and one on which I put my new carbon 29er  fork to the test. (It'll be interesting to see how my upper body feels in the upcoming days.)

 A super-amazing day!

Here's our route: 

LAST WEEKEND

Just now catching up to last weekend which atchully began Friday when I ferried over to Port Townsend for the Wooden Boat Festival. It features in an upcoming Seattle Times story about Washington's top outdoorsy towns. (Boat photos and list of towns to be revealed next Thursday, the 24th.) But whilst I was there, I came across the Renovo booth. They're from Portland and make these amazing wood and bamboo boats that are called bicycles. (I think that's what they called 'em.) Incredibly beautiful. Their site is: http://www.renovobikes.com/.

The weather was spectacular and on the ferry ride back to Keystone, Mounts Baker and Shuksan were large and in charge. Though as you can see Shuksan, on the right, appears to be a mere nubbin compared to the great white watcher.

Saturday, the John Clark and I hit Blanchard Mountain on the 29ers as was discussed and shown in a previous entry and video. It's an amazing place with two lakes--Lizard and Lily--that are a mile apart and that look almost exactly like and each has an overlook that's too steep to ride up. So it's very easy to be at Lily and think, 'I've been here before' when really you were at Lizard and then you go and get lost trying to find your way out. Which has happened to me several times. So these days I never go near Blanchard without my trusty Chuckanut Recreation Area map (http://www.squareonemaps.com/).

Above, Jonny Boy Clark checks out the view of Chuckanut Mountain, Lummi and Orcas islands and a bunch of others from the northernmost viewpoint, above Lizard Lake. Below, the view toward Samish Island and Anacortes from the top of Oyster Dome, above the Bat Caves and Lily Lake.

After the ride the family, including me sister Kath who now lives in B'ham, hit the St. Sophia Greek Festival where Bake scored a cool hat.

As for this weekend a couple Sunday events I'm considering are the Capitol State Forest Classic mountain bike race (www.capitolforest.com/races2009) near Olympia or the Chuckanut Century ( http://www.mtbakerbikeclub.org/ ) right here in town. Hmm ... one requires a three-hour drive, the other I can pedal to. What's it gonna be? 

BLANCHARD MOUNTAIN BIKING

Please enjoy this video in which John Clark and Mike McQuaide mountain bike the myriad trails on Blanchard Mountain, just south of Bellingham. Vid starts out with spectacular vista from atop Oyster Dome which itself is atop the Bat Caves. (Song is "Is There a Ghost?" by Band of Horses.)

Lots of fun, especially on Max's Shortcut, and much challeng in the way of roots and rocks. Probably smart we rode it when it was relatively dry. Spent a fair amount of time off our bikes hiking when we couldn't ride the crazy-steep pitches to the two spectacular overlooks. (The one above the Bat Caves is perhaps the more impressive with views far into the San Juan Islands and across to the Olympics.)

Video ends with a message to the Titanium Cowboy (Scott Young) who, we learned yesterday, has a broken hand from that fall he took about a month ago. Ugh.

Good luck Sunday to all Ride/Run 542 (Mount Baker Hill Climb) participants!

CHUCKANUT-BLANCHARD MOUNTAIN DOUBLE

Saturday, John Clark and I got a ride in that we've been wanting to do for a while--Chuckanut Mountain, then on to Blanchard. Conditions were perfect--blue sky, temps in the 60s and 70s and, far as we could tell, no wind. After having to stop at the corner of Eldridge and Walnut to watch the largest Donut Ride peloton we've ever seen pass by, we set off in the opposite direction just after 7 a.m. for Fairhaven. There we picked up the Interurban Trail and followed it just about to the end.

From there, it was up Fragrance Lake Road to the Lost Lake Trail, where we took a right (passing by the base of Little Chinscraper/Double Black Diamond) up, up, up to the shoulder just above the Lost Lake basin. Here we took a right (where the Dictionary used to be) and after passing through some disgusting mucky pond-puddles headed down, down, down a steep rocky gully on what the map calls the Overlander Trail. By map, I refer to the super-useful Chuckanut Recreation Area map (Square One Maps) which I highly recommend.

Eventually things level out, then go down some more, then up, then down and so on. Back here, it's all forested and winding dirt and gravel roads, the intersections of which all look basically the same so the map was invaluable. We'd ride for a bit, stop and consult the map, ride due south, consult the map then ride due north, then due south and so on. (See super low-tech map image below that kind of shows our route penciled in.)

With somewhat a sense of relief we hit the British Army trail, which was our super-steep Stairway to Blanchard. According to the map, it climbs 580 feet in just over a mile but I bet most of this is in the first three-quarters of a mile. We'd ride (seemingly straight up), then walk, then ride when we could, then walk, eventually making it to Lizard Lake where we dined on Power Bars, some kind of chicken wrap thing I bought at Haggen's that morning and Gatorade. From there we headed east along the lake, past a horse camp, to the Alternate Incline Trail which gets my vote for the funnest descent we've ever done on a mountain bike. Steep, but not scared-for-my-life steep, rather just this side of my downhill abilities.

From there, Road 1000, map-map-map, until we rode around a locked gate, passed a No Trespassing sign and popped out onto Roy Road near Camp Lutherwood at the far west end of Lake Samish. A great ride. Other folks do this ride and add the back way into Pine and Cedar lakes but we'll save that for another day. As it was, our stats were 40 miles, 4-1/2 hours of riding time, 4,400 feet of climbing.