FOGGY MORNING ON GALBRAITH MOUNTAIN

DICTIONARY TRAIL UPDATE; MORE TALES OF STUPID FUN

Right. Well, first off I'd like to update something that's of import to the handful of people who are interested in this sort of thing. Those being folks such as myself and my fellow Titanium Cowboys who like to connect the Chuckanut end of the world with the Blanchard and/or Pine 'n' Cedar lakes areas. As Titanium Cancellara (Scott Young) and I found out last weekend (see post below), the Dictionary Trail--or Overlander, as it's called on Square One's Chuckanut Recreation Area map--is kaputski for right now because of logging. But since we'd approached it from the Burnout Road (south) side, I wasn't sure where the trail stops on the Dictionary (north) side. Today I pedaled up via the Fragrance Lake Road-Lost Lake Trail, took a right at the Dictionary and in about 300 yards, had my answer. (See above pic.)

The trail is blocked by a pile of logs and beyond that's it's all new logging roads, a new clear-cut (great views of the Sound though), and lots of scary machinery making lots of scary sounds. So, we'll have to come up with a new way to get our Blanchard-Pine 'n' Cedars lakes on.


Sign warning folks to stay from the logging.

In other news, I wanted to share some e-mails I received in my response to my story in last week's Seattle Times about Stupid Fun. (The story was basically about crazy workouts/races/informal competitions that people come up with on their own.) Brock Gavery of Seattle (who, by the way was featured in Outside magazine a couple years ago for being one of the Fittest Real Men in America) wrote that in August he and two friends biked 120 miles from Ballard to Paradise on the south side of Mount Rainier. The next day, they climbed to Rainier's 14,411-foot summit and the day after that, ran the 93-mile Wonderland Trail which circles the mountain. (I've got a feeling they did it over four days but I'm not exactly sure.)

Dustin Wallace of Ellensburg included a bunch of crazy stuff that he's done. Among them, he and a friend challenged each other to run the Yakima Marathon and then bench press 300 pounds within 20 minutes of finishing. (Their marathon time was 3:59:46; they were able to press 275 pounds.)

Bruce MacLean of North Seattle wrote that he recently rode his bike 50 miles to Mount Si, which he then climbed including the Haystack scramble to the top.

Cool. Love to hear about folks doing stuff like that!

TITANIUM COWBOYS FIND THEMSELVES LOST

Saturday, Scott Young and I headed to the Chuckanuts and up the evil Burnout Road which has three (or four, or maybe even five) steep, seemingly vertical pitches. Above, Scott climbs the last one. (The two-dimensional camera doesn't do it justice; it's really steep.) At the top, we discovered that there's a whole lot of new logging going which ended up altering things dramatically.



Once there--elevation, 1,830 feet; we climbed over 1,600 feet in less than 4 miles to get there--we found the little-used trail off to the right, headed into the woods and started our steepish descent which we anticipated would lead to the Overlander Trail. (For those of you scoring at home, that's the one that leads from the Dictionary. Which, of course, isn't there any longer.) However, after about 300 yards the trail just disappeared, obliterated by a new logging road.) We looked for the trail on the other side of the road but after having no success finding it, we lifted our bikes up onto our shoulders and bushwhacked it in the direction of where we were just positive it had to be.

(This, after I had the daylights scared out of me by the one logger who was up there cutting and who let a tree fall scarily in my direction. It really didn't come close to hitting me but given than it's just about exactly a year since a tree did fall on me--read about it here --I was quite afeared.)

Thing is--and I'm still trying to figure this out--when we started bushwhacking, we had probably already crossed to the other side (the east side) of the Overlander Trail, and though we sure it was ahead of us, it was actually behind us. I'm wondering, does the new logging road follow the Overlander Trail? I'll have to go back up there and check this out. It's a damn shame if it does.

Luckily, after about 45 minutes of bike-carrying bushwhacking, we found the Lost Lake Trail, a few hundred yards east and below the post where the Dictionary used to sit. From there it was the fun-as-heck descent down into and out of the Lost Lake basin and then the Arenburg Forest straightaway on the North Lost Lake Trail.

STUPID FUN STORY HITS THURSDAY'S SEATTLE TIMES

Here I am a couple weeks ago during our attempt to ride All of Galbraith in a Day taking a break to enjoy a cup of coffee, made for moi by Steve Hindman. I share this because Thursday's Seattle Times has photos and a little mention of our excursion in my story on Stupid Fun, dubious adventures put together just for the heck of it. Read it here.

The main focus of the story was last month's Battle of the Bikes race from Wenatchee to Ellensburg--any route you want to take, any kind of bike you want to ride. I definitely want to race it next year.

Below are a few more pics from our long, fun Galbraith in a Day ride.

Cathy Crouch, Steve H. and Steve Vanderstaaay in front of Mount Baker.

Admittedly, we missed Scorpion and Evolution, but only because they were closed for the day.



We'd ben out on the trails for seven-plus hours by this point and I think we were all a little punch drunk by now. 



ALL OF GALBRAITH MOUNTAIN IN ONE DAY (ISH)

Saturday, on a crisp fall day with nary a cloud in all the Northwest, a group of us attempted to do the incredibly stupid: ride all of Galbraith Mountain's trails in a single day. That's like 72 or 78 or, as it felt like, 70 million. The intrepid riders were Cathy Crouch (above, ripping it up on Atomic Dog, or Atomic Dong, one of the two), Steve Hindman (the mastermind behind our evil plan), Steve Vanderstaay, and myself.

Above, is our list of trails and the order in which we'd attack them--Steve H. did an incredible job putting it together. He and Cathy made it the whole way--yay, hurray and huzzah!--riding the last couple hours aided by lights and finishing at 7:45 p.m. under starlight. (We'd gotten underway at 7:30 a.m.) I made it midway through the third column before failing sunlight and lack of lights forced me to abandon. (What looks like a fourth column is actually just notes, not trail names, so I made it pretty far.) Steve Vanderstaay, who knew he'd only be riding as long as his knee would allow, rode with us for about the first six hours. (Great job!)

Below, is the map of what I rode as recorded by my Garmin Edge 500--kooky, huh? In all, I pedaled 35.6 miles of trails with 6,129 feet of elevation gain. Certainly, the most Galbraith I've ever ridden in a day. Basically, I missed the Three Bears-Goldilocks area, a slice of Cabin-2 1/2, to Crazy 8's-Kung Fu, and down to the Bobs. Everything else I rode, including several lower down--Kaya, Bunny Trails, Banjoland, Mole Trap (?)--that I'd never been on before. (So, in my mountain bike career, such as it is, I can honestly say that I've ridden every trail on Galbraith.)

 

Below, it's about noon, and we're getting back at it after lunch and coffee just below the Towers. (I'm serious, coffee! Steve H. brought a stove, water, and Via. How's that for attention to detail?) Stunning views of Lake Whatcom, downtown B'ham and the Sound, as well as Mount Baker. 

Photo credit: Cathy Crouch

Below, our stuff. Lots of stuff. A ride like this requires lots of extra stuff which we stashed in the woods. Looks like a yard sale. 

Below, Steve H. who descends at free-fall speed, is just a blur on Atomic Dong, or Dog, or something. 

Incredible day!