WINCHESTER MOUNTAIN LOOKOUT RIDE AND RUN

Incredible ride up Twin Lakes Road Saturday followed by a quick run up to the Winchester Mountain Lookout. Spectacular scenery, terrific weather and seemingly perfect light for photos. Great company too: Glenn Gervais (below, trying to reach out and touch Mount Larrabee) and Steve Vanderstaay. 

Aptly named Twin Lakes, our biking destination. After parking at the Salmon Ridge Sno-Park, we pedaled a  half-mile of flat toward the D.O.T. shed, took a right on Twin Lakes Road and got pedalin'. After 6.4 miles--which included some 3,100 feet of climbing--we arrived at the lakes. Absolutely, terrifically stunning!

At Twin Lakes, I continued on for about a half-mile and found this pretty little tarn in a basin. A little beyond that it becomes private property--a gold mine, it turns out. 

On this day, however, I found a couple forest service folks with binoculars trained on a black bear and a herd of mountain goats. (They're way up on that 45-degree slope in the upper right and unfortunately, too far away for me to photograph.)

The last stretch of road from the Yellow Aster Butte Trailhead to the lakes is by far the toughest. It's chewed up like crazy and final 1.3 miles climbs 1,100 feet! (Repeat 1,100 feet in 1.3 miles!)

EXTREME CLOSE-UP of your author.

After a quick little explore at Twin Lakes, we locked our bikes to a tree and began the 1.5-mile (one-way) run-hike up to the Winchester Mountain Lookout. (Since the trail climbs 1,300 feet, it was a lot more hike than run for me.)

Views of Mount Baker--and seemingly every other Cascade peak--were huge!

Steve and Glenn at the lookout. Maintained by the Mount Baker Club, a B'ham hiking club, the lookout was built in 1935 and is available to camp out in on a first-come basis.

A gauze of clouds atop Mount Shuksan's summit pyramid. 

Heading down with a view west toward Yellow Aster Butte.

Steve, Glenn and I at the top. Behind us, Goat Mountain is in the foreground, Shuksan in the back.

Steve on the descent. The distant switchbacks are by the Yellow Aster Butte trailhead, about 1,000 feet below.

Me, gettin' all Ansel Adams on ya'. Sorta.

MORE MOUNT BAKER HILL CLIMB (RIDE 542) PHOTOS

Here're some more pics, a mix of GoPro seatpost-mounted shots and handheld shots. This post has Hill Climb photos as well. 

Also, just to let you know, I'll be doing some upcoming slideshows and book signings at Puget Sound area REI stores; click on the EVENTS box up there for more info. I'd love to see you there. (All events are free but you have to register online to ensure a spot.) I'll no doubt be using some of these shots in my presentations.

Enjoy ... 

I love this guy's expression. It's like, 'OMG, this McQuaide dude is just killing it up Powerhouse Hill; it's all I can do to hold his wheel.' Then again, he could be thinking: 'I just wish this old guy would get out of my way.'

Red. Love the red in pics. It just pops.

Saw several kids riding on Sunday. That was cool. 

Orange pops too.

See above comment re: kids.

Nathan Cranston (550) of Everson. He e-mailed me that he lives in the "lesser known bicycling paradise of Everson." E-town rocks, baby! Ride 34 in my "75 Classic Rides" book begins and ends in Everson!

See above comment re: red.

I dig this guy's Jens Voigt expression. SHUT UP, LEGS!

The final K fog.

This was with about 150 meters to go. Must've been really freaky for riders who'd never been here before. They must've been afraid they were going to ride off the edge of the earth. 

Thanks B'ham Herald photog for tilting the camera and making it look like I'm climbing really, really fast. 

The aftermath of the little Powerhouse Hill crash. (See post below for more details.) Here, rider 677 checks bike damage after I unavoidably rode over his bike.  

Some friendly folks out for a 24.5-mile ride. That climbs 4,300 feet. And ends in a 45-degree foggy soup.

Fast guys.

Fast and not-as-fast guys.

Fast guys.

Bellingham's Philip Buri, all smiles on the descent.

Cool.

Cold.

Pat Skaggs and family. Cold.

Hot Bodies in Motion. These guys were good! 

MOUNT BAKER HILL CLIMB (RIDE 542) PHOTOS

Another great day on the mountain! 

Almost at the top. Not much more than 1K to go at this point. (Or, for folks heading down the mountain and back to Glacier, about 40K to go.)

Certainly one of the stories of the 10th annual Mount Baker Hill Climb was the weather up top--about 45 degrees and a chilly, windy, foggy soup. This is Bellingham's Becca Steinkamp about 100 yards shy of the Artist Point finish line. (Tomorrow's forecast is for a high of 35 so we can be thankful we're not racing tomorrow.) The other story is that this is the first time since 2010 that the well-organized, Charlie Heggem production has been able to go all the way to the top. Last year, the D.O.T. never cleared the road's last 2.5 miles of snow and the year before that, inclement weather shortened the race.

I rode the Fast Recreational race with my GoPro camera mounted on my seatpost pointing backward and clicking shots off every 10 seconds. Got some pretty cool  pics. 

Moments after the start. (Or was this the rollout down to the start?) That's RD Charlie Heggem with the bullhorn.  Another fine job!

The fast guys. Results aren't up yet  but I think these guys were in the top 10 of the Competitive Race. (Top seven, maybe?) That's Rusty Dodge in the orange Fanatik kit.  

The Competitive Race winner. Again, sorry I don't have his name yet but he's on Team Exergy, a Boise, Idaho squad that I think raced this year's Tour of California. Women's winner is on the same team, I believe. (If anyone's got this info, feel free to send it along. Otherwise, I'll post it tomorrow when results will be up.)

More upsies and downsies right about where the fog cloud descended up us.  That's the two leaders of the Competitive Race right behind the motorcycle.

Epic Trumpet Guy!

Epic Unicycle Guy!

Epic Skirts Gals!

I hope to heck the gal in red had warm clothes waiting for her at Artist Point.

A cheery Safety Signs dude.

Terrific Tammy Bennett and her brother with about 1K to go!

Another seatpost cam shot: that's Chris Behee, the Galbraith Map guy, on the left.

Early on the big 10.5-mile, 3,000-foot climb to Artist Point. A few miles before this on the Powerhouse Hill, number 677 crashed right in front of me and I had no choice but to ride right over he and his bike. Luckily, no one was hurt (he said I bent his derailleur) and in fact, he finished ahead of me.

I like this shot of these determined dudes finishing strong. 

C-C-C-COLD! Kirsten Wert at the top. The dude in orange is Lance Sherwood, a real nice guy. He and his buddy drove all the way from Spokane just for this race. They each bought copies of my "75 Classic Rides" book after the race too! (Thanks, guys!)

Check back tomorrow and/or the next day--I've got lots more photos I want to post.