After yesterday’s climb of Mount St. Helens, we had planned to roll up to the Bellingham area to climb Mount Baker. Mother Nature threw a curve ball and sent in the rain so Brian, Tom, Matt (Brian’s friend from Longview), and I headed over to some local trails here in Southwest Washington.
Speianchi was glad to get out and enjoy some new terrain.
Brian had been talking about this trail system for many years so it was time to check them out. Notice the interesting tree on the right growing on an old stump.
Tom navigates the roots and ferns.
Matt and Brian rolling trails with names like ISSIS, Cheech, and Chong. Brian took us on some special “Mayhem Trails” and quickly realized that they were beyond the scope of Dave and Tom so we stuck mostly to the main routes.
After a rough start, Tom works out the kinks, finds his mojo and gets it rolling.
This forest is amazingly lush, much different than our part of the world.
More Tom pictures.
Flowies, lots of Flowies.
Apparently this area has a ton of double track and you can cobble together some amazing gravel routes.
However, today we were just rolling small sections of double track to get from one trail to the next.
Lush!
At one point we entered a small clear cut and one could see the Columbia River. Also note the weather, although it was just misty here we found out later that Mount Baker was getting soaked.
Matt demonstrates the proper technique to roll the old downfall. Apparently it helps to be properly caffeinated and since Matt owns the local coffee shop he is always ready for the Mayhem!
Rolling through the flowers.
Another clear cut and more wild flowers.
Brian and Matt carving the flowers on the trail named “My Pillow Guy”. Brian was right, these trails are good!
It was a wonderful day on the mountain bike and a good way to pass the time waiting for Mount Baker to clear. More Washington adventures are right around the corner!
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