Ride day! Again! Can you believe it? Today, we’re going to try a ride that last year WAS an IMBA (International Mountain Bike Association) Epic ride, but has since been downgraded – Boo!

Anyway – Loon Lake. Supposedly a nine mile loop, so it should not be too bad. Problem is, Bear Basin (yesterday’s ride) is rated “easy”, and this one is rated “intermediate”. So it will be harder. Oh, well. It’s about a 33 mile drive that takes an hour. No, really. Speed limit in town is 25, and it extends about halfway there, and then it’s Forest Service road, part of which goes through private property, which is also 25, so it takes an hour. Oh, joy!

Got to the trailhead, and here is their map of the trail:

We are at the trailhead at the bottom of the map, and try to decide which way to ride – clockwise, or counter-clockwise. There is another couple there with their son, and they ask if that was us at Bear Basin yesterday, so, of course, I said ” … maybe …” – and they laughed! Cool! People with a sense of humor! Anyway, they said they came out last year, and did it counter-clockwise, but then came back the way they went out. They didn’t get to see the wreck last year, because there was too much water. The wreck? WHAT WRECK? Oh, did I forget to mention it? Around World War II, a bomber crashed in the frozen lake, and the remnants are still there, if you’re willing to hike out there. Or ride out there. I forgot to bring my directions to the wreck, but we’ll see what we can see.

At the trailhead, we also see this:

We have bear spray, and I’ve got my Glock, so hopefully we don’t see any bears. Well, ok, maybe from a considerable distance, that would be alright, as long as we see them first. I hold out hope for no bear.

The woods are beautiful. Well, there was a fire here some years ago, and it’s still trying to grow back, but it’s still very beautiful, I think. I’ll have lots of photos:

That was near the start of the ride. All dead from the fire, but still cool looking. Trees far away are still green, and very beautiful. The ride out to the lake is a bit hard, but not that bad. I get a pretty good view of the lake, and I can see glints of light from the wreck:

You can’t see them on the photo, but they are there. Here’s a closeup:

You can almost imagine a white spot in the middle of the frame, right on the water. It’s about two thirds of a mile across the lake, so going out there would add probably two miles to the ride, so I decide against it. Good idea, it turns out …

On the return, the scenery is every bit a spectacular:

Problem is, the trail turns HARD. It is kind of sand, but very large-grained, like mustard seeds, or rice that’s cut in half lengthwise. Not bad to ride on, but the trail gets STEEP, going down, and big sand does not make for big traction, so skidding is pretty much unavoidable, and if you skid … you don’t stop, so we really had to control our speed. And it was twisty – two switchbacks in the steepest part of the trail – oh joy! But the scenery …

And after a while we cross a bridge:

If you look at the river, the water is completely clear – you can see the rocks on the bottom:

Have not seen water that clear in a long time! Then, there’s this:

Like how I framed it between two burned-out trees? Well, it was pretty impossible to not do that, so …

Did I mention the return was hard? The Bear crashed twice, once while riding, she went ass-over-elbows, and the next time, while walking the bike over a tree – there were several of them down on the trail. She almost ended up in the river (a looong way down!) but luckily she did not. Whew!

And that was the ride. Grueling is a good word. When we returned, the folks we talked to were not back yet, but then, they went to the wreck and we did not, so …

I did notice something at a couple of Subaru Foresters out there:

Partial Zero Emission Vehicle. WTF? Ok, you’re either Zero Emissions, or you’re NOT. Right? Oh, wait! I get it! My Dodge Diesel is a Partial Zero Emission Vehicle!!! Yeah, when it’s parked, it does not emit anything! Yeah, that’s it! Damned marketing people.

Anyway – my back is KILLING me from the drive, and it isn’t getting any better. Riding doesn’t hurt it, but the standing around really does. So when we got back to town, I HURT. What to do? BREWERY!!! Back to McCall Brewing Company for dinner and some brewskis. We each had a burger, and at least for me, it was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Ok, maybe ’cause I was REALLY hungry, but maybe not. I had the Smoke Scotch Ale – very good – and The Bear had the Leroy Brown Ale, which is, quite coincidentally, a brown ale – also very good.

After that – stumble home to a shower and a nice, warm bed! (Love my heated mattress pad in the cold!)