alpine trail west fir or.
 

ride report:
after work today I went up near westfir with a couple of guy's that showed me one of
their favorite trails called "alpine trail". it is more known for a mountain
bike trail then a motorcycle trail. Google it for some you tube videos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/brooksau...MKl26HBqpLwCA#
any way it rained pretty hard on the way up and stopped about 15 minutes before we got to
westfir, was looking promising! we started up the trail it was tight single track about 1
&1/2' wide on a side hill that just kept winding its way up the mountain. not to long
into the ride a big old growth tree was across the trail about waist high, it was steep
up or down, so we had to lift the bikes across the log.more nice single track with a
bunch of really tight switch backs.I was on my trials bike today and when I came to the
first one I figured no problem, I'll just loft the front wheel a bit and swing it around,
except that is caught a bit better traction then I expected and the bike stood straight
up swung around and me and the bike dropped about 5 feet back onto the trail down below-
oops. next try a bit less throttle and worked like it was supposed to. as we wound on up
the hill the side hill drop offs were getting bigger, making speed seem way less
important and staying on the trail much more important. about now it started raining, as
we rode on deep in the big trees the light was fading a bit, goggles were fogging and
the rain was coming down harder, I was getting pretty wet. there was one spot we stopped
that there was a several hundred foot cliff - picture here:http://picasaweb.google.com/bro
oksautodoctor/AlpineTrailWestfirOr?authkey=Gv1sRgCNjlhKj_ka3I8QE #
we rode several more miles till the combination of rain, muddy trail,several inches of
snow and fading light with no light on the bike said it was time to turn and come on back
down. we were like drowned rats by the time we got back, muddy and soaked from the top
all the way to the toes inside my boots.another ride for the memory bank! if we went all
the way to the top it's about a 25 mile
round trip ride.

Thanks for posting the great description of our ride today Bruce. It truly did get ugly. Correction on the milage though. If we go all the way to the end of the trail and back it's 32 miles. I figure any time on the bike is good training, and today was no exception. Nothing like horrible conditions on a trail that exacts the utmost concentration, with fouled goggles no less.

On the way back down the hill, there was so much water that it flowed like a river down the trail, you could barely tell any bikes had ever been on the trail, because it was just a muddy little creek!
I have to admit, I was very cold and wet all the way to the bone, and I'm one who prides himself in gnarly condition riding. Even through my enduro jacket, I was one cold, wet puppy.

Great post.
Like to see more pics if ya have any.
We ride Vedder Mtn. here in BC and ride up the mountain bike trails with our Trials bikes. When we see mountain bikers we always stop and talk to them. I guess we're just a bit closer to them with our Trials bikes then when we are on are enduros.