Nicolai Mountain Ride Report
 

I meant to get a ride report crafted from a trek to Nicolai Mountain at the end of September, but spaced it after the Gifford trip. Probably would still be spacing it if a friend hadn't asked about the Nicolai area...lol. Better late than never :o

For the last ~15 years or so, a group of guys I know has been doing some type of camp weekend at one of the state parks along the coast. The main guys coordinating the weekend are true foodies, guys that have been professional chefs or are seriously into creating cool grub. While the main focus has been tied to chow and kicking back with the guys, I decided to haul my bike and hit Nicolai as we were camping at Fort Stevens in Warrenton. Threw an invite out to the usual suspects to see if anyone could make the trek and had a couple of nutballs join the fun.

We arrived at staging shortly before 10 and decided to warm-up on the practice loop while waiting for our 3rd rider. It was instantly evident that traction would be dicey in the trees - nice and slippery clay meant lots of sliding around. Our buddy arrived and we headed off to explore as much of the area as we could.

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I don't remember the names of all the trails we hit, but I'm pretty sure we explored 80-90% of the trails on the map :D. Although all of the stuff we hit was 2-track, there were plenty of sections that proved pretty darn tough with rocks, some climbing, downed trees, and one section of trail that felt like someone was laying out a quasi-trials area...lol. It was a great day out in the woods and the weather was perfect. Pretty cool to climb to the top of one section of trail and look down on the Columbia.

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We finished the ride with 45ish miles or so, loaded up, then bombed back to camp to enjoy some insanely good grub. JP made his famous oysters, we had some squid/octopus concoction on grilled bread, seafood chowder, steaks & veggies, fried chicken & waffles, and of course plenty of beer and whisky. Talk about the perfect spread after a good days' ride :cool:

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As usual, if you have some time to waste and want to see what riding at Nicolai is like, here are a few vids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e1gEkbvj9U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_12kZc8rtM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QyB6TSAbI4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaRHzB7ml7E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDG7yUPQXnQ

[QUOTE=liv2day;160906]We finished the ride with 45ish miles or so, loaded up, then bombed back to camp to enjoy some insanely good grub. JP made his famous oysters, we had some squid/octopus concoction on grilled bread, seafood chowder, steaks & veggies, fried chicken & waffles, and of course plenty of beer and whisky. Talk about the perfect spread after a good days' ride :cool:

You are killing me! Some of the best riding anywhere, in the pacific northwest.

Load your bike in that sweet van of yours and head this way; would gladly spend a few vacation days to show you around...and we'd only scratch the surface :D

looking at all that food im wondering if the riding gear was a little snug on the last day!Thanks for posting,its good to see where others ride

Your ride reports are one of the main reasons I want to leave the land of fences! Looked like an awesome time, you guys know how to do it!