It's been far too long since posting a ride report; pretty sure this is the longest stretch without riding since getting back into the dirt
. My last rip aboard the little GG was early December, nearly 5 months had passed...no bueno. At least the "dry" spell is over...though calling anything dry given the Oregon winter we've had is an oxymoron...lol.
4 of us descended upon Lyda Camp with the goal of knocking out 30-40 miles; a couple of the usual suspects and another who's becoming a usual suspect. The loop was loosely planned to hit some technical stuff, possibly try and find Morels Maze, and end with the enjoyment that is Bales Creek.
Before diving into things, I want to give big thanks to the guys out working the trails. I was certain we'd encounter a whole ton of windfall and I'd be using my pack saw for a good chunk of the day, but we found the trails to be cleared of anything major. This was quite a surprise after the stoopid wind storm the weekend prior - thanks for clearing all the big stuff for those that did so.
We took off from staging and hit the 'new' section of Log Jam; great warmup trail to get the arm pump out (or at least fading...lol) by the time we made it to Tomans. Tomans was quite the treat, especially as we encountered snow on the way up. Made navigating the baby head rock section all the more interesting. One minor get off and a broken RAM mount was the only casualty on the way to the top.
The plan was to hit Hogsback and try to find a section of Morel's Maze. No problems finding Hogsback, but no luck finding Morel's...at least no luck finding a way to continue the trail. We did find part of the trail that ran along side the damn road they put in, but it wasn't quite passable and we gave it up. A bit of backtracking and we found a trail on the other side of the road that led to a great section of single track - not sure which trail it is - could be a section of Morel's or maybe Bat Bridge? Anyway, we found it and it was good fun.
Made our way along Archers with the goal of getting to the top of Benny's. Not sure how many times I've gone down Benny's now, but it's such a great trail. It's a treat to ride along the draws, across the single track bridges, and eventually drop down to the logging road that takes us over to Payne.
Payne, on the other hand, not really so much fun - at least the lower section that leads back up the ridge. We'd ridden a portion of it in December and it was challenging to say the least, now it's really rutted and made for a long slog. Be skipping that section the next time we're out of Lyda (though it did make for a couple of good video clips...lol).
