Gifford Pinchot Camp & Ride Report, July 2014

[liv2day]

Another year of epic riding and camping at Gifford Pinchot is in the books and I'm already looking forward to next year.

The weather didn't quite cooperate as expected; the forecast bozos were off by about 24 hours. We arrived to showers Wednesday afternoon and they continued all night and through Thursday. The bright side is we wouldn't have any dust issues and traction would be fantastic. One lesson learned was that when considering what to bring for the trip, don't think you can't fit the canopy in the back of the truck - make room for the damn thing as huddling under a golf umbrella while trying to cook over the fire wasn't anyone's idea of a great time in the woods...lol.







We managed to get some hot food made Wednesday and took shelter in our tent to chow - good thing we brought the big one so everyone fit.



Woke up Thursday to more rain and pretty cold temps; good thing I told my buddy from WI to pack light and not worry about a heavy jacket (DOH). For a change of scenery, we decided making coffee in the back of my truck was good and huddled in there for a while. Migrated from there to the cab and then watched dirt bike videos from a recent trip to Lyda Camp and Jim's trip to MI. You know, because watching riding is so much fun when you should be actually doing the riding...lol.



Al decided to bail and head home as he had stuff to do Thursday night, so we unhooked the trailer and drove down to find a cel signal and figure out if we were going to get out of the rain at any point. Figures, 10 miles outside of Trout Lake had us in partly sunny skies, so we turned around and headed back to camp to wait for Randy & Willy.

Those two arrived in the early afternoon and rather than complain about the liquid sunshine any longer, we nutted up and hit the Boundary trail with the plan to do an out-and-back on trail 18. Although we were soaked, it was a great rip out and back, first time on Trail 18 and it's a blast - as is the Boundary trail.

[liv2day]

Back to camp to get the fire going and some grub in the pot. To aid in the heat generation process, beer consumption commenced and it was at this point we discovered our good friend had splurged on OEs for each of us . I decided to wait until Saturday, but ole Dru dove in head first and not only drank his, but Willy's too. And that was the end of our buddy Dru for the night and following day...LOL.







We woke Friday morning to a complete change in the weather, blue skies and sun...ahhh. Now we just needed to get our gear dry enough to be tolerable - so we could go sweat in it all day...lol.

[liv2day]

Not a single sound emanated from Dru's tent, so we chowed some breakfast and continuously moved gear into patches of moving sun. He eventually crawled outside his tent and determined that riding single track wasn't in the cards, so we geared up and headed out for a quick rip on East Canyon Ridge; figured an out-and-back might give him enough time to recover and join us for a later afternoon rip.







Back to camp for refuel and welfare check (lol) and still no go, so we headed out for a longer loop hitting some of the trails by Blue Lake.

It's hard to find the right words to describe some of the stuff we hit Friday afternoon - simply outstanding. We started off on one of GPs easier trails, 270. Great 2-track that doesn't have crazy climbs, just flowing and fun. Ripped that to trail 271 and climbed to the top of the ridge so we could hit trail 276, Yozoo.

Now this is an awesome section of single track; carved into the side of the hill with amazing views as you work your way down. It was so good that we decided to do it going up in the loop planned for the next day.





After finishing that fun, we hit Hamilton Butte (Tr 118) and that was another outstanding section of single track. There were some spots with pretty decent exposure so making a mistake wasn't a good idea, but the views and trail were great.

[liv2day]

We hooked back up on trail 270 and headed back to camp; logged 65ish miles for the day, which is pretty stout given the terrain up there. After a quick dip in the lake to get the top layer of dirt and sweat off, it was time to hang around the fire and enjoy some grub - perfect end to the day.

Dru was back in form Saturday morning and more than ready to hit the trails. We pounded some breakfast down, then headed out on what was calculated to be 45ish miles. The plan was to take trail 270 east and hook up with the section of trail 271 we didn't hit the day before. Take that to trail 119 and then do Yozoo trail up to the ridge.





Riding Yozoo trail up was a completely difference experience and definitely worth doing again. Aside from a few interesting sections where falling to the right wouldn't turn out well, it was a great ride up to the ridge.





From that junction, we hit Bishop Ridge (272) and that was nuts. I remember swearing last year that I would never ride that trail again after having it kick my arse for 3 hours when we went up it. Guess what, going down wasn't any easier...lol. If anything, the sketchy sections where falling the wrong way would mean losing your bike and possibly your life were even worse - something about having that crazy stuff on my right wigs me out.

[liv2day]

Anyway, after an eternity, we made it to the junction with trail 270 and bombed that back to where we started. I was completely spent by the time we made it down, which sucked as hitting 270 at speed is a blast. Dru was kind enough to stop at one of the water crossings and shoot a few pics - cool place for a photo.











My mileage calculations were off by about 5 miles, which doesn't really sound like much until you realize reserve on a dirt bike doesn't really make it that far...LOL. Jim ran out of gas 2 miles from camp - guess he was harder on the throttle than I was as I coasted in without issue...lol. A quick fill of an empty Gatorade bottle and he was back in business.

We took another dip in the lake and then commenced the last night of camping and kicking back. It was my turn to suffer through an OE and that I did, just glad I didn't try to tackle 2 of 'em...lol. It was an awesome evening and we hung out with a couple other dirt bikers that had come up to ride as well as some of the other guys camping around the lake. Good group of folks that were in their 12th year of hitting Council lake for their annual weekend of fishing and drinking.







I need to check my GPS logs, but I think we managed 160ish miles of riding. Easily the best dirt biking adventure of the year and I cannot wait to go back next year. I know we hooked Jim to come again, so the rest of you get your brains wrapped around the idea of a long Giff weekend trip sometime next July

As usual, lots of video to come. I recorded way too much and only plan to post some of the new trails we hit, as well as a great vid of Dru chasing CR - much faster than me...lol.

[bowhunter007]

Great report, awesome pics. Scenic for sure. Now you need to have a go in the Naches Basin. It's the same distance for me either way. Except now, the eastside is on fire, or really smoked out.

[firffighter]

Again, well done sir

Next year I'm in!

Any vids coming?

[iamovru]

Originally Posted by bowhunter007

Great report, awesome pics. Scenic for sure. Now you need to have a go in the Naches Basin. It's the same distance for me either way. Except now, the eastside is on fire, or really smoked out.

We did 72 miles Saturday in Naches. It was a blast, but there are some sections that I ask myself "Why"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id-Iq54ua5s

[iamovru]

I have ridden most everything in GP I suppose. As far as the ledges go, it's easier to be razzed by my buddies. Then explaining to wife how I lost a $ 10,000 bike over the side or why I fell 3000ft and died I will post pictures up to my photobucket and then message you. I have video also. I also have friends who are adventurous in Tillamook. One guy who is an excellent rider, came back Saturday with no shrouds and one less radiator