It's been awhile since our first visit to Tolt McDonald Park, decided today would be the day for a revisit. Original riding plan was to join fellow work and riding pal, musician guy Brian - not to be confused with my other pal Brian - also a work related riding pal and a musician. As a Devo related tribute, maybe should call 'em Brian 1 and Brian 2.
Back to the original plan; ride Grand Ridge over to the Duthie Mountain Bike Park. Seven miles, 1100 foot elevation gain. Include some simple math and you have a 14 mile round trip and 2200 feet of climbing. Plus, add in some additional miles goofing around Duthie. Son Ian was to join the festivities along with us, 'cept he woke up at 10:00 AM looking mighty tired. He did about 15 miles of singletrack on Saturday, and about 8 miles or so Friday night. He wasn't sure about the long ride today.
When in doubt, cut it out - my motto for riding with kids. Don't want to ruin the fun with a death march. Wife also thinks I'm killing the kid with riding. Little does she know, he's actually killing me at times. Informed Brian we'll sample Grand Ridge another time. We've never ridden it, but will eventually.
Of course, after breakfast and laying around a bit, Ian wants to do something - like ride. His JL Velo team had a social ride lined up with Garmin Cervelo pro rider Tom Pederson. That would be cool, no? He's not really interested. How about an easy local road ride? Nope. Says "Road riding is a little boring, you just sit and pedal. Mountain biking is more fun."
Mmm...the boy does have a point. Okay, let's hit Tolt McDonald Park instead. First stop at El Toredor in Redmond for some proper burrito loading. Followed by the drive out to Carnation...
After a short, but steep climb into the park, rewarded with a nice view of the Cascades. Once you're up there, the trails are fairly flat. One of the reasons why picked the area for today. Just do some fun cruising.
Area consists of roads - really gravel/rock doubletrack - with pinball mazes of singletrack laced throughout the park. The map was only semi-useful, since none of the trails are actually marked. Pretty easy to get lost and wander around a bit, then hit a main road to find your way back. Hopefully...
Ian climbs one of the roads in the park.
Lots of twisty, fun, rooted out singletrack to be found. We just cruised around making random trail choices, until we hit a main road. It would take awhile learn this area - can get confusing.We kept it short today, about 10 miles of singletrack exploring - also had a late start. Tolt McDonald is pretty fun though and worth the trip. We'll make visit # 3 before the summer is over.
That concludes this insanely fast written post. With any luck, its even readable.
Ride on. Ride often.