Wednesday, September 21, 2011

MTB: Sula Nat Forest

The upside of taking a few wrong turns on Saturday was that we got to see and ride a lot more than what we had planned originally.  We were originally going to stay in the same area to ride but we ended up riding most of what was on our original plans on Saturday as opposed to over 2 days.  There is tons more riding to explore in the area but we wanted to taste something a little different without having to commit to a big climb or big loop.

We ended up heading back over to the Chief Joseph Pass area and did an out & back where we hooked into the trail junction to the CDT.  We meandered along a creek for a few miles and then the trail veered off to the right and got steep!  It was a stroll in the park until the pitch kicked up and put the hammer down.  The grade was not un-rideable, but the combo trail and trail state made a couple of spots rather difficult to ride and ended up resorting to a little hike a bike.

Along the way we checked out the USFS cabin in the meadow and then continued on up the trail.  Fall is in the air and the colors of the leaves are changing.  It will be prime time over the next couple of weeks as the days get shorter.
After our lost medley day on Saturday, it was nice to do an easy out/back with not turns to worry about and no route to figure out.  It definitely got me geeked about going back and exploring more though - there is just so much to check out that way.

We ran into several hikers who were all super chatty.  We also ran into a Forest Service lady who was super nice and told us the last person to stay at the cabin in the meadow saw a moose & bear so the critters are definitely around.

Here is the junction to the CDT:
 heading down towards the Pass:
 heading back up from the Pass direction:
 along the creek:
 one of the little meadows along the creek:

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