We made our way up Windy Pass and hooked into Alpine where we descended until we hit the spur for Tire mtn. The trail intersection is not marked at all so you have to pay attention or else it is easy to miss. I was trying to capture a Kodak moment and the wifer was ahead of me and did exactly that...she missed the turn. Unfortunately she was out of my line of sight so I was not able to see which way she went. I yelled out to her and did not hear anything back. I decided to take my chances going via Tire mtn. After a while I started to think I should have caught up to her and that she must have continued down Alpine. I tried calling but our signal was pretty spotty so that did not work. I sent a quick text and by then she figured out she missed the turn and re-traced her steps. About the time I made my way back to the junction, she had found the trail again.
We snaked our way along the side of the ridge through what seemed like a totally different micro-climate. It was wet and really really lush. At a couple of points, the trail opened up and we rode through a wildflower patch. All the while, the mist hovered in the air to provide a bit of a surreal riding experience (in a good way). We continued to snap picture along the way, but as usual the pictures really never seem to do justice to what our eyes and senses take in real time.
At one point, the wifer decided to go off-piste. I had the camera in hand and was locked and loaded for pictures...my better sensibility prevailed as I figured it would be too mean to take pictures of her detour...however, I did get a picture of her getting back to the trail once I knew she was not hurt.
Soon enough we started our descent and we wound our way through old growth. The riding was impeccable. The trail was so much fun and the scenery was up to snuff too. We rode with big grins on our face, stopping frequently to ogle the setting. We had the trail to ourselves and it felt like we were in Jurassic Park at points.
The junction to Cloverpatch came all too soon and we found ourselves climbing back out and trying to dodge and weave the poison oak that had overgrown the trail. We ascended for a few hundred feet and then had another nice and long descent. This descent was even steeper with some equally tight switchies to keep your tech skills honed. The trail eventually kicked us out onto a dirt road that we would descend for the last few miles and then work our way back to Westfir.
The dirt road descent and ride back to town somehow don't fit the character of this ride. It would be downright dreamy if they could link trail back into town (and we hear that it is currently being proposed). That would be ultra dreamy...not just dreamy, but ultra....yup yup
some pictures of the day:
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