Northwest Recreation

Riding along the trails at high speeds, we had just started our descent to the bottom of tiger mountain.  We had been riding a couple miles, but things were about to take a harrowing turn.  Coming around a corner and off some 3 foot jumps made out of roots, we struggled to maintain a solid control on the trail in the semi-wet conditions.

As I approached one particularly tight right corner, I pulled in my back brake lever to lockup as I laid the bike over around the corner, which allowed only a couple feet between tight trees.  Upon coming out of the corner, the bike skidded harder to the left than expected, sending me towards the bank on my right.  Over-correcting and adjusting to the skid, I lost control and veered towards the left edge of the trail, where a steep drop on my left was.  Forced to choose between the edge and my safety, I jumped from the bike and slid across the trail.

My friend ahead of me heard my shout that I was down and stopped to see if everything was okay.  The rest of the ride was fun, but a severely bruised elbow made it less pleasant than it could be.  I was grateful that I sustained no serious injury, though, and I live to ride again!

After a long month working at a summer camp, I had to get out and do some extreme mountain biking.  A good friend of mine and I decided that the best thing to do would be to go on a day off up to a place called Tiger Mountain, located just off hwy 18 in Washington state.  So Wednesday morning found us sitting in a car with our food and provisions for the day eagerly awaiting the adventures lying in store for us.  Needless to say, almost two hours of “waiting” definitely lacked the dazzle that you would think it would bring.

Upon arriving at the parking lot, we pulled off our bikes for a 4 mile warm up session on a small trail to the southwest of the main trail.  After the warm up, we headed 3 miles up the gravel road to trail head 1500 feet above us.  The views were spectacular on the way up, and we decided to take a detour to the Tiger Mountain Summit, where a communications site sat.  After taking pictures, we headed back down the summit and to the trail head.

On the trail, we found a labyrinth of terrain ranging from technical roots, to harsh berms.  Flying through the trails, we let the bikes do our bidding as we fought within an inch of our nerve threshold to control the bikes and pull of the stunts we wanted.  After a few miles of switchbacks, the first spill of the day finally occurred. . .

To be continued….

About a year ago I was out hiking with a friend near Mowich Lake, WA.  After hiking over several peaks, we decided to try our luck at a peak about a half mile away.  Upon reaching the peak, we found that it was a vertical 30 feet to the top, requiring the climb of a steep rock wall.  Although the the wall was full of ledges, climbing with our day packs was extremely hard.  At one point, I was holding on to a ledge that was slanted downward, toward the edge.  Thinking that the ledge would be useful, I soon found my hand slipping toward the edge, with 20 feet between me and the mountain slope below, which gave way to another 300 feet of steep slope downwards.

By now, most sane people would have turned back and retreated to the safety of solid ground.  Not my friend and I!  We were on a quest for ultimate supremacy at the top, and nothing would get in our way!  Desperately groping for another handhold while nearly slipping off the side of a mountain with another nearly had me convinced that turning back was the safe thing to do, however.  We soon made it to the top, luckily.  Unharmed despite our own stupidity, I was thankful to enjoy the views from the top.

The moral of the story?  My friend and I both agreed afterwards that under no circumstances would we ever do that again.  Whether or not adherence to that will come, I have no idea.  But one thing is for sure, brains beat braun anyday when you are making potentially life altering decisions.  Have fun hiking and be safe out there!