Trout Lake

Four years ago we rode the Mt. Adams Country Bicycle Tour out of Trout Lake, WA, about 1.5 hours from Portland. It's a Century ride (100 miles), but nicely split into two loops of about 50 miles each, which allowed me to tackle just half the ride while Chris and friends completed the entire route. It's a pretty ride and I vowed to go back, but never did. Another ride -- the Mountain Lakes Challenge out of Ashland, OR -- occurred on the same weekend as the Mt. Adams ride in each of the next two years, and we'd chosen the Ashland ride instead.

This weekend we returned to Trout Lake to ride the "Forrest Loop" section of the Mt. Adams ride. The "Forrest Loop" begins with a 14.5 mile climb of about 2,000 feet, followed by a long downhill, a 10-mile climb, then another long downhill back to Trout Lake. This year's official Mt. Adams ride isn't scheduled until June 28th but we thought we'd get part of it done early.

All went as planned during the first climb.....

View of Mt. Adams

 ....until we reached the top of the climb. Snow! I guess there's a good reason why the official ride isn't scheduled for another month.

Skinny tires meet their match

After some reconnaissance we determined that, indeed, it was not possible to continue. We turned around for a fun 15 mile downhill cruise. Then we rode a few extra miles on part of the valley loop, which is lower in elevation and free of all weather obstacles.

Mt. Adams straight ahead

Mt. Adams in the distance
Great rural roads