We gathered at our usual meeting place at about 6:45 AM. It was a little chilly at that time of the morning, but it was evident that the weather was going to be awesome. We ended up with ten riders (Leon, Tom, Les, Scott, Martin, Rob, Mark, Nick, John, and me), and we were heading out a little after 7:00 AM. Unfortunately, Kurt Maute arrived just after we left and missed linking up with us. Originally, we had been considering doing the route backwards (counter-clockwise) as there was some road work in the Steven’s Canyon area; but further inquiry suggested that the road work was not going to impact us much and taking the traditional route served our large group better. Kurt still thought that we were doing the route backwards and set out in that direction. He didn’t link up with us until the very end of our ride (by that time, he was in his car looking for us). Sorry, Kurt.
We rode together to the Nisqually Entrance of Mt Rainier National Park. Shortly after that, we started climbing which separated our group. We stopped at Longmire to use the bathroom and regrouped – sort of. Les and I were the last to leave Longmire. After climbing for awhile, we caught up with Martin. Everyone else was somewhere ahead of us, so we just rode together to the junction a couple of miles below Paradise where you can either head up to Paradise or continue on toward Reflection Lake. Martin headed toward Reflection Lake, while Les and I continued on up to Paradise where we met the rest of the group. 
After regrouping at Paradise, we enjoyed the descent from Paradise to the junction where we turned and headed toward Reflection Lake. By this time, it had warmed up enough that I really didn’t need my gloves (which made it easier to grab my camera and take pictures while riding). We passed Reflection Lake and began the long descent through Steven’s Canyon. This part of the ride is probably my favorite. There are cliffs rising above you on the left side of the road with water cascading off them (though not as much this year); and, on the right side of the road, there are cliffs dropping hundreds of feet into the valley below. I wanted to get some pictures of our group descending through this section, but a glove dropped out of my pocket when I reached for my camera. By the time I went back and retrieved it, the rest or the group was out of sight – drat!! I headed on down the descent; and, as usual, one of the guys (in this case, it was Tom Peterson) had noticed that I was missing and was waiting for me. I appreciate the way our group looks out for each other.
We descended past Box Canyon and reached the three mile climb up to Backbone Ridge. We were riding and talking and went up the climb easily. Then, it was the fast and fun descent down to the park exit. There were sections of gravel in this descent, so we had to be careful (it turned out to be no big deal). We stopped just before the ranger station to refill water bottles and hit the rest rooms.
After riding past the ranger station and exiting the park, we enjoyed a quick and fast descent to the junction of our road and the highway to Packwood. We took a right at the junction (left would take you up to White Pass) and headed toward Packwood. Somewhere in this stretch Rob got to the head of the paceline. He was going pretty fast, and our large group separated some. I rode up to the front and told Rob not to worry if the group separated some, because we would be in Packwood in a few miles and we would regroup there. What I was trying to say was “just cruise at your comfortable speed”, but – apparently – what Rob heard was “go like hell” because the next thing I knew we were going 28-30 miles an hour – INTO A SLIGHT BREEZE. We continued like that for the next few miles until we got to Packwood – with me working to stay on Rob’s back wheel all the way.
After a short break at the Shell Station in Packwood, we were on our way up Skate Creek Road. The first eleven miles of this portion of the ride is a gentle climb that follows a stream nearly all of the way to the top. We almost always go hard on this climb which turns a long, gentle climb into a long, grueling climb. This ride was no exception. We all gasped our way to the top and then enjoyed the rolling downhill back to our cars
Every year I say the same thing “I love this ride”. There’s lots of climbing, the scenery is great, the camaraderie is great, AND – THIS YEAR – THE WEATHER WAS GREAT!! Looking forward to next year’s ride.
To see all of the photos from this year’s ride, go to: https://picasaweb.google.com/103821724300588557330/2013_06_08SkateCreekLoopRide?noredirect=1#slideshow/5887498024920533058
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