All of you have done this ride. I sort of always thought of this route as a "second class route"; because it is close by, and we were so familiar with it. This most recent ride changed my opinion, because I did a GoPro video for most of the second half of our ride which taught me a few things.
When we are out riding, I seem to miss things - LOTS of things. This ride was no exception. Les and I decided to do a "two man paceline" for most of the way back. As a consequence, I was either concentrating on leading, focusing on Les' back wheel, or visiting (when we were not in a paceline) for most of the way back.
 |
| Mike near the Carbon River Entrance to Mt. Rainier... |
 |
| Les near Carbon River Entrance to Mt. Rainier... |
During the process of watching and editing the video later, I came to the conclusion that this was A PRETTY COOL RIDE. The second half begins in the mountains at the Carbon River Entrance to Mt. Rainier,
crosses the Fairfax Bridge which has been re-surfaced (mostly) and will be 100 years old in three years, rolls past the communities of Carbonado and Wilkeson with their rich coal mining histories, takes you past the small horse farms/pastures just north of Wilkeson, and drops you into the Carbon River Valley between South Prairie and Orting with its beautiful small farms and views of the river.
 |
| View from the bridge near the Carbon River Entrance to Mt. Rainier. |
crosses the Fairfax Bridge which has been re-surfaced (mostly) and will be 100 years old in three years, rolls past the communities of Carbonado and Wilkeson with their rich coal mining histories, takes you past the small horse farms/pastures just north of Wilkeson, and drops you into the Carbon River Valley between South Prairie and Orting with its beautiful small farms and views of the river.
Oh, by the time we reached Orting, the temperatures were in the high 70's - pretty awesome!!
I have included the link for the video below. Maybe you already have appreciated the finer points of this route. If not, I hope that the video has the same effect on you that it had on me. Here are some tips for watching the video:
- watch it on a computer screen if possible - it will look better than on your phone (though phone is okay)
- turn on your speakers
- if you don't see the title when the video is beginning, pause the video and click on the "CC" icon at the bottom-right portion of the screen (this will turn on the "closed caption/subtitles" function) - I doubt that you will need to do this
Okay, click on the following link to see the video:
