Skate Creek Loop (Second Edition)

Cyclopath Ride: Skate Creek Loop (Second Edition)
Author of this post: Jim Wilcher
6/16/2012


With the original Skate Creek ride cancelled due to a forecast of an inch of snow at Paradise and high winds up to 40 miles per hour! The Cyclopath in charge called off the ride (thank you Leon) and subsequently two makeup rides were formed. It was Leon, Mike and Tom forming the first make up ride on the following Thursday and then John Winter, Dan, Jim, Mark, Rod and his friend David rallied to form the Saturday group.

David (left), Rod (center) and John

Mike Hassur calls this ride the "first real mountain ride of the season" and even though it is a mere 80 miles, it packs a real punch and serves well as preparation for the rides soon to follow; like next weeks Triple By-Pass.

Saturday group ride summary:
It was a 7:30 AM departure from Ashford with friendly conversation as usual. Oops, only a few miles in and POW, Mark flats. Back on the road and the pace is picking up -- Rod is out in front and by the time we reach Longmire, Rod takes off with David and John in hot chase, while most of us return to a more moderate pace. We stretched out on the long road to Paradise, up, up and into the cloudy mist. At the top, Rod, David and John head to the lodge for hot drinks. It turns out that Mark flatted again at the Nisqually River bridge and Dan, being the fine wing-man he is, helped Mark with his second tire change. Upon reaching Paradise, Dan and Mark decided to head back down due to time constraints and a lack of spare tubes.

Warming up by the fire at Paradise Lodge (hot coffee already consumed)

Detailed ride description link:
Read Rod's blog called Riding With Rod, and his wonderful description of the ride in Skate Creek Loop part 1,  Skate Creek Loop part 2 and Skate Creek Loop part 3 where Rod learns a lesson in refilling his water bottle in Packwood! Rod's a fun guy and his blog is fun to read.

David, Jim and John at the finish

Skate Creek Loop (First Edition)

Cyclopath Ride: Skate Creek Loop
Author of this post: Mike Hassur

Ride day: 6/14/2012
View the entire Skate Creek 1 Photo Album

Tom, Mike H, Leon, and Les left the starting point just outside of Ashford at 6:50 AM.  The temperature was around 45 degrees, and there did not seem to be any threat of rain. We reached the Nisqually Entrance in short order armed with Mike’s Senior National Park Pass (which gets him and three additional riders in for free), but we didn’t need it as there was no ranger in sight when we rolled through. 

The ride to Longmire was filled with conversation and went quickly. Things got steeper at Longmire, but the conversation continued and we were at Paradise before we knew it.  A few hundred yards before we arrived at Paradise a brown bird about the size of a chicken sauntered across the road just ahead of us. He disdainfully refused to acknowledge our presence even though we were pretty close. We figured that this was a grouse and a review of Internet photos seemed to confirm this.  Paradise was a quick stop to eat, drink, and put on our jackets for the descent.  As we passed the Paradise Visitors’ Center, a fox calmly watched us roll by.  He was just as relaxed in our presence as the grouse had been. 

We zoomed down from Paradise to the cutoff road over to Reflection Lake.  It was chilly but not too cold (in the 40’s). The descent through Steven’s Canyon to the Box Canyon Rest Stop was beautiful as usual with great views of the valley below us and water cascading off of the rocks above us. We soon reached the Backbone Ridge climb.  Some conversation and a brisk pace (thank you Leon and Les) brought us to the top in short order. The descent to east park entrance was fast and fun followed by an even faster pace line from the park exit to Packwood. 

 

After a quick stop at the Packwood Shell Station, we headed to the Skate Creek Climb. Our agreement was that we would ride the first five miles of the climb together (it’s about a 10-11 mile climb) and then pick it up. At precisely 5.00000 miles, Leon took off.  We followed him as best we could; but, in the end, Leon was alone at the top of the climb. The weather for this last climb was good – not too warm (in the 60’s) and sunny. We all felt pretty good at the top and enjoyed cruising the last 10 miles back to our cars. 

This was a great ride.  The weather was really good for the entire ride, and the company was excellent. Here’s hoping that Saturday’s Skate Creek Loop Ride (Edition #2) goes as well.