Green Water S24o, ok S32o
I've been dreaming about doing a bike camping trip since this last winter and finally got to give it a shot. While it was slightly longer than a S24o as described on the Rivendell page, it still fit the bill for Zach and I. We pulled out of my house in Renton at 7:06 AM on Saturday. It was a perfect 60 degree morning:
We took the back roads and rail trails on a slow enjoyable route to Enumclaw. After Enumclaw, things got crazy. There must have been a biker rally, or charity ride going on out Hwy. 410 because group after group of motorcycles roared past us. About 2 miles past Enumclaw we heard a truck honk, and then what I thought was a gun shot. Luckily the two noise were actually completely unrelated. The horn was a gravel truck pulling out, but the blast was actually Zach's rear tire blowing out. At least we were headed up the highway, not down. We fixed the tire and headed on out Hwy 410.
About 6 miles out of Enumclaw I saw a side gravel road that I had always wondered about. I conned a reluctant Zach into lifting our heavy bikes over a bunch of boulders to check it out. It paralleled Hwy 410 for a while and then split of, and then rejoined. We were passed by a fellow from Enumclaw who let us know we could take it all the way past Greenwater! What a find. No more traffic to deal with for us.
Zach has a much older and less stable bicycle than I and he was paying close attention to the road trying to dodge pot holes when I started yelling stop! Stop! STOP! Finally he skids to a stop and I point out the bear about 40 yards in front of us. Zach smartly starts turning his heavy bike around, while I stare stupidly at the bear. The bear meanwhile stares back and then shoots off the road and up the hill side. We discuss our options for a minute, and then decide that it looked like an adult so we hope there are no cubs nearby and we hustle past.
We have a nice ride to the FR70 bridge and cross over to 410 and back track into Greenwater for a nice burger at Buzzy's. From Greenwater we ride back up Hwy 410 a bit and then jump off on some Single Track that has Zach cursing me. It's only a short push though and we arrive at our camp on a crystal clear stream.
The ride back Sunday was nice as well. We saw a large mother elk crossing the raging white river with her little calf. It was a cool quiet ride down the back roads to Enumclaw, and then not so quiet back to Renton. We got honked at, and even had a couple of firecrackers thrown at us, but we survived. I'd do it again tomorrow if I could.
This Google map from Zach's Garmin shows the route from Buzzy's in Greenwater to our camp, and then our route home. It was a perfect first overnight bike camp trip by my measures!
Date: July 8
Mileage: 55
Ride type/Bike: Road-Forest Road/Tricross
June Miles: 140
Year to date mileage: 1440
Date: July 7
Mileage: 57
Ride type/Bike: Road-Forest Road- Singletrack!/Tricross
June Miles: 85
Year to date mileage: 1385
Date: July 4
Mileage: 20
Ride type/Bike: Road/Allez
June Miles: 28
Year to date mileage: 1328
Date: July 3
Mileage: 8
Ride type/Bike: Mountain Bike/Pisgah
June Miles: 8
Year to date mileage: 1308
We took the back roads and rail trails on a slow enjoyable route to Enumclaw. After Enumclaw, things got crazy. There must have been a biker rally, or charity ride going on out Hwy. 410 because group after group of motorcycles roared past us. About 2 miles past Enumclaw we heard a truck honk, and then what I thought was a gun shot. Luckily the two noise were actually completely unrelated. The horn was a gravel truck pulling out, but the blast was actually Zach's rear tire blowing out. At least we were headed up the highway, not down. We fixed the tire and headed on out Hwy 410.
About 6 miles out of Enumclaw I saw a side gravel road that I had always wondered about. I conned a reluctant Zach into lifting our heavy bikes over a bunch of boulders to check it out. It paralleled Hwy 410 for a while and then split of, and then rejoined. We were passed by a fellow from Enumclaw who let us know we could take it all the way past Greenwater! What a find. No more traffic to deal with for us.
Zach has a much older and less stable bicycle than I and he was paying close attention to the road trying to dodge pot holes when I started yelling stop! Stop! STOP! Finally he skids to a stop and I point out the bear about 40 yards in front of us. Zach smartly starts turning his heavy bike around, while I stare stupidly at the bear. The bear meanwhile stares back and then shoots off the road and up the hill side. We discuss our options for a minute, and then decide that it looked like an adult so we hope there are no cubs nearby and we hustle past.
We have a nice ride to the FR70 bridge and cross over to 410 and back track into Greenwater for a nice burger at Buzzy's. From Greenwater we ride back up Hwy 410 a bit and then jump off on some Single Track that has Zach cursing me. It's only a short push though and we arrive at our camp on a crystal clear stream.
The ride back Sunday was nice as well. We saw a large mother elk crossing the raging white river with her little calf. It was a cool quiet ride down the back roads to Enumclaw, and then not so quiet back to Renton. We got honked at, and even had a couple of firecrackers thrown at us, but we survived. I'd do it again tomorrow if I could.
This Google map from Zach's Garmin shows the route from Buzzy's in Greenwater to our camp, and then our route home. It was a perfect first overnight bike camp trip by my measures!
Date: July 8
Mileage: 55
Ride type/Bike: Road-Forest Road/Tricross
June Miles: 140
Year to date mileage: 1440
Date: July 7
Mileage: 57
Ride type/Bike: Road-Forest Road- Singletrack!/Tricross
June Miles: 85
Year to date mileage: 1385
Date: July 4
Mileage: 20
Ride type/Bike: Road/Allez
June Miles: 28
Year to date mileage: 1328
Date: July 3
Mileage: 8
Ride type/Bike: Mountain Bike/Pisgah
June Miles: 8
Year to date mileage: 1308
posted by NobbyNick at 7:36 AM
3 Comments:
Very cool ride. Most of the pics aren't loading, but man that's awesome that you got to come across a bear and an elk & calf in the same ride. You'll have to show me the details of where you went one day. Congrats on getting this ride in, I know you wanted to do a long overnight ride. Did you bring a trailer?
By the way, I rode with your buddy Joel recently. Really nice guy!
Yo:
Nice Google Earth Pic. :P
I can't see the cell pics either - I am still trying to figure out how to get my pics off my cell. Ack!!
Z
You need to sign up for Google Ad Sense so you can start making $ off this site! :P
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