National Trail Day, Singletrack & Sunshine!!!

Another weekend at home! What a great treat. And to make it sweeter, we spent it at our favorite place on earth, our cabin on Mt. Hood. We were treated to a weekend of sunshine and singletrack and even managed to fit in some volunteer work on one of our favorite local trails. Tim and I are 'heavy users' when it comes to singletrack, so we figured we were due to put in some time and what better day than National Trail Day! Saturday we met the crew at Dog River Cycles at 10 and headed up to a section of Knebal Springs. It reminded me why it is called trail 'work' and not trail 'fun'. It is a lot of work, raking and clipping and brushing. But it sure makes the trails a heck of a lot of fun to ride.

Tim is an expert at lopping!

But he isn't so good at picking up what he lops! And if you are wondering why we have our bike helmets on, it is required by the forest service.

After 3+ hours of work, we were 'released' to go try out our hard work. Although the trail is not completely clear of blow down and snow, it was still a lot of fun to be back on singletrack! And riding with folks we had not seen for a long time! Thanks to Jim Thornton & his crew and all of their hard work getting our trails up and running!!!

By the fire outlook on 8 mile creek! (no, the trail is not clear.)

And Bottle Prairie still has some snow on it!

Saturday night we were joined by Patrick, Anita and Sigmund! A great surprise at almost 11 p.m. So Sunday, there was more riding to be done. Tim was in one of his exploratory moods, but luckily I had Patrick to help curb his curiosity. We did plenty, believe me, and found a great way from the cabin to Dog River with only a few miles of pavement. It was a great find and Dog River was completely clear, so it was awesome to be riding on singletrack without getting off your bike! But when we got to Surveyors and forged on, we found out it was too good to be true. Yep, still snow and a bunch of blow down from the trail head off road 44, but it shouldn't be long now! Such a great weekend of riding and sunshine. Maybe summer will really come after all???

One of our favorite spots on Dog River Trail.

Tim pointing out the cabin & other features to Patrick.

Who is this guy?After Dog River, we knew it was too good to be true.

The amazing view at the end of the day. Great cloud/orb above Mt. Hood.