Patrick, Willy, and I left downtown at about 10:45 am on Friday. We made a quick grocery stop and we were on the Centennial Trail, heading east, by 11 AM. We took the Wellesely/Lehman hill to Forker to Mount Spokane Road route. Good times. With lunch along the way, we landed at the Vista House at about 3:30.
The climb to the summit of Mount Spokane is like a big hill with two hard climbs in it. The summit is 5700 feet. Roughly, the 3000-4000 ft piece is a hard section and about the 4200-4900 piece or so is also hard.
After laying around and eating at the Vista House, we rode about 300 ft back down the mountain and found a cool spot to sleep for the night. Patrick and Willy slept in the foundation of an old building, while I found some trees nearby to string the hammock between.
I lost my water filter last year and finally bought one for this trip. I got an MSR gravity flow filter. It rules. Why pump again? It's light, it's easy and you can do 4 liters in about 10 minutes.
Patrick and I rolled down into Spokane and were enjoying breakfast by 9 am this morning. Willy doesn't work until Monday, so he took off down a trail that drops down the east side of Mount Spokane and puts you in Spirit Lake. From there, he's off to Priest Lake. He's looking at about 100 miles of trail, dirt road, and back road riding today. Lucky.
He's got the GPS fired up. I can't wait to see the route he ends up taking. I'll be sire to report back here.
This is my 400th post. Mother of pearl.
That looks like a LOT of fun! I live fairly close to Mt. Spokane and it never occurred to me to ride up there to camp. I guess I have always been afraid of trying to ride up the whole thing. That and I don't actually camp.
ReplyDeleteI like Patrick's setup with the single-speed crank a lot. Based on how much I live in the middle ring on my Trek I think that could really work for me on my hypothetical next bike (mtb?). Awesome frame pack too- he looks ready to hit the Tour Divide.
ReplyDeleteAs always, your adventures inspire me!
ReplyDeleteChihweenie: if you're close, maybe bite off increasingly bigger chunks of the climb over the summer? The ride down is worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteJason: Over breakfast, Patrick was talking of putting a granny on his bike. I love his frame pack too. Looking at his and Willy's packing set up, really got me thinking about my set up. I've got a plan brewing.
Dr. Evil: thanks. I hope your Hitler scab is going away...
John, looking at bikely it appears there's an option to continue north near the top and then loop west and then south back down through Green Bluff. Do you happen to know if that route is road bike worthy? I enjoy the blog. Thanks,
ReplyDeleteJosh from Liberty Lake
Josh: I've not tried it. It sounds intriguing. If you try it out, please report back.
ReplyDeleteI do have a track or two for getting down the east side to Spirit Lake. One is trail/road adn the other is all trail. And a third is pending. I'll post more on that when I figure it all out.