Bagging Antoine

 Pat, Eric, and I got to the top of Antoine Peak today. The goal was to ride as far as we could, then hike up that last bit. That plan made it sound, to me, more like a ride with a walk. What actually happened though, was a short (3.2? miles all up) ride, with a three hour hike through the snow.

If Eric hadn't run 32 miles the previous day (yeah, that's right -- no typo there), and if he didn't just effortlessly stroll up the hill, then this post would be a lot different. It would be me carrying the f on about how I can't believe how tired I am and how sore I am. It's embarrassing. But, you won't find any of that here.

Fat bikes matter. Pat let me borrow his for a bit and it was a big improvement.  

After about 1.5 miles, we dumped our bikes and walked.

It was really pretty. We didn't have a GPS device, which is sort of a shame, cause it would've saved some time on the way down, as there appear to be a lot of trails and old roads that take different routes up to the top of the peak.

Hard to capture steepness here. It's not crazy steep, but it was a huffer. Pat was very wrong about how close he'd gotten to the top of the peak in his exploratory ride. If I recall, I believe his specific utterance was, "I can't believe how disillusioned I was..."

 But Pat was very right in his praise of the Antoine Peak Conservation Area. This place is amazing. Speaking in "vibe" terms, it's sort of like a mini CDA Nat'l Forest. There were a a handful of sweeping views that reminded me of this.

Not that I would, but I could see people that like S24O's going out there and having a fine time next summer. I'm thinking a guy could ride into the area here.

Pat. Eric is the yellowy-green one back there.