RR: Forest Park fire roads

After a couple of days of heavy rain, just about all the singletrack around
Portland (OR) is close to unridable. Certainly the trails would get messed
up big time. Sunday afternoon the clouds parted and a little sun came out,
so we decided to meet up with some friends and do a short afternoon ride in
Forest Park. If you're not from the Portland area, Forest Park is a huge
urban park stretching along 15 miles of steep hills beside the Willamette
River. At this time of year, it reminds you of a coastal rain forest - wet,
mucky, misty and cool.

Meeting at a trailhead halfway "up" the hills, we opted for the fire roads
that run fairly flat across the hillsides. Buddy Bill is a progressing
intermediate rider, his wife "M" is novice and their daughter "L" is a
newbie. The parking lot and fireroad trails were mostly saturated, and the
gals (newer bikers - not a gender slam) were at first a little bummed about
the impending mudbath. Once we got going, they were fine with it. On the
way out they did avoid the big, swampy puddles and keep speed down below the
"constant spray in face" threshold, but what the heck. "L" is a new college
grad who has not really biked since grade school, and she is hooked big
time. Even on her WalGoose special, she was having a blast.

We rode in a few miles and stopped for a bull session and water near an
intersection of several roads. The local parks department must have plans
for a structure of some kind there, as there were several big lengths of
posts and wide beams lying at the side of the clearing. Bill and I promptly
arranged a short chunk of post on the ground and dropped a beam across it
for an itty bitty teeter totter. After a couple of demos, the gals were keen
to try it, and soon were clearing it with ease (and whooping like crazies),
while we cheered them on.

Finally we headed back to the trailhead, riding like kids and trying to
splash each other while hopping through puddles. In review, the outing was
a huge success. One new young devotee to the sport, two converts to "any
weather" riding, three who learned a new skill, and three who got a townie
fix on a wet weekend!

After a couple of days of heavy rain, just about all the singletrack around
Portland (OR) is close to unridable. Certainly the trails would get messed
up big time. Sunday afternoon the clouds parted and a little sun came out,
so we decided to meet up with some friends and do a short afternoon ride in
Forest Park. If you're not from the Portland area, Forest Park is a huge
urban park stretching along 15 miles of steep hills beside the Willamette
River. At this time of year, it reminds you of a coastal rain forest - wet,
mucky, misty and cool.

Meeting at a trailhead halfway "up" the hills, we opted for the fire roads
that run fairly flat across the hillsides. Buddy Bill is a progressing
intermediate rider, his wife "M" is novice and their daughter "L" is a
newbie. The parking lot and fireroad trails were mostly saturated, and the
gals (newer bikers - not a gender slam) were at first a little bummed about
the impending mudbath. Once we got going, they were fine with it. On the
way out they did avoid the big, swampy puddles and keep speed down below the
"constant spray in face" threshold, but what the heck. "L" is a new college
grad who has not really biked since grade school, and she is hooked big
time. Even on her WalGoose special, she was having a blast.

We rode in a few miles and stopped for a bull session and water near an
intersection of several roads. The local parks department must have plans
for a structure of some kind there, as there were several big lengths of
posts and wide beams lying at the side of the clearing. Bill and I promptly
arranged a short chunk of post on the ground and dropped a beam across it
for an itty bitty teeter totter. After a couple of demos, the gals were keen
to try it, and soon were clearing it with ease (and whooping like crazies),
while we cheered them on.

Finally we headed back to the trailhead, riding like kids and trying to
splash each other while hopping through puddles. In review, the outing was
a huge success. One new young devotee to the sport, two converts to "any
weather" riding, three who learned a new skill, and three who got a townie
fix on a wet weekend!

GWood said:

We rode in a few miles and stopped for a bull session and water near an
intersection of several roads. The local parks department must have plans
for a structure of some kind there, as there were several big lengths of
posts and wide beams lying at the side of the clearing.

Is that the spot where Leif Erikson intersects with Salzman (where the
picnic table is)? Wonder what they have planned there...?

I didn't know you were in P-town! I live about 5 miles from the upper
trailhead on Springville.

When I first moved here it was December '95; I was driving along Skyline,
and some old dude was plodding along on a mountain bike completely covered
from head to toeclip in mud (muddy water, to be exact)...little did I
know, it was my future I was looking at. :-)

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

GWood said:

We rode in a few miles and stopped for a bull session and water near an
intersection of several roads. The local parks department must have plans
for a structure of some kind there, as there were several big lengths of
posts and wide beams lying at the side of the clearing.

Is that the spot where Leif Erikson intersects with Salzman (where the
picnic table is)? Wonder what they have planned there...?

I didn't know you were in P-town! I live about 5 miles from the upper
trailhead on Springville.

When I first moved here it was December '95; I was driving along Skyline,
and some old dude was plodding along on a mountain bike completely covered
from head to toeclip in mud (muddy water, to be exact)...little did I
know, it was my future I was looking at. :-)

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

That's the spot. At least I think the road up to Skyline from there is
Salzman, and it's the only intersection I've seen on LE with a picnic table.

A group of guys arrived just as we were heading out and they wanted to try
the teeter totter too, so we left it set up at the edge of the clearing.
Heck, might still be there if you want to give it a try. It's going to get
very slippery in the next couple of days ;-)

Cheers
Gary

"BB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Tue, 01 Nov 2005 22:38:52 GMT, GWood wrote:

Is that the spot where Leif Erikson intersects with Salzman (where the
picnic table is)? Wonder what they have planned there...?