Pacific Northwest - Riding to Sunrise

Tomorrow I'm planning on waking up very early, driving to Greenwater and ride up HWY 410 up to Sunrise.

I've been riding a ton of rolling hills and probably get at 5-8000 feet of elevation every week, but need to get some real mountain climbs in before RAMROD.

If I had all day, I might consider just riding from my place in Auburn (have rode to Carbonado via Enumclaw many times). Trouble is I have family stuff planned for the afternoon - but still want to get the climbing part in.

Is Greenwater the best place to stage from and park a car? Looks like there are amenities there.

Also, for any RAMROD veterans how does this climb compare with the standard RAMROD climbs? I hoping this is worse, and knowing I can climb it will be a confidence boost.

Please share any advice or suggestions.
Thanks

-Sean

I'd start from the Crystal Mt cutoff from 410. There's a parking lot just off the road there. The 'climb' from Greenwater isn't anything special anyway. A friend and I are starting from there at 8am tomorrow. We're doing sunrise and paradise.

Thanks for the tip Northbend. Maybe I'll bump into you. I ride a green and cream LeMond and wear a yellow helmet.

I'll be doing this ride too but on Sunday. Have to support my GF doing the Rock and Roll marathon on Saturday.

Let me know if there's anything worth noting when you guys head up. Thanks!

With SiR I've done the 410 climb up to Greenwater, and the "amenities" seemed to be a gas station / convenience store. Really didn't seem to be much else. The lot there was big enough you could feasibly leave a car for the morning, though.

I heard something about "Buzzy's Greenwater Cafe".

Why not park right across the road from the White River entrance to MRNP. There is a big sign there that says Mather Memorial road or something like that. I think there are some trailheads there and lots of day hikers park there.

By the way - what's the approx. grade like once you enter the park until the top?

by the way - what's the approx. Grade like once you enter the park until the top?

steep:)

I would ride from Greenwater on up. You actually gain about 1700' from Greenwater up to the start of the sunrise climb, and that's a fair amount of climbing. With sunrise's 2700' of climbing, that gives you 4400' for the day, or close to half a ramrod.

I don't think that sunrise is steep steep, but it will get your attention. Last time I rode it (in Ramrod '06), it took me 95 minutes to get to the top.

Here's my mini-ride report.

I parked at a trailhead near Crystal Mt. around 6am. I rode into the National Park and paid my $5.

It was a little rough starting out cold with immediately inclines, but I warmed up within a couple miles. My intent for this ride was to prove I could climb this route without any extreme hardship.

What I ended up doing was riding in my granny ring (30t) and somewhere around my 20t in the rear cassette for pretty much the entire ascent. Keeping the RAMROD in mind, I tried carefully to avoid going anaerobic, as I know that's an energy suck. I got near 75% a few times, but kept it steady for the most part. From the park entrance where I paid my $5 until the top I never unclipped from my pedals.

I consider that a minor victory. I took me about an hour 45 minutes to climb, and what seemed like 10 minutes to descend (I had no computer this weekend).

Next I might start out further out, like Greenwater, Enumclaw or even my home - all dependent on my schedule of course.

Most important, the view was spectacular. It was fairly brisk temperature (high 40s by my guess), but as a bigger rider I get hot while climbing. My only regret is that I didn't bring a camera. I did have a 4 year old cell phone with crappy res - and there's the lone photo:

http://www.yunt.net/photo_gallery/projects/sunrise_bike.jpg

Way to go, Smurf! 6am huh? It was still cold at 8 when we started. A glorious day for sure

Thanks. Even as an early bird, 6am was early - but I got a full afternoon of family time in. Domestic tranquility was preserved. :)

It was cold, and I wore full gloves and long sleeves. For once it was a good thing I get warm when climbing.

I have this next Friday off and may try it again, but with more distance leading up to the climb.

That looks like a great ride - definitely on my list.

I would like to take a day off this summer, and try to do the climb to Sunrise & back, then climb up to Crystal for "dessert."

Thanks for all the encouragement people.

This is approximately the route I took:
http://tinyurl.com/ntjvhv

Inspired by Smurf I decided to check out sunrise this morning.Rolled out of Greenwater around 6:30, Topped out at 9:00, farted around for a while. Left the top around 10, back to my car around 11:30. I saw no more then 25 cars on the way up, coming down was a little busier.

Some shots in no particular order.

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs122.snc1/5248_97791064823_505554823_1867431_5225081_n.jpg
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs140.snc1/5976_97821489823_505554823_1867915_5375774_n.jpg

Dinner.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs160.snc1/5976_97821504823_505554823_1867918_4750137_n.jpg

inspired by Smurf.
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs142.snc1/5248_97794619823_505554823_1867567_5911098_n.jpg
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs140.snc1/5976_97821539823_505554823_1867923_697146_n.jpg

Thanks for posting - I gotta get this ride done this summer. Will take my bike photo in front of the same sign as you guys (unless I end up like your 'dinner' above).

Thanks for posting - I gotta get this ride done this summer. Will take my bike photo in front of the same sign as you guys (unless I end up like your 'dinner' above).

Although not the longest ride(60ish miles from greenwater), leaving at 6AM makes the ride eerily peaceful. The climb to sunrise is perfect, it never goes to "OMGWTFQ steep", just steadily up and up.

I put a video up.

http://www.vimeo.com/5418498

Although not the longest ride(60ish miles from greenwater), leaving at 6AM makes the ride eerily peaceful. The climb to sunrise is perfect, it never goes to "OMGWTFQ steep", just steadily up and up.

I put a video up.

http://www.vimeo.com/5418498

Fantastic video. Thanks for sharing.

I posted my ride report over in the 50+ forum the other day, but figured I needed to add my "bike in front of the Sunrise sign" to this thread:

http://i27.tinypic.com/2j1k2rs.jpg

A few miles past the turnoff to Sunrise on 410, I also caught this view:

http://i29.tinypic.com/s6m535.jpg

Awesome photos everyone! Makes me want to get up there too.

I've been to that sign more than once, but apparently I'll have to go again to recreate the exact pose later this summer. Here's a picture from last year when we did Paradise-Sunrise-Paradise.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dinglehoser/2690313791/in/set-72157606304436369/

Sunrise is a great ride. I was up there a couple of weeks ago.

So far this year my mountain rides have been Ashford-Paradise x 2, Greenwater - Crystal - Cayuse - Ohanepekosh - Chinook - Greenwater, Greenwater - Sunrise - Crystal - Greenwater, and Hurricane Ridge.

I want to get back to Sunrise again in the next couple of weeks.