jeepseahawk

A little summary of my trip to Hurricane Ridge in Washington state, it was a bucket list climb. I first posted in the Pacific Northwest forum to get some pointers and the folks were great at that. In fact, one local who goes by forum name Lascauxcaveman even stated he would ride with me up. After talking a bit, it was learned his family had a local Hotel he ran. I was staying with my folks within 70 miles of Hurricane Ridge and figured to drive up that morning, well I got the butterflies and just went up that night figuring more sleep. The Downtown Hotel was great, very unique with that going back in time feeling but with modern updates, A+ on his hotel.
We decided to leave at 10 am, meet at the visiting center which would give a 17.5 mile climb. Could of left at the hotel to add 200 ft of climbing but I was ill prepared for this climb, not enough training with a max climb of 2900 this year. Plus I am a 230 lb clyde who is slow to begin with.

(photos are from cell phone but came out decent)

This photo is about a mile going up, just amazing views. The first 4 miles were a kicker for me, GPS showed nothing under 7% and stayed on 9% most of the of time. I was warned this was the hardest part and indeed it was.



Mile 5 at the toll booth (5 bucks and worth it) and great water from faucet, this is the last place to get water and 12 miles to top. There are many streams though, I ended up using them to pour cold water over my head. It was only 80 degrees but my body was not used to the humidity. Lascauxcaveman, my host via bikeforums generosity, taking a much needed break. Dude was a better climber but waited for me every so often. Plus he has a cool old-school bike, just a beauty, more photos of it soon.



Not exactly sure but believe this is 1/3 the way up. I stopped a lot to take photos, was a leisure pace with only goal to get to top.



The road is pretty narrow and I highly recommend lights front and rear, especially for the tunnels (3 total). The road is pretty good about warning motorists of cyclists.




The deer up here are very tame, let you get real close because of all the tourists, still advisable to stay clear of them unlike me .



Bikes posing, they were tired.



I can feel the pain about right here, think we are 2/3 the way up. Next time I will put the hours in climbing prior. Lascauxcaveman was barely breaking a sweat, a good climber.



Next photo shows the last part of climb, maybe 300 feet.




The top and I was extremely sore, Lascauxcaveman got up a little earlier. We had fish and chips at the little restaurant with my kids, they drove up. This was by far the most scenic climb to date, just beautiful. The elevation here is 5300 ft and there were big pockets of snow everywhere, in July.
Total climb was 4800 ft in 17.7 miles, round trip of 35.5. Hour lunch on top and still decent time of 5.5 hours total up and down, well for a clyde like myself.
Garmin connect link below.
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/336767057

HenryG

Great photos! That area is beautiful.

woodway

Nicely done! Thanks for the report and pics.

jeepseahawk

It was a great climb, hope to do it again someday.