Originally Posted by
Doug64
My wife and I have done the Old McKenzie a couple of times, but usually the weekend before they open it to car traffic. The weather is nice and the car-free roads have little or no snow on them. It is a great training ride prior to a tour.
It is a great ride, especially the downhill!
Nice pictures.
I didn't quite make it to the top last year as I did the ride starting west of Walterville, and it got too late.
The mountain is less climbing, and more downhill if you can swing doing starting on the east side, and heading westward.
Just thinking back. In the spring of 1990, I decided to head up to Mt. St. Helens in the old AMC Hornet. Much of the roads were clear, but I ran into snow drifts. A few of them were ok, but I eventually got my car stuck in the middle of one, and had a lot of shovelling to get out again. Now I avoid the drifts.
Anyway, I could imagine going biking in a place with lots of dry pavement, but the occasional snow drift to discourage the rest of the traffic. Plow into it on the bike if one wishes, or walk the 20 yards and head off again on the other side.