St. Helens – Ape Canyon and Mount Margaret

October 1, 2008 on 5:05 pm | In Mountain Biking | 3 Comments

Got a chance to ride at St. Helens twice last weekend. The weather was phenomenal, and the rain earlier in the week made the tread as good as you’re ever going to see it.

South Side – Ape Canyon

On Friday, Rob and I hooked up with Paul, Jeff, Dara, Seattle Fred, and Paul’s little brother, John. Fred and John had about a 30 to 40 minute head start on us when we left the parking lot at Marble Mountain. We caught them about a mile up Ape Canyon.

I knew which one was Paul’s brother immediately because John said, “This mother f***ing hill is haaaard.”

Training in Arkansas didn’t prepare him for the 4,000-foot level, but he sucked it up and got out onto the Plains of Abraham.

After we crossed the Plains, a rock jumped out in front of me and sheared off my derailleur. Everyone else headed for the lunch log while I single-speeded back to the top of Ape Canyon.

Below is a clip of Rob shot with my digital camera. If you’ve been there, you know that the drop is actually about twice as deep as what this shows. It doesn’t make me too nervous to ride it myself, but I get jittery when I watch someone else do it. Check the trophy marmot that crosses the trail at the end.

North Side – South Coldwater, Mount Margaret

On Sunday, 10 members of the Growlers Gulch Ride Crew hit the 230A. Rob Larsen, Lance Brigman, Brian Mahon, J. LeMonds, Erik Carlson, Ryan Hicks, Silent Bob Juntunen, Thomas Mueller, Jered from Byman’s and Jered’s friend Derek set out on one of the longer 12-mile rides around.

We started at the 230A trailhead just past Coldwater Lake. After an initial 1.5-mile climb that gained 1,000 feet, we rode past logging equipment destroyed in the 1980 blast.

The trail was less demanding until we hit the intersection that took us toward St. Helens Lake. The next 3-4 miles were very tough, with plenty of trail debris, butt-puckering drops, and difficult climbs. Everyone pushed their bikes along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though we only rode 12 miles, we gained 3,000 feet in the six miles to St. Helens Lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erik, Ryan and I all took video. Thanks to Ryan for putting this together.

Big downer when we hit the parking lot. We’d all been ticketed. Yes, despite the fact that we put this trail in, it has now been ruled off-limits to mountain bikers. Hikers are fine, even though they did nothing to get the trail established.

To say the least, we were all more than a little bitter. Brian will be making some calls this week and I will keep you in the loop. Just one more brick in the wall that screams, “Mountain bikers need to be excluded from everything!”