7/14/03
Another morning at the bunkhouse and another ride. We headed to Twin Creek campground and parked admist the remnants of last night’s fire camp (trash, mainly). Out on highway 93 things were chilly, but the morning was fresh and it felt great. As we climbed towards Lost Trail Pass we watched a helicopter make rounds from one side of the road to the other. The 3 creeks fire was apparently difficult to access.
At the ski resort we stopped at the visitor center for a short break. A couple of old fellows on road bikes pulled in. They started in Virginia on May 24 and were heading to Eugene, OR. Now that’s an epic. Their wives were pulling sag, but they were riding the miles.
We wove through the ski resort until we ran into the fire fighters we were to relay a message to yesterday. They were sitting in a large parking lot awaiting pickup by the helicopter. As we rode through them I looked over my left shoulder and saw the helicopter dropping, fast. I don’t know how it snuck up on us so quickly. By the time I heard it, it was on top of us. A firefighter waved frantically for us to get out of the way before it landed and blew dust everywhere. I apologized for being so stupid and we rode on to the top of the resort.
The divide trail seemed better this second run. The trail really seemed to flow; this time we weren’t worried about it turning to crap as our other rides in the area had. We hit the Frog Meadows section and hankered down for some challenging climbs. I rode a few sections that hosed me last time. The climb seemed long–800′ sustained, at least.
We coasted through a large burn area (which, beyond belief, did not have any trees blocking the trail) and reached our turn off for Twin Creek. We dropped our seats for the 3000′ descent. It started with an extended rocky section that nearly threw us. I regretted dropping my seat so early.
The trail dropped quickly and wasn’t quite technical enough for my taste. A few sections were absolutely beautiful–ridgetop views and dense forest singletrack. Not long, we were out on the dirt road that would take us back to the campground. But the trail continued unexpectedly on the other side of the road.
We came into the campground with 1.5 hours less riding time than the other option we took two days ago. We both agreed that it was too easy. But we’ve got an 8-day backpacking trip ahead, so an ‘easy’ and enjoyable 4 hour ride was perfect.
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