Gravel on Not quite found

A little bit of everything: chunky gravel, forest service roads, singletrack, oblivious baby goats, tunnels, farm roads, fast descents (some too fast on too chunky gravel!), river views, hike-a-bike, and great weather.

Portions of the route were borrowed from Tempo Sport in Horgen, Original Sihl. All wrong turns were my own 😜.

Big Skidder Hill

Sat, 29 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Punchy

Distance

54 miles

Elevation

4350 feet

Moving Time

3h45m

Nutrition

Limited food & drink options outside of Chimacum – bring what you need

Logistics

Park at HJ Carroll Park in Chimacum

External

Strava | Photos

In January the higher elevation forest service roads are covered in snow & ice and inaccessible, safely, by bike. Wanting to ride some forest service roads, I opted for one of the lower elevation areas which is muddy and cold but generally snow free. The area around Big Skidder Hill is closed to vehicles but open to walker and bikes so it’s a wonderful place to ride in the winter.

Marin County All-Road

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Pyramid
The main climb was up the fire road on Mt Tam, otherwise a bit punchy

Distance

66 miles

Elevation

5215 feet

Moving Time

5h0m

Nutrition

Food options in the towns, water fountains at some of the parks

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

I had long wanted to ride in Marin, birthplace of mountain biking and constant location of adventures in my Strava feed.

I had the good fortune of having two friends ready to ride, so I tackled two separate routes, with two separate riding companions with very different profiles.

Port Gamble

Sat, 29 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Punchy

Distance

63 miles

Elevation

5300 feet

Moving Time

4h15m

Nutrition

Food and drink available in Poulsbo and Port Gamble (Butcher & Baker and the General Store being two favorites)

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

A quiet roads ride with plenty of gravel options from Bainbridge to Port Gamble’s Stottlemeyer trail system.

Red barn

There are plenty of route options from Bainbridge to PG, sometimes I ride from the east, sometimes the west. On this particular day I chose to ride from the west along Big Valley Road (one of the 3 valley roads) and up Sawdust Hill Road (one of my favorite roads in the area).

Bon Jon Pass

Sun, 16 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Pyramid

Distance

50 miles

Elevation

5700 feet

Moving Time

4h0m

Nutrition

Bring what you need, some water sources along the way

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

I’ve climbed Bon Jon before and with the great weather decided to have a crack at it again.

Peakaboo views

Climbing the asphalt to Bon Jon Pass

A clearing for lunch

Primitive road

Snow Creek Road

Leland Flyover

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Pyramid

Distance

67 miles

Elevation

5400 feet

Moving Time

4h45m

Nutrition

Limited food & drink options

Logistics

Park at the middle school in Quilcene

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

Unseasonably warm weather encouraged a discovery ride through the Olympic National Forest and through the trails of Miller Peninsula State Park. I had a large gap on my personal heatmap for the Miller Peninsula and sought to fill it with this ride.

The ride started from Quilcene and heads northwest into the foothills of the Olympic Mountains with a quick ride by of Lord’s Lake. The gravel roads leading to Bear Mountain (near the high point of the ride) are in great shape and were easy riding.

Capital Forest

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Pyramid
Two primary climbs, C-Line being the more challenging

Distance

45 miles

Elevation

5700 feet

Moving Time

4h15m

Nutrition

No services, bring what you need for food & water

Logistics

The Safeway seems to be the most popular starting point, several rides originate from it’s lot.

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

I rode the Capital Forest once before, for the 2019 Cascadia Super Gravel and I got lit up. I was riding my 29er mountain bike on which I didn’t have many miles and I had almost no idea what I was doing racing on gravel. I remember the climbs being steep, the descents fast, and the overall environment pretty incredible.

Mountain Loop Highway & Barlow Pass

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Pyramid
Lots of flat sections, huge variety of terrain, and punchy gravel climbing.

Distance

98 miles

Elevation

4300 feet

Moving Time

6h15m

Nutrition

Food available in Darrington, numerous water access points in the national forest

Logistics

Parked at Granite Falls HS

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

I finally had time and cooperative weather to ride this classic PNW loop through the mountains. The Seattle Randonneurs have a 200K brevet route but since I was riding on my own I decided to shorted it by ~30 miles and avoid some of the less scenic city riding.

Paradise

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Pyramid
Ridden anticlockwise, a long descent on a tree covered road followed by a fully exposed epic climb

Distance

61 miles

Elevation

5600 feet

Moving Time

4h15m

Logistics

Park at Longmire

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Relive | Photos

I started this ride by entering through the Park entrance at Longmire and parking in the day use lot behind the lodge.

Bridge over the Nisqually River at Longmire

The ride starts by riding behind the lodge and over the Nisqually River via a pretty cool bridge. This will lead through a campground and eventually onto NF-012, a modest gravel road, before hooking with NF-52, Skate Creek Road. It’s a relatively long descent of 16 miles into Packwood. The majority of the ride is along Skate Creek. There’s not much in the way of scenery or anything particularly unique about this portion of the ride.

Babyshoe Pass

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Pyramid
Two main climbs and a long descent

Distance

83 miles

Elevation

6800 feet

Moving Time

6h0m

Nutrition

All food must be brought with you, some creeks for filtering water

Logistics

Parked at the closed (COVID-19) ranger station in Randle

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Relive | Photos

I’d been planning this ride for months ever since reading about the climb to Babyshoe Pass in BQ. The climb from Highway 12 to the summit at the intersection with FS 2150 has an average grade of 6% and a max grade of 20% with soft, loose gravel and rough washboard making it tough to keep traction and rhythm.

Washington Pass

Sun, 09 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Pyramid
Straightforward gravel climb to NF 2464 with a fast descent on near-perfect pavement (10 road miles, 26 gravel)

Distance

36 miles

Elevation

3800 feet

Moving Time

2h45m

Nutrition

All food must be brought with you, some creeks for filtering water

Logistics

Parking available in the gravel lot across from the Hamma Hamma Oyster Company (probably their overflow parking)

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

The tour ridden clockwise ascends gravel and descends a near-perfect paved road.

Don’t question the hard right hand turn onto FS 2464 and the baseball-sized rocks at the entrance, it’s a wonderful road with almost no traffic, scenic viewpoints, baby rock slides, and wildflowers.

Riding the Hurricane to Obstruction Point

Sun, 02 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Pyramid
An HC climb to Obstruction Point Road, then punchy gravel, followed by a long descent (39 road miles, 16 gravel)

Distance

55 miles

Elevation

8000 feet

Moving Time

4h15m

Nutrition

Food available during the event up to the visitors center, after that you’re on your own

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

This year’s edition of Ride the Hurricane had two great changes from last year:

starting at sea level (official)
extending the ride to Obstruction Point Road (unofficial)

I’ve driven Obstruction Point Road before but had never ridden it so when the ride was announced I was excited to extend the ride with a great gravel addition. PJAMM ranks the climb #2 on their list of the Top 10 Most Scenic rides in the US but they didn’t continue to Obstruction Point Road.

South Fork Skokomish

Sat, 18 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Punchy
Two climbs with a lot of flat

Distance

53 miles

Elevation

2700 feet

Moving Time

3h15m

Logistics

Park at Potlatch State Park

External

Strava | Komoot | Ride with GPS | Photos

The primary goal of the ride had been to see | ride what had become known as the scary bridge – the High Steel Bridge, the highest railway arch bridge ever built in the United States.

High Steel Bridge - photo courtesy outdoors.com

Flat farmland in the valley

The turn on to W Govey Rd.

Toby and Elisa setting the pace

Bikes on the High Steel Bridge

View into the canyon created by the South Fork of the Skokomish from the High Steel Bridge

Spur road leading to a creek for a critical water bottle refill

Freshly grated gravel, a little soft

Route

Dosewallips Lunchpacking

Fri, 03 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Pyramid
Lots of hike-a-bike, some of it requiring ropes

Distance

14 miles

Elevation

1700 feet

Moving Time

2h0m

Nutrition

No services, water available for filtering from the river

Logistics

Parking available at the trailhead but it might crowded, we parked a short distance away and rode in.

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

An abandoned forest service road, a beautiful river, great views, and a mac & cheese lunch. Pretty perfect ride with Kid.

All loaded up for a day trip

The Kid and I decided on a short trip down the Dosewallips River Trail as a trial run for a future bikepacking trip. The now-abandoned car-camping campground would be our destination so loaded up with a stove, food, and water filter, we were on our way.

Jimmycomelately

Sun, 07 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Punchy
Solid climb, gentle descent on mostly gravel

Distance

30 miles

Elevation

3600 feet

Moving Time

2h15m

Logistics

Public parking along the water by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe headquarters.

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

Intersection of Forest Road 2850 and Forest Road 2906

Intersection of Forest Road 2845 and Forest Road 2852

Farmland after mountains

Riding along Palo Alto Road

Route

Bon Jon Pass

Sat, 23 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Pyramid
Lots of climbing, starting with an HC climb to the Pass

Distance

50 miles

Elevation

5800 feet

Moving Time

3h45m

Logistics

Parked at the closed (COVID-19) ranger station in Quilcene

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

Wet pavement on Forest Road 27 at the start of the climb

Rock slide, good thing we’re on bikes

Fog settling in the trees

Intersection of Forest Road 28 and Forest Road 2840

Finished up back in Quilcene.

Tahuya Hills

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

By the Numbers

Punchy
A longer flat stretch along the water (59 road miles, 6 gravel)

Distance

65 miles

Elevation

4600 feet

Moving Time

4h0m

External

Strava | Ride with GPS | Photos

The Tahuya Hills is sparsely populated area nestled inside the hook of the Hood Canal. The ride is predominantly a road ride though the six mile section of gravel on North Shore Road is certainly the highlight of the ride. Legend has it the road was hand built and riding it one has no reason to believe otherwise. It’s a roller coaster of steep gravel climbs followed by steep, twisting descents on roads which receive little maintenance. The joy of riding such a road is highlighted with peek-a-boo views of the Canal and Olympics.