Nature Called Us To Little Bald

Headed to Mt. Rainier early. Got there at the same time Bee Arthur from Golden Girls was putting on her Ranger hat. The views were pretty intense on the way up. Wild wispy clouds floating around the mountain tops. Surrounding mountains still has some snow cover. Views diminished around 5500ft due to fog cover from the morning. Arrived at Sunrise station at 6400ft, the highest point reachable by road vehicle on Mt Rainier. The souvenir shop and mountain café both closed. A bird flew out of a hole in the mountain café wall.

Drove to Little Bald Mountain half hour east of Mt. Rainier in Naches, WA. Sun out now for a beautiful day. About 70 degrees at start of ride. We started gearing up when a couple guys, guessing in their early 50’s showed up. We started chatting with them about the ride and other rides we were planning on doing during our trip. Both nice guys. We named the shorter one ‘direction man’ because he was ALL about giving us directions. He was familiar with EVERY pebble of the trail. He started drawing maps in the stones of the parking lot but kept erasing his previous marks. Picture someone taking a stick and rubbing it violently on the ground and asking you if you ‘got all that?’ We did not. Direction Man lit up a cigarette (no joke) and sucked it down like a coca cola while his sidekick chugged a red bull. So Direction Man and Red Bull started up ahead of us and, as it turned out, saved us an extra long day. At the 7/8 mark of our climb we came upon two arrows pointing in opposite directions denoting our trail. It was at this point we noticed that Direction Man had carved out the word ‘BOSTON’ on the trail with an arrow pointing us in the right direction. Thanks Direction Man!

On to the ride itself. In a word; unbelievable in both pain and pleasure! The ascent was a 3000ft stairway to heaven over 13 miles of continuous vertical climbing. The trail up was a fire road blanketed with wild flowers and trees interspersed among some lush green meadows. We experienced both mental and leg fatigue. Temperature dropped and wind picked up at the top. We met Direction Man and Red Bull at the top for some more directions and guidance on the decent. The decent was absolutely increadible. Long ridge line at the top for about an hour of views from the top of the mountain. Stopped a bunch to take pics. It was quite a range of terrains on the way down. Some dry rocky areas, some tree covered lush areas, some meadows, just about everything. Some serious speed on the way down. The trail was manicured with high sweeping banks where you could just open it up and let it fly. Took some nice video. Long portions of riding the brakes. We were amazed at how sweet the ride was down. Totally worth the pain of going up. Ran into a large group of Native Americans. I was at the lead of our group when their dog B-lined it out of the woods right at me. I thought I was in for an encounter with a mountain lion. Phew.

Took a slight fall on to some soft soil. Some scratches. Twisted the ankle a little bit. I’m okay. Bike okay.

At the bottom we hit parking lot we started at, fist pumps, let’s get dinner.

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