Bike Ride in the Woods
"Time for a bike ride and picnic", I told my
husband. "Let's venture out and
find a new trail."
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| Single Track Bike Trail |
In the early days of acquiring mountain bikes, we scoured
the internet for bike trails and read the reviews and ratings, looking for
trails rated "easy" and knowing not to attempt trails that are considered
"difficult". Something happens along the way of adventures in general
where the tendency to throw caution to the wind in the spirit of excitement
makes you forget your own rules.
There are very thin lines between the different elements of
wanting to have some fun. There is the
reach for something new as well as finding an unknown while surprise and risk play into the
equation as well. Adrenaline and how it feels is a big contributing component. Safety issues remain in any sport, so being
mindful of how much risk to take is important as one weighs all the factors of how to
proceed.
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| "The big pencil" |
We re-read the directions, veer left at the town of
Arnold, go past the
elementary school and turn right at the big pencil. We looked at each other in amusement. The big pencil! The directions were spot on as we pulled into
the parking lot at the
Sierra Logging Museum
with the gate to the trailhead right in front of us. We were in the woods! It was the perfect weather this last day of
May.
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| Paved Road |
The paved trail started to climb - here is where we start to
get our bearings, it has been a while since we had the bikes out. Once the asphalt gave way to a dirt single
track I really got excited to think we were traveling deeper into the
woods. The trail got steeper both up and
down and my tires, not treaded heavily enough for this terrain started slipping
all over the place in the dusty, powdery pine needles. Though we have taken
mountain paths through thick woods and ridden on the pine needle covered forest
floors during other rides, this slippery carpet seemed to be a combination of fine dust and pine pollen. We found
ourselves walking the bikes a third of the time, anxious to get up to "the
rim" where surely the trail would level out.
Hairpin turns and steeper climbs made it less possible to
ride the trail and there was no sign of reaching an area that would suffice for
the kind of riding we like to do, so we finally turned around, knowing we had
to navigate through each difficulty over again in order to get back to the car.
We made it with one spill, a bent wheel, a cracked reflector
and the resolve to get my tires replaced with a deeper tread, ASAP!
I found this video of the trail, but it seems like there are
a lot of uphill parts cut out! By the
way, I do not jump logs with my mountain bike like the rider featured in this
video does! The video does show how
gorgeous it is along this trail!
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| White Pines Lake Picnic |
Bikes back on the rack, we drove out of the parking lot (at the big pencil) and down to the
White Pines Lake Picnic area to find the most charming little kayaking lake
with recreational percs everywhere.
Playgrounds, Horseshoe pits, a little league field, a
Disc Golf Court, a sand beach and
swimming hole, and trails all around the lake.
For all the people present, it is a quiet area with lots of fishing and
Kayaking, no motor boats allowed.
We will be back to this lake for sure, but next time we will
try a different entrance to the Rim Trail rather than start at the top of the mountain trailhead. It might be time to go and read
the reviews again before choosing the next new trail.
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| White Pines Lake |
