Gifford Madness!!!

Awesome.

I hope there's more. It's been awhile since I've ridden GP.

Sunday:

Our plan was to ride around the Blue Lake area and maybe
find Jack and Brett ROUST THEM UP from their hangovers.

Awesome lake. WOW! >>>



Wachs on a ROOSTAFARI >>>



2-Smokin' >>>



Up at the viewpoint >>>



NEFFR Bitchez! >>>



BUCK NASTY >>>



StihlRigg >>>





Mud Lake >>>



Mt Rainier >>>



OK, time to ride back down >>>

Brad21 >>>





SuperVW >>>



Wachs >>>



Stay tuned for more pics...

Great report.....

Sweet! I need to make it to Gifford and check it out some time.

Waiting for more...

Hodakaguy

Okay, so here's two video compilations, the YouTube version with a few comments, or the unfettered Smuggy version. Choose your poison. Be sure to up the resolution to HD in both.

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This is still saturday for my post -


Time to roll.



This is working great.



Buck



Wish I could&#8217;ve stopped and shot that last few miles or so but it was too fun - we wait for the rest of the pack.





Me, &#8220;XR&#8217;s aren&#8217;t supposed to smoke like that Jonathon&#8217;
SuperVW, &#8220;Yeah, I know, I&#8217;ll take it apart and fixe&#8217;er up this winter&#8221;



Brad -



Stihlrigg




Some guys from south Seattle pull up and share some local perspective. Couldn&#8217;t remember exactly what they said about the next possible get-out though. Was it really easy or was it a total nightmare? Should've listened more carefully.



SuperVW pulls up on the smoking XR250 and is being overcome with arm pump. Says he&#8217;s not comfortable taking on the next rocky and exposed climb up to Jumbo. Not a problem buddy, (and smart to let us know) me & Stihlrigg volunteer to ride with him down to a road from Dark Meadow - it&#8217;s only 3.2 miles how long could it take?



Well it was not something that I was excited about riding back up. Didn&#8217;t shoot the worst of it because - it was the worst of it and we were busy. This was a really nice section though!



Dark steep and moist.









I&#8217;m game for all of this the other direction except for the 2 crotch-high drop offs we came down just before this switchback. If you hit it just right and everything went just right, it&#8217;d be no sweat but the down hill took almost an hour.



No body is hurt and we&#8217;re not in trouble or anything but not being able to communicate with the guys waiting for us and hoping that they&#8217;d give up on us and continue on was weirdly stressful.



Jonathon was a total soldier and I was glad we were able to take this route back as I would probably never have seen this trail and was very satisfied that we took it going down versus uphill.



Didn&#8217;t quite have my camera ready for the water crossing shot but it was no big deal and with the road on the other bank the hard stuff was over. Here we agreed to split up and send SuperVW back to camp on his own via the big gravel roads.



Me & Stihlrigg wandered around the forest looking for another trail (265) back to camp and eventually found it. Not before we saw this view of Adams.



Made it to Ollalie and wondered about the other guys. They pulled in about 30 minutes after we did so it all worked out great. No blood, no cops!

Time to dump some more photos! Not so easy anymore! Drew Bledsoe's cousin's bike (Red Gas Gas)! Saturday night pics up next!

HA! I was thinking about you guys up there in sunshine while we were down in Bigfoot's forest - all dark and moist. Next time we get boundary trail and I WILL see Jumbo

Been a long time since I've seen that expression...but I remember it well from ski race days.

It's threads like this one that are throwing me back into the ring for a bike. So much freaking terrain and variety to take advantage of in the Pac NW.

Keep your eyes and ears open Brad. Thinking DRZ or one of those fancy Orange thingies your on.

Another FNG,
Rainshadow (aka Dan C.)

You guys were in my neck of the woods while I was down in yours.

I am so glad Gifford is in my back yard.

That deserty stuff is fast and scary, you can keep it...
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Later,

Nice vid Jmeeter - yeah, heard there were some 'incidences' out there last weekend. There's a crap load more. Sounds like you should come down for the 'private tour' !

Not quite as cold this morning but there was some ‘disturbance’ in our camp very late after we’d gone to bed. Some guys did not get any sleep but were up for the ride anyway. After yesterday’s run, I was amped to see more!

Buck toasting his socks.



Sunrise on Ollalie Lake with Mt. Adams.



It was still cold.



The Husky thawing out in the sun. I put 50w in my KTM and had to kick start it the first time.



We had a plan to ride a dirt road a few miles north to Adams Fork Campground. When we finally found the trail, everyone was amped to get backup on the ridgelines.

More soon . . .

Thanks, I had fun, not my style of riding for sure. We did some of the "black diamond" trails at the hat, kinda funny when you compare them to Gifford. I am sure CH is not the cream of the crop when it comes to Bend riding. I will have to get in touch with you when Gifford is snowed out, for a personal tour.

More pics please...

Later,

Give us a ring anytime JMeeter!


Found the trailhead and saw the surreal and quiet Adams Fork campground - probably a good thing we weren't staying there although I would like to sometime. We headed back upwards.



A really nice forest along the Cispus River.



This was some of the only dust we saw all 3 days. Not a great place to take shots but . . . DS650



A big quad trail took us up something near 4000 vertical feet. Buck almost missed the junction.



Another spectacular day in the Cascades, warm and clear, leaves turning on the maples and alder.



Ryan crossing the junction.



SuperVW feeling good this morning and developing his new skill set.



Stihlrigg enjoying the TE 450



Brad bringing up the rear.



Went up and checked out Mouse Lake which was cool to be able to ride a motorcycle to a place that most folks would have to hike to.



White and Douglas firs along the lake side. This spot will be covered in snow by Christmas.



Quad trails usually suck in my experience but this one wasn’t too bad.









There’s Buck



Eventually we reach this ridge and prepare to start back towards the south.



The best time of year in the PNW!



Can’t imagine walking all the way up here just to get on this little section.



Our trail will take us under that big massif of stone.





A tiny amount of snow keeping the trail tacky and dust free.



SuperVW -



All 14,000+ feet of Mt. Rainier.



Some stinky 2 stroker



Ryan



Stihlrigg gaping at the view. Funny how if you never take the time to look backwards, you’ll miss seeing big scenes like these.





We know the trail drops back down into the forest so Stihlrigg and I hang back to savor the last of this mountain.







Goat Rocks Wilderness on the horizon?





Stihlrigg rolling through the colors.




We’re just cruising through - sure we could ride much faster but this is just such a treat to be up here on a day like this.



Seems like the whole group has the same mindset about today.







Steeper than it looks blah blah



Didn’t even need to turn off my gas.



YAY SuperVW!



Stihlrigg -



We all agreed to do this little out-and-back. Ryan at the top.



Brad - trying to take out the photographer.



There was a father & son up there already and said they could hear us coming up so waited before they headed down.



Buck railin’ the perfect berms at the top.





Stihlrigg trying out the old-man-sit-down technique.



Try again!





Rainier again (sorry, just too beautiful).



Mud Lake down there. Saw some hunter orange walkin’ around on the trails below.




Mt. Adams again.



more soon . . .

This is a huge drop off and hard to photograph.



Seriously, maybe 500 feet straight down.



Stihlrigg perched on a large drop.



Brad having a sensitive moment - or texting.



Time to head back down into the trees. SuperVW.



Ryan



Brad



I think there’s a bike down there in the trees.



Stihlrigg



Best shot of the trip for my camera. Stihlrigg with Adams.












That was about it for my action shots. Could’ve easily spent a LOT more time up there riding, shooting and hiking around the summits but maybe next time.




Back at camp, Hockin cooked up a mess of Brautwerst for everyone and we packed up efficiently.



Stopped for one more shot of Adams in the waning light. Hockin rolls by.



Followed by SuperVW (see why he’s called that?)



One more Adams shot.



Then across the Columbia while Mt. Hood looks down on the town of Hood River.



The mighty Columbia.



Got home pretty late but it was an awesome 3 days of riding with a pack of good guys!

EPIC riding (and ride report)!!! :eek1

Man, I want to go back up there in a couple weeks.

Okay, I guess I'll finish 'er up now... I'm still on Day 1

(btw, Hi Dan!)

Buck



View of Adams from Jumbo



St. Helens



Jumbo



Look very closely



Kinda looped out in a switchback on the way up to Sunrise... bike is horizontal



This section was a bit sketch...



Must be the extent of my Day 1 pics... Neffr back at camp...



more...

We were all outa hooch so the boys resorted to some high school techniques to get a buzz...



Next morning, once we found the trail. The quad trails are fun and challenging too!



StihlRigg has only one speed. On-The-Edge of control...



Neffr...




Buck



Supervw




Rainier in the background...



Nasty switchback, just ask Wox...






more...

I'm down to videos now... here's me following Supervw:

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More heading down off Jumbo... just can't get enough of the colors!

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That's it for me! Awesome trip with a great crew. Can't wait to go back and for sure it will be sooner than 3 years in between like the last trip! Thanks for reading!