Saturday July 7: Ride (9 miles/2300 ft. elevation) FS roads to the Southern TH of Dry Creek Trail #872. Take the trail (7 miles) northward to the other end on Lake Cushman. Ride northeastern shore area roads and FS roads back to Oxbow Camp. (35 miles)
Sunday July 8: Sleep in a bit. Ride home. Maybe check out the tall bridge over the Skokomish on FS road 2340.
The Dry Creek Trail part of the trip seems like it could be quite an adventure. I have no idea how bikeable it is. There's also snow, stream crossings, leftover avalanche debris fields, downed trees, and carnivorous mammals to consider. I am excite.
An alternative Saturday ride would be to ride Lower south Fork Skokomish Trail #873. Or to sit around and enjoy the bend in the river and keep the fires burning.
This is a come as you are no clappy choose-your-own adventure weekend. I'd love to have some company for any/all of the above.
blasdelf
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:23 pm
BAD NAVIGATORJoined: 01 Mar 2010Posts: 1505
I did some research on this last year
Oxbow is at A, you come back from B to c on the other side of the river via Lower South Fork Skokomish Trail #873: http://goo.gl/maps/KTeV
I just submitted a vacation request for July 6th. Therefore, IN!
Alex
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:52 am
Joined: 18 May 2006Posts: 3128Location: Roosevelt
too early for a sticky?
jimmythefly
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:49 pm
Joined: 10 Jan 2007Posts: 1491
Perhaps. Let it fall a bit, I expect it'll get bumped up once folks confirm if they can come or not.
I'm having fun figuring out what bike to ride for this. Carrying the camping gear won't be an issue, and I'd be comfortable on flat bars or drop bars, so it really comes down to tires. I'm thinking the fattest slick tires I've got would be the best. Speed on the pavement, no issues with gravel. And I'll take cushion over knobby traction, since we'll be doing Dry creek Trail in the downhill direction.
Andrew_Squirrel
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:58 pm
Joined: 01 Mar 2010Posts: 2098Location: Greenwood
Jimmy, will you have fenders or no? Considering summer usually has less rain and the possibility of stick-in-fender-disaster I was wondering if I should pop mine off for the trip.
tehschkott
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:19 pm
daywalkerJoined: 09 Nov 2007Posts: 6108Location: Hatertown
I've actually been wanting to put together a .83 ride and/or campout here. This trail is teh awesome. Big trees, mosses, river, and usually not too many people.
Open to all scenarios, but am kind of inclined to drive out and ride this trail, with mountain bike, if anyone wants to join me for that. And meet up with the others for camping Sat. night.
I've backpacked up Dry Creek before. Really pretty, mostly had the place to ourselves on a nice weather summer weekend. Seemed like we have the same story as most, got to a point in the creek/river with no bridge and deep water, I forded the river, couldn't find any real trace of a trail on the other side so we just plopped down next to the creek and set up a tent in an area that didn't really seem to be a campground but did the trick. No sign of other campers/hikers/MTBs except for a family in the late afternoon.
Douglas
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 5:33 pm
Joined: 20 Jan 2011Posts: 837Location: teh woods
Putting in time off request.
If that fails I should be able to head straight there from the Thursday ride.
_________________ Now's good. Before would have been better, but before is over.
Alex
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:58 pm
Joined: 18 May 2006Posts: 3128Location: Roosevelt
One of my three potential plans for july 4th weekend fell through, so this one is moving up the list.
ethan: I was sort of pondering the same drive out and go MTBing vs riding out. I'll see how I'm feeling closer to the date. Last year I only did one thing resembling a bike tour and it was awesome, so I should probably do another.
jimmythefly
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 9:30 pm
Joined: 10 Jan 2007Posts: 1491
Thanks for the pics and trip reports!
Ethan- what are your thoughts on trying Dry Creek in the direction I'm talking about? I've looked up some older NWHikers forum trip reports and folks have definitely hiked it in the past, but your and Andrews' comments about not doing the whole thing give me pause. I'm thinking that going downhill will help, and I'm going into it expecting to have to crawl over some downed trees, bushwack a bit, ford some streams, etc. (not everyone's idea of a fun day).
As for Lower South Fork Skokomish, is it rooty or rocky? Rideable on a CX bike? Same question goes for the bits of Dry Creek you saw.
Andrew- I'm planning on either pulling my fenders and leaving them at camp for Saturday, or if that's going to be a PITA just leaving them at home and using clip-ons if needed. Sort of depends on what you and Ethan feel about trail conditions -which will inform what fattiness of tires I want.
For Dry Creek Trail explorations I was planning on no fenders, fatty tires, a small backpack (easier to maneuver and carry the bike than panniers), sandals (for fording), etc. It'll be nice to be able to attempt it as a loop and so be able to leave the camping gear at OxBow.
ethan
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 10:32 pm
Joined: 21 Jan 2008Posts: 920Location: Maple Leaf
jimmythefly wrote:
Thanks for the pics and trip reports!
Ethan- what are your thoughts on trying Dry Creek in the direction I'm talking about? I've looked up some older NWHikers forum trip reports and folks have definitely hiked it in the past, but your and Andrews' comments about not doing the whole thing give me pause. I'm thinking that going downhill will help, and I'm going into it expecting to have to crawl over some downed trees, bushwack a bit, ford some streams, etc. (not everyone's idea of a fun day).
As for Lower South Fork Skokomish, is it rooty or rocky? Rideable on a CX bike? Same question goes for the bits of Dry Creek you saw.
Andrew- I'm planning on either pulling my fenders and leaving them at camp for Saturday, or if that's going to be a PITA just leaving them at home and using clip-ons if needed. Sort of depends on what you and Ethan feel about trail conditions -which will inform what fattiness of tires I want.
For Dry Creek Trail explorations I was planning on no fenders, fatty tires, a small backpack (easier to maneuver and carry the bike than panniers), sandals (for fording), etc. It'll be nice to be able to attempt it as a loop and so be able to leave the camping gear at OxBow.
Skokomish has a few rocks and roots like any trail but overall is very CX friendly... Probably much more so than that upper section of Dry Crk.
Main reason I only rode the first part of Dry Creek was that it was autumn and the creek was too deep and fast to ford. That end of things would be a lot better in summer of course. However, it sounds like the upper section is steeper and a bit rockier than the part i rode, and also gets less maintenance; could have some washouts, rutted sections, etc which would kinda suck unless you had a mtb or maybe a cross bike with disc brakes.
ethan
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 10:43 pm
Joined: 21 Jan 2008Posts: 920Location: Maple Leaf
Actually part of me would really, really like to ride Dry Creek, but maybe on a different trip, with two cars and a shuttle. Usually I think shuttling a mtb ride is dumb, but for some trails its just a necessary evil. :)
TorreyK
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 11:55 pm
Joined: 02 Sep 2009Posts: 1116Location: White Center/Burien
I have planned a roofing project around this, and am therefore in. looking forward to it!
Last edited by TorreyK on Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:34 am; edited 1 time in total _________________ Time to go.
caustic meatloaf
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:05 am
Joined: 06 Dec 2010Posts: 1235537Location: a hammy melange...
I am going to try to make this ride. I MIGHT be able to leave work around 4PM, but I'll be coming from Georgetown. Will see if I can just pack all my shit up, ride to work, and then leave work and head out directly.
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mailemae
Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:05 pm
not very stokedJoined: 03 Sep 2009Posts: 303Location: winterfell
TL;DR, but I am free this weekend and have subscribed to this newsletter.
I only have skinnyish tires so if there is still some chance of a route that would be manageable on road tires that would be super cool dude bro man guys.
_________________ maile. my-lee. yeah, like miley cyrus. I guess.
Andrew_Squirrel
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 9:59 pm
Joined: 01 Mar 2010Posts: 2098Location: Greenwood
Soon!
langston
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:15 pm
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 5547Location: Columbia City
I'm a strong maybe for this trip. Let me test the waters with missing the Sounders match with mgmt.
Ethan, et drivers- any chance I can toss my MTB in/on your car for the trip out? I would rather ride the second day on my 29er, but still want to ride the crosscheck out and back for gear hauling/comfort/practicality.
_________________ riders wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.
ethan
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 12:24 pm
Joined: 21 Jan 2008Posts: 920Location: Maple Leaf
Decided I'm gonna drive out there with the fat tire bike... picking up my friend John in Olympia, and have room for one more if anyone wants a ride. Gonna ride the Skokomish trail on Saturday, then Sunday, I dunno, maybe do a short ride at Capitol Forest on the way back or something.
Not sure at this point if we're leaving Friday evening or eeaarly Saturday morning; probably Sat. morning.
Man, I can't wait... is it Friday yet??!?
langston wrote:
Ethan, et drivers- any chance I can toss my f'n mtb in/on your car for the trip out? I would rather ride the second day on my 29er, but still want to ride the crosscheck out and back for gear hauling/comfort/practicality.
sure I suppose I could do that, assuming there isn't another rider-plus-bike who wants a ride.
tehschkott
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 4:17 pm
daywalkerJoined: 09 Nov 2007Posts: 6108Location: Hatertown
I'm afraid I'm out gents. Too many things to do, too little time.
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TorreyK
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:03 pm
Joined: 02 Sep 2009Posts: 1116Location: White Center/Burien
If the general consensus is still for an early afternoon start we have two good options: seattle to bremerton departing at 12:35 or 1:30. I'm more inclined to leave earlier, but am fine with any and all ferries!
_________________ Time to go.
Bo Ttorff
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:10 pm
GO SEAHAWKS!! 12 for LYFEJoined: 20 Jul 2011Posts: 3092Location: King County
I see what you did there
mailemae
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:42 am
not very stokedJoined: 03 Sep 2009Posts: 303Location: winterfell
I forgot that I'm a bridesmaid (protip: never make me your bridesmaid) and I have to do bridesmaidy things on Sunday, so I'm out. But I'm gonna go on the Poulsbo ride instead so YES BUT NO BUT YES!
_________________ maile. my-lee. yeah, like miley cyrus. I guess.
jimmythefly
Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 8:11 pm
Joined: 10 Jan 2007Posts: 1491
BikeCampExplore!!
My plan remains the same. Here is a trip report from June 12th of this year where a hiker went from the lake all the way to the pass. This same person has also hiked much of the trail from the upper/southwest trailhead, so now I'm much more confident about finding and travelling the whole trail.
Friday: Still not sure how early I can get out of town. I'll know by tomorrow(Thurs) evening if I can leave early on Friday or not. I'm fine riding solo out there, just curious who else might be riding out?
Saturday: Ride gravel to Dry Creek TH, ride Dry Creek Trail, ride roads back to Oxbow camp.
Sunday: lounge a bit, ride home.
Is anybody else up for trying to ride Dry Creek with me? Even part way?
FYI I'm planning on riding nothing less than 42mm tires, more if I can get the bike together. Carrying lunch and dinner, sandals for river crossing, and other gear in a small backpack so that it's easy to throw the bike over big downed trees or shoulder and carry the bike uphill on unrideable sections. I think this may be a "type 2 fun" sort of day.
ethan
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:10 am
Joined: 21 Jan 2008Posts: 920Location: Maple Leaf
still kinda curious to try this Dry Creek bidness, if everyone else is game .... but what route are you talking about for rounding the south end of Lake Cushman, that's a *35* mile loop?
EDIT, for posteriy: from roughly mile 32.5 to 34.5 on that route shown above, the road no longer exists. (announced below as well, but, figured I should say it here too.)
Last edited by ethan on Fri Jul 06, 2012 12:17 pm; edited 2 times in total
jimmythefly
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:20 am
Joined: 10 Jan 2007Posts: 1491
You got it, I was just talking about individual section length.
Oxbow>Dry Creek TH= 9 miles
Dry Creek #873 =7 miles
Lower Dry Creek TH around Cushman> Oxbow =35 miles
51 miles total.
Looking at it, I think going over the steel bridge cuts distance without adding obnoxious elevation changes, so your route you mapped(thanks!) is probably the way to go.
Andrew_Squirrel
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:53 pm
Joined: 01 Mar 2010Posts: 2098Location: Greenwood
Jimmy, My plan was to ride out on Friday morning too if you don't mind me tagging along. I am easy on departure time.
I'm wondering if I can partake in the Dry Creek adventure as well? Not sure if my slick 34mm tires are apropos for the trek (or if my physical condition is good enough to do that much mileage off-road). I guess I could at least ride with ya'll to Lake Cushman & turn around, circle back.
Are you guys riding clipless pedals & mountain shoes?
I'm wondering if i should even bother, maybe just throw on the Grip-Kings?
#OffRoadN00b
jimmythefly
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:30 pm
Joined: 10 Jan 2007Posts: 1491
Sweet, right now I'm thinking the 1:30 Seattle-Bremerton ferry.
I think 34mm slicks will likely be not enough for the actual trail portion -but you've hiked the lower section and I haven't so maybe you have a better idea of it than I do. That said, it's a 9 mile gravel road climb just to get to the (upper, southwestern end) trailhead. So you could for sure ride that and then at the trailhead take a look at actual conditions and decide whether to continue on or enjoy a sweet 9 mile gravel descent back the way we came.
The map Ethan posted above is exactly the route I'm going to do, in that numerical order.
I'll probably ride clipless with mountain shoes (that I don't mind walking in), but that's because I want some sort of retention, and I don't own grip kings.
Anyone else planning on riding over from Seattle?
Andrew_Squirrel
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 3:27 pm
Joined: 01 Mar 2010Posts: 2098Location: Greenwood
Great, sounds like a plan. I didn't notice the clockwise direction of the numbers earlier but that makes more sense.
TorreyK
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:36 pm
Joined: 02 Sep 2009Posts: 1116Location: White Center/Burien
I will be riding! See you at the ferry dock for the 1:30 ferry. I will be on my cross check with 40mm tires (knobby-ish on the edges but otherwise slick). I'd like to try the trail as far as I feel comfortable before turning back to the standard gravel road!
_________________ Time to go.
Andrew_Squirrel
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:48 pm
Joined: 01 Mar 2010Posts: 2098Location: Greenwood
Is anyone bringing a FYS?
jimmythefly
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 11:44 pm
Joined: 10 Jan 2007Posts: 1491
Nope. And I'm only bringing tablets to purify water, or will ride over to Brown Creek Campground for potable water.
Ps bike build not happening this evening, I am riding on 42mm semi-slick tires, too.
Andrew and Torrey, I PMd you to get your cell phone numbers, I don't have either.
Alex
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 5:38 am
Joined: 18 May 2006Posts: 3128Location: Roosevelt
Andrew: I will leave a FYS for you on my porch this morning (I will PM you the address). Borrow it if you'd like.
I'm off sailing and missing this fine sounding adventure. Have fun.
ethan
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 6:17 am
Joined: 21 Jan 2008Posts: 920Location: Maple Leaf
What's your tentative start time for Saturday?
(Most likely riding Skokomish, but... there's a small chance we might make the plunge and join you for this Dry Creek madness. :)
Regardless, see you all Saturday night at camp! Have fun riding out there today!!
Andrew_Squirrel
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:27 am
Joined: 01 Mar 2010Posts: 2098Location: Greenwood
I'm bringing my sterilizing pen if you want to zap some water with lazers. Also threw in my FYS, thanks for the offer Alex!
ethan
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:27 am
Joined: 21 Jan 2008Posts: 920Location: Maple Leaf
jimmythefly wrote:
Looking at it, I think going over the steel bridge cuts distance without adding obnoxious elevation changes,
Hmm, except for that one spot where Terrain view shows it going reeaally steeply (???) into the valley of the North Fork, then follows the river for a bit, then climbs back out steeply again. Didn't look quite right (also, Satellite image doesn't show anything)... so I called the FS rangers who confirmed my guess that it's not there; probably an old skidder road or something which escaped a couple decades of map edits.
Looking like US-101 is gonna be the way to get back to the South Fork valley.
jimmythefly
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:25 am
Joined: 10 Jan 2007Posts: 1491
Good catch, thank Ethan. Yeah, looks like 101 it is.
blasdelf
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:53 pm
BAD NAVIGATORJoined: 01 Mar 2010Posts: 1505
I decided pretty late Friday afternoon that I wanted to go (after recovering from Joby Juice), missed several bus-to-ferry options and ended up getting started on this route a bit after 10pm: http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=427675
Spent about 40m in Belfair buying and consuming groceries, with another 20m later on:
Descended into camp a bit after 2am, and goddamn the Phillips Saferide 60 is amazing on pitch black dirt roads when mounted under a front bag.
In the morning at around 9:30 the four of us set about tackling this loop, all on 32-42mm road tires: http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=427677 (be sure to turn on 'Terrain' and check the Summary tab, it's a doozy)
By 10:20 we were up to around 1500ft of elevation:
After the first saddle at 2000ft we stopped riding as much and started pushing — the 18% gravel grades were rideable but not a half mile at a time in the hot sun on road bikes. There was a good stretch of flattish but destroyed road with 3ft berms, and then two more half mile 500ft pitches of mostly pushing.
We got to the real trailhead around 12:45, and got to the top of the singletrack switchbacks around 1:45
That's Mt. Rainier on the horizon 90 miles away:
There was snow in hollows on both sides of the pass at around 3200ft, it was awesome to pack in under my hat, but the alpine trail shit up there wasn't particularly rideable in either direction even on a real MTB, one of the blowdowns took at least 10 minutes to clear.
At around 2500ft just after it got rideable again, I put my foot down and the trail slid away underneath it — I did a full cartwheel over the side, my bike did at least two with my other foot still clipped in (motherfucking Frogs), and while I was ragdolling my left knee dislocated and popped back into place after a long second…
While it may look like I'm just being fabulous, I'm also waiting for Jimmy to help me across the deep part of the Dry Creek ford, which turned into a piggyback ride (not pictured):
After the crossing the trail was super rideable without needing to constantly brake, just a couple short parts needing to be walked (though Jimmy collided hard with a boulder).
Rolled into Hoodsport for burgers around 6:45:
Got back to camp around 10:30, and Ethan and friend had a fire going with corn roasting. A long ass day.
Sunday I lounged around camp and napped while Jimmy and the others rode back to Seattle, and did about 14 miles of exploring before catching a ride back to Seattle with Ethan.
I ran into this rad old couple at the High Steel Bridge and we talked about the trials and tribulations of sidehacking:
jimmythefly
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:12 pm
Joined: 10 Jan 2007Posts: 1491
Thanks to Torrey, Andrew, and Fred for being up for some adventure!
The ride out was great, and the campsite was beautiful. We made fire.
Saturday morning we went up hill for a while.
Then more.
Then some unrideable uphillness.
As Fred shows above, the saddle provided excellent views. Then we descended. Lots of walking on the first half, followed by some nice riding on the lower half.
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