• About Me

Cycle Seattle

~ Posts on bikes

Cycle Seattle

Monthly Archives: August 2016

Image

Whidbey Island Out(n)Back

25 Thursday Aug 2016

Tags

bicycle, bike, Chocomoose, cycling, Ebey's Landing, Fort Ebey, Greenbank Farm, harlequin wrap, Hunqapillar, rivendell, Whidbey Island


Not much action on the camping front this year, so I grabbed a chance to do a quick overnight (S24O) from my place in Freeland, WA up to Fort Ebey.  It’s about 30 miles one way, and a great chance to try:

  1. Hunqapillar on singletrack
  2. New road exploring
  3. Hammock camping

This also echoes the distance of a Lake Crescent trail I want to do later this year.  That gig is mostly singletrack, but I would use the same equipment.

I got underway around 4:45pm on Monday.  I figured it would take 2-3 hours, so I would likely have light to set up camp.  John and I had explored Fort Ebey’s mtb trails a few days earlier, so I knew where the hike/bike campsites were.

stonehog-2.jpg

The Gunnar Point – a family photo tradition going back 50 years

I packed light. There was a burn ban, so I didn’t bother bringing a stove. Just 2 water bottles, a toaster pastry for breakfast, and a can of salmon for dinner. Easy. I wore the clothes on my back and brought along a pair of wool long underwear for sleeping. No rain in the forecast. Other than that, just my hammock, fly, sleeping bag and roll. Oh yeah – I strapped some sandals on, in case the feet got sore, but that was just unused extra weight. I think the whole thing weighed in under 10 pounds.

 

stonehog-4.jpg

Loaded at Greenbank Farm

The way up was stunning and uneventful. Heading north, I passed South Whidbey State Park, and Greenbank Farm. The stretch from Greenbank up to Coupville had some great hills and views, and the Navy Growlers were out practicing on the outlying field near Admirals Cove.

stonehog-5.jpg

Growler Practice

 

stonehog-6.jpg

Keystone Spits

The long stretch across Keystone to Fort Casey yielded a few seals and many sea birds, but I saw not much traffic on a Monday night.

stonehog-8.jpg

Road to Keystone

I searched through Fort Casey for a back route, and thought I had it following a gravel trail by the lighthouse, but it ended in a private road. I left it to chance, and wasted a few minutes, but it was worth the views.

stonehog-9.jpg
stonehog-10.jpg The road down to Ebey Beach is amazing – no shoulder, but equally no cars.

stonehog-11.jpg

Sunbeam!

 

stonehog-12.jpg

Looking South…

 

stonehog-13.jpg

And North to Ebey’s Landing…

After a short hop up to the bluff, and across an amazing open farming area, it was a quick ride to the new pavement of Madrona Way past the mussel farms in Penn Cove.

 

stonehog-14.jpg

Penn Cove Mussels come from here!

At this point, I was starting to worry about sunlight – it had taken me about 2 1/2 hrs to get this far. I hurried on into Fort Ebey State Park, and set up the hammock. There was one other person in the hike/bike spot – a Pacific Northwest Trail through hiker. After a dinner of canned salmon on the bluff overlooking the Straights of Juan de Fuca, and a great sunset, it was off to bed.

stonehog-15.jpg

Good night!

The next morning was sunny, so I geared up and chatted with the hiker to learn about his journey. He was a 65 years old Granite Falls, WA resident, and 7 weeks into the trail that started in Glacier National Park. After 8 bears (one grizzly at about 10 yds), a pack of wolves, and countless coyotes, he was just heading to the ferry to Port Townsend to have a lunch reunion with his wife before finishing the last 150 miles to Cape Alava.

stonehog-17.jpg

Ready for the trip home

After a nourishing breakfast at the same scenic overlook on the bluff and a water bottle refill, I was off to ride the Kettles trail on the loaded Hunq!

stonehog-18.jpg

MTB Riv Style

Needless to say, the Hunq made short work of the trail, and I found myself heading back south and past the barley fields to Ebey Beach.

stonehog-21.jpg

At the whisky source

stonehog-24.jpg

stonehog-22.jpg I stopped at the old “Ferry Building” on the bluff to explore and take some pics, then it was back down to Keystone, Greenbank, and finally back to Freeland for some rest and a meal. stonehog-28.jpg

stonehog-27.jpg

Route out and back are here:

http://cyclemeter.com/51cfa6724f84c700/Cycle-20160822-1639

http://cyclemeter.com/51cfa6724f84c700/Cycle-20160823-0934

Ebey trip out

Posted by Stonehog | Filed under Bikepacking, Cycling, Enduro Offroad, MTB, Northwest

≈ 3 Comments

Image

Fort Ebey MTB

25 Thursday Aug 2016

Tags

bicycle, Fort Ebey, hei hei, Jones Plus, Kettles, kona, MTB, singletrack, Whidbey Island


Sometimes I do something that jump-starts my love of cycling all over again. 25 years ago, it was a ride on my first borrowed mountain bike up near Whistler, BC – felt like a total kid flying over railroad grade grapefruit size rocks, and nearly losing control.  That led to a 10 year segment of regular rides in the local Seattle rooty, muddy mountain trails.

Screen Shot 2016-08-25 at 1.27.51 PM

After a few months of putting all my miles in via commuting (a worthy endeavor if you live in a car-choked city like Seattle), I got out for my first mountain biking since Moab a few years back.

My pal John brought his new Jones Plus up – A bit about John’s bike – it’s a steel frame 27+ mid-fat bike with a very different geometry. I’ll put my notes on this below.

We headed up to Fort Ebey State Park and the Kettles trail system near Coupeville, WA. It’s an easy 25 miles north from the Clinton Ferry.

 

MTB at Fort Ebey

John on the bluff

 

John had ridden this area 20 years ago, but I had never been there, so we found our way into the middle of the biking trails and started on what we wanted to be a large loop around the area. There are roughly 25 miles of trails, but a loop is about 5-miles around. The trails turned out to be nice and moderate. Soft forest singletrack with a few rooty spots here and there. We had a few steep climbs and descents to test our dusty skills and bikes.

MTB at Fort Ebey

Nice soft singletrack

There was a really nice stretch out of the gun battery that threaded along the edge of a bluff overlooking the Straight of Juan de Fuca. Beautiful! After this, we joined the Hokey-a-do-do section – probably the most fun we had on a nice descent down to the Kettles trail. MTB at Fort Ebey

Bikes. I grabbed my 90’s Kona Hei Hei for its virgin voyage in the dirt. I really loved the light simplicity of the bike. It allowed me to climb some steep tech stuff that I wouldn’t otherwise make it up. The bike has a single front 32t chainring, and a 10-speed rear with a 34t big ring. I found plenty of torque on this trail. It was actually nice not worrying about a front derailleur. One place to shift.

MTB at Fort Ebey

Strappin’ Flower Power

John had his Jones. That bike was a revelation. One of the things I like about mountain biking on singletrack is the sensation of skiing through the woods in the off season. This bike actually accentuated that feeling as I was very upright in my riding position. I felt like I was standing up floating down the path. No feeling of diving down a steep descent. Pretty cool. The bars were wide, but I didn’t have any trouble clearing the few tight spots I encountered.  It’s also a traction beast!  He rode right over the roots and up the loose gravel without any trouble.

I was able to climb a bit better on my Kona, but I only attribute it to the weight. It required more technique in picking my path during one of the ascents which had loose gravel in the middle of the trail. I had to stay to the edges while climbing to avoid losing my grip.

MTB at Fort Ebey

The Bike Spectrum

I will definitely be getting out to this area more. Only saw a few trail runners the whole day. And this was on a sunny summer Saturday – prime time!

MTB at Fort Ebey

All Grip!

Posted by Stonehog | Filed under Cycling, MTB

≈ 1 Comment

Flickr Photos

BH-19.jpgBH-18.jpgBH-17.jpgBH-16.jpgBH-15.jpgBH-14.jpgBH-13.jpgBH-12.jpgBH-11.jpgBH-10.jpg
More Photos

Archive

  • August 2020 (1)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (1)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (1)
  • November 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • March 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (6)
  • December 2015 (2)
  • November 2015 (1)
  • June 2015 (5)
  • May 2015 (1)
  • April 2015 (1)
  • March 2015 (2)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • November 2014 (2)
  • October 2014 (2)
  • September 2014 (2)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • July 2014 (1)
  • June 2014 (1)
  • May 2014 (2)
  • April 2014 (5)
  • March 2014 (4)
  • February 2014 (4)
  • January 2014 (6)
  • December 2013 (1)
  • November 2013 (2)
  • October 2013 (2)
  • September 2013 (1)
  • August 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (2)
  • May 2013 (6)
  • April 2013 (1)
  • March 2013 (6)
  • February 2013 (2)
  • January 2013 (7)
  • December 2012 (5)
  • November 2012 (2)
  • October 2012 (2)
  • September 2012 (3)
  • August 2012 (3)
  • July 2012 (1)
  • June 2012 (4)
  • May 2012 (7)
  • April 2012 (1)
  • March 2012 (1)
  • February 2012 (4)
  • January 2012 (5)
  • December 2011 (6)
  • November 2011 (4)
  • June 2011 (2)
  • May 2011 (4)
  • March 2011 (2)
  • February 2011 (4)

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 95 other subscribers

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Cycle Seattle
    • Join 95 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Cycle Seattle
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...