the Eel

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Sep 23, 2000
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This is one of the "winter" riding spots in Washington. My second time here and it was alot more fun than the first time, for a couple of reasons.

The morning started off with horrible cold rainy weather outside my window. One reason they ride Saddle Mountain here in the winter is that it's well on the other side of the Cascades, so it doesn't really rain/snow as much. The local "winter" riding spots are kinda unridable right now due to too much snow. Notice I said "too much" snow, and not "snow." Anyway, I loaded up in the rain around 6 AM and hit the road to meet up with this guy Frank I've been riding with in Kirkland, WA - about 25 minutes SE of Seattle. We've been carpooling and riding together a few times now and it works out great - he likes to ride (not dilly dally) and we split the gas. That's a good thing 'cause Saddle Mountain is about 2.5 to 3 hours away. It's a slog - but if it means I can ride it's fine with me.

Frank is really into dirtbiking (rides a few times a month) so we chat about the usual nonsense on the drive out to Mattawa - this time it was the SX opener, tires, etc ... you know the drill. :) He also has lots of interesting information to share about Europe as he emigrated from Czechoslovakia and also lived in Germany for a few years. So we bull**** for a while and all of a sudden we're driving through a blizzard and he asks if I have chains? Do I have chains? For what? Chains? Why would we need chains? Oh - because we're gonna have to drive through the pass at 3200' and we might not make it through if we don't have chains? Oh - ok - well I'm from sunny So Cal so "no" I don't have chains. So we stop off and try to buy some chains but no one has them in my tiresize and then the locals at the gas station make like 6 calls for us trying to find out where we can get them and what is the weather like up the pass, etc. and finally we realize we won't need chains as the pass is pretty clear. A Lotta nice folks here in Washington, there really are.

We reach Mattawa in 3 hours and stage next to the Columbia River which is a site to behold - there's a big bridge across it in the distance and mountains all around and on the other side of us are the cliffs and big sand dunes that mark the southern edge of the riding area.

We suit up and my new ARC weather proof riding pants sure are warm and comfy. Good thing 'cause it's 29 degrees in the shade here. We playride around in the dunes and warm up a little (as much as we can - it's high 30s low 40s for the rest of the day). This is really cool - I've never realy ridden in dunes and it's awesome - carving big arcs up the sides of like 150' high sand walls is hella cool. Pretty wild.

We then take off on the trails and right away it's a BIG hillclimb littered with rocks. Frank likes to cut to the chase, there's no doubt about it. And he's fun to chase since he knows the area well, is quick on his YZ450, makes very few mistakes, and is quite fit for 50 year old. He keeps a brisk pace.

We wind up doing about 40 miles for the day. The highlights are the ravines, which are very technical. Lots of step ups and downs, tons of rocks, some mud, a fair amount of snow and ice, LOTS of turns. These ravines are so much fun to ride and there are 4 or 5 really good ones at Saddle Mountain. Since the area is relatively small we usually ride them both ways at least, sometimes more than once. We also do alot of cross country and man riding in the snow is tricky. Lots of snow and we follow it in little trails all over the mountain. We saw a cow carcass along the way - big ribcage right next to the trail. Nasty. We both take a fall here and there - mostly in the ravines as the techy parts come up on you quick.

At the end of the day we descended back down the hill we climbed to get in and road around in some bigger dunes a little ways away from the truck. Pretty massive and there's one famous hillclimb there (Haebeck Hill) that they keep telling me noone has ever topped - I tried it a few times and maybe made it a 3rd of the way but I gotta tell you I think Kiwi amd some of his boys could easily climb it.

We sandblasted for another 1/2 hour or so and then called it a day. Good time. I took some pics and will post 'em up shortly.
 

the Eel

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Sep 23, 2000
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http://cid-f5622b7e8d7e4b31.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!F5622B7E8D7E4B31!111/
 

2strok4fun

Member
Apr 6, 2002
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Good report. Whats with the nose? You trying to look like the polish prince like me. :)
 

the Eel

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Sep 23, 2000
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I suffered an injury to my nose when I was like 7 or 8 - these pictures clearly show the result. My nose - brought to you by the letter "S".
 

the Eel

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Sep 23, 2000
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Hey guys - how's everyone doing ? Happy 2008 ! It ain't the same here either without the Crew - believe me. Anyway, hope you're all great and hopefully I'll catch you all sometime later this year. Maybe for the River Run ?!!!!
 

2strok4fun

Member
Apr 6, 2002
1,085
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River run? you'll be ready for some warm weather and sunshine by then. Until then, keep diverting the rain storms this way!
 
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