Todd Duncan Tennyson
Well-known member
Living in the Pacific NW of the USA, I have so many things that I can do on a day off from work.
Great fishing, great hunting, great places to hike or ride a bike. An entire coastline that is public access.
I picked up a motorbike a year or so back, and since then I have been obsessed with adventure riding. Nothing could make me much happier than grabbing an old trail map and firing up the bike and just going wherever the trails take me.
I haven’t got a super fancy set of wheels, it isn’t a wealthy man’s adventure bike, but it is paid for, runs like a top, and bombproof.
One of the only bad things about my motorbike, is that it has a puny gas tank, Not even 3 gallons (2.8) so I have to be cautious not to get stranded or lost. I haven’t got a gps either, but I know how to read a map, and take one with me.
I grabbed my gear: camera, a couple of bagels, spare tube, a small tool kit, filled a couple of old pop bottles with gas so I’d have an extra gallons worth, and threw in a 2 liter jug of water for myself.
Today I decided to head East up behind my eastern horizon.
.
Here is where I stopped to pump ship and have a little water, As I got the camera out of the bag, I could smell gas.
Crap, about a liter of my backup fuel had spilled in the bag, soaking my camera (which is worth more than my bike). So I dumped it all out of the bag, turned it inside out and let it evaporate..
Took a photo anyway.
I had a route all planned out, about 120 miles or so of old logging roads and trails up in the Gifford Pinchot National forest.
There are lots of streams up in the hills.
They are very cold and clear, and as you drive along and cross them, you can feel the temperature drop about 10 degrees.
It was getting pretty hot, and this water was nice and cold.
It always looks like there should be trout in it.
It always strikes me as funny that there would be a nice foot bridge out this far from anyone. Somebody put some money into it. It is top notch.
So, I walked across it. Figured if someone went to all of the trouble to put a nice bridge up, I should walk across and see if there was something good on the other side.
There was!
I splashed some water on my face and as I walked back,
I found some of these.
And the good stuff.
There were bunches of them, I think they are called thimbleberries.
It felt good to cool off and have some berries, I took off and climbed up out of the canyon.
I got to a good vista, and was surprised to see the terrible smog layer that is floating over the valley.
It is the grayish haze in the photo.
I am not certain what the reason is, but this year is one hell of a year for wildflowers and berries.
But wait, We aren’t finished yet.
Even more
Got some blueberries too.
Saw a ton of leftover beargrass that the pickers couldn’t get because there was too much snow to get around the bluffs earlier in the year…
Reduced to stalks now.
Some cool rock pinnacles up this way.
There should be a cougar around this one.
I decided to check the map,
Yep, There really should be a cougar The rock was called “Cougar rock”, and I looked all over for a sexy 46 year old woman, but all I saw were mountain lions.
There are lots of things up here that are worth checking out, but most folks blow through too fast to ever even notice.
I saw this tree and doubled back to check it out.
Perhaps this is akin to the outline of a handprint in a cave, or the stick figure drawings of prehistoric man.
I was overheating and Decided to dunk my shirt in the stream and put it back on.
Works to keep you nice and cool for about 30 minutes or so.
That expression means “Holy schnikies, that water was COLD!”
Ran into the Skamania Co Sheriff, he seemed like a nice guy. Wish that they were all like that.
He asked, “Is the road still washed out up about 2 miles?”
I said, “yep”.
“You think I can make it in my truck?” he asked.
“I think so, just take it slow and you should make it”.
“Roger that” he said and waved.
I geared back up and rolled on.
There were some totem poles ready to go up the way, Tatoosh hills area.
After another 25 miles or so, I was roasting and stopped by a stream. Looks like it a placer mining claim.
It was time to cool my feet.
Hopefully I didn’t kill too much aquatic life in doing so, but it was high time.
This was turning out to be a great ride.
It was just perfect. No other cars for the whole trip, except for the Sheriff, and he was even nice.
I was happy.
I couldn’t help but smile a bit.
It is the normal physiological response to happiness.
Soon it was time to saddle up and head back up over another set of mountains and down into the N Fk of the Lewis River.
The day just couldn’t have been better. I descended miles and miles and was soon along the extreme upper end of the E fk of the Lewis River.
I decided to see if I Could get a photo of the water with a long exposure, so it would look kind of dreamy.
As I was walking up to the bike I slipped a little, Man, those rocks are just as slick as ice.
I put away my camera and secured my bag. Just before I got on the bike, I thought I should go and dunk my Neck brace in the water, so it would help to cool me off. As I got to the edge of the creek, I slipped on the rocks and heard a loud snap on the outside of my left ankle.
Before I hit the water, I knew my ankle was going to either be busted or badly sprained.
I had another hour of riding to get back home and could barely shift my bike, Decided to wash off before I went to the hospital.
By the time I got to the E.R. My ankle was all messed up.
They did 3 x-rays and then gave me a set of crutches and told me “6 weeks”.
But I still had a great day.
Great fishing, great hunting, great places to hike or ride a bike. An entire coastline that is public access.
I picked up a motorbike a year or so back, and since then I have been obsessed with adventure riding. Nothing could make me much happier than grabbing an old trail map and firing up the bike and just going wherever the trails take me.
I haven’t got a super fancy set of wheels, it isn’t a wealthy man’s adventure bike, but it is paid for, runs like a top, and bombproof.
One of the only bad things about my motorbike, is that it has a puny gas tank, Not even 3 gallons (2.8) so I have to be cautious not to get stranded or lost. I haven’t got a gps either, but I know how to read a map, and take one with me.
I grabbed my gear: camera, a couple of bagels, spare tube, a small tool kit, filled a couple of old pop bottles with gas so I’d have an extra gallons worth, and threw in a 2 liter jug of water for myself.
Today I decided to head East up behind my eastern horizon.
.
Here is where I stopped to pump ship and have a little water, As I got the camera out of the bag, I could smell gas.
Crap, about a liter of my backup fuel had spilled in the bag, soaking my camera (which is worth more than my bike). So I dumped it all out of the bag, turned it inside out and let it evaporate..
Took a photo anyway.
I had a route all planned out, about 120 miles or so of old logging roads and trails up in the Gifford Pinchot National forest.
There are lots of streams up in the hills.
They are very cold and clear, and as you drive along and cross them, you can feel the temperature drop about 10 degrees.
It was getting pretty hot, and this water was nice and cold.
It always looks like there should be trout in it.
It always strikes me as funny that there would be a nice foot bridge out this far from anyone. Somebody put some money into it. It is top notch.
So, I walked across it. Figured if someone went to all of the trouble to put a nice bridge up, I should walk across and see if there was something good on the other side.
There was!
I splashed some water on my face and as I walked back,
I found some of these.
And the good stuff.
There were bunches of them, I think they are called thimbleberries.
It felt good to cool off and have some berries, I took off and climbed up out of the canyon.
I got to a good vista, and was surprised to see the terrible smog layer that is floating over the valley.
It is the grayish haze in the photo.
I am not certain what the reason is, but this year is one hell of a year for wildflowers and berries.
But wait, We aren’t finished yet.
Even more
Got some blueberries too.
Saw a ton of leftover beargrass that the pickers couldn’t get because there was too much snow to get around the bluffs earlier in the year…
Reduced to stalks now.
Some cool rock pinnacles up this way.
There should be a cougar around this one.
I decided to check the map,
Yep, There really should be a cougar The rock was called “Cougar rock”, and I looked all over for a sexy 46 year old woman, but all I saw were mountain lions.
There are lots of things up here that are worth checking out, but most folks blow through too fast to ever even notice.
I saw this tree and doubled back to check it out.
Perhaps this is akin to the outline of a handprint in a cave, or the stick figure drawings of prehistoric man.
I was overheating and Decided to dunk my shirt in the stream and put it back on.
Works to keep you nice and cool for about 30 minutes or so.
That expression means “Holy schnikies, that water was COLD!”
Ran into the Skamania Co Sheriff, he seemed like a nice guy. Wish that they were all like that.
He asked, “Is the road still washed out up about 2 miles?”
I said, “yep”.
“You think I can make it in my truck?” he asked.
“I think so, just take it slow and you should make it”.
“Roger that” he said and waved.
I geared back up and rolled on.
There were some totem poles ready to go up the way, Tatoosh hills area.
After another 25 miles or so, I was roasting and stopped by a stream. Looks like it a placer mining claim.
It was time to cool my feet.
Hopefully I didn’t kill too much aquatic life in doing so, but it was high time.
This was turning out to be a great ride.
It was just perfect. No other cars for the whole trip, except for the Sheriff, and he was even nice.
I was happy.
I couldn’t help but smile a bit.
It is the normal physiological response to happiness.
Soon it was time to saddle up and head back up over another set of mountains and down into the N Fk of the Lewis River.
The day just couldn’t have been better. I descended miles and miles and was soon along the extreme upper end of the E fk of the Lewis River.
I decided to see if I Could get a photo of the water with a long exposure, so it would look kind of dreamy.
As I was walking up to the bike I slipped a little, Man, those rocks are just as slick as ice.
I put away my camera and secured my bag. Just before I got on the bike, I thought I should go and dunk my Neck brace in the water, so it would help to cool me off. As I got to the edge of the creek, I slipped on the rocks and heard a loud snap on the outside of my left ankle.
Before I hit the water, I knew my ankle was going to either be busted or badly sprained.
I had another hour of riding to get back home and could barely shift my bike, Decided to wash off before I went to the hospital.
By the time I got to the E.R. My ankle was all messed up.
They did 3 x-rays and then gave me a set of crutches and told me “6 weeks”.
But I still had a great day.
