Headed out to the East side of Mt. Hood this past weekend to do a little camping and mountain biking. The plan for Adam and I and crew would be to use Eight Mile Crossing Campground as a base camp for our mountain biking adventures. Adam and I got into camp late on Friday night and spent the next few hours polishing off some MacTarnahan’s growlers and stoking the fire.
In the morning, we started off our day by riding the 8 Mile Loop trail, which isn’t 8 miles, It’s 6 and some change. The trail took us up to the 5 Mile Butte Fire Lookout, but it was occupied by some people who left a sign asking for privacy, so we didn’t get to climb to the top for the killer view of Mt. Hood. We ran into lots of bikers heading the opposite direction and descended down into the Bottle Prairie TH before ripping back down the trail to our campsite.
That afternoon, we met up with the rest of the crew, including Kerrie, my dad, my sister, Megan and Rylee Dog at the Mt. Hood Winery. We spent the rest of the afternoon tasting wine and lounging out on the patio. Mt. Hood Winery has amazing views of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams so it’s worth going there not just for the wine.
We spent the evening drinking beer, eating sausages and spaghetti, and roasting marshmallows by the campfire. I had the pleasure of introducing everyone to S’mOreos. Oreos and Marshmallows. We got to bed on the earlier side as we knew we had a long day coming up.
I awoke to a crackling fire and the smell of French pressed coffee. Adam’s dad, Greg, arrived as we were beginning to make breakfast. We would need our fuel today as we were planning to ride Surveyor’s Ridge from North to South. Over breakfast, we straightened out the logistics for the day and were happy to have the help of Megan and Kerrie for shuttling purposes.
On the way to the trailhead, we dropped a car off at fireroad 012 and continued on Rd 17 all the way to the powerline trailhead. We unloaded then headed off up the technical, rock garden ascent .Throughout the day, we were challenged with long climbs and technical descents. The dads were pushed to the edge of their abilities many times, but Adam and I only heard minimal complaining. The southern half of the ride proved much more manageable for them and was full of scenic views of Hood and nice rolling singletrack. In the end, we completed the trail in 2hrs and 18minutes. Toasted our success with a round of fat tire ales. The weather was excellent all day with clear visibility and temps in the low 70s.
We got back to base camp, threw back a few more brews, ate lunch and lounged around in the sun before packing up and heading back into Portland. All in all I had a great weekend camping with everyone and riding sweet singletrack. It is easy to come home from trips like this when you have another one right around the corner. This 4th of July Kerrie and I will be meeting up with some in Port Angeles, WA for some bachelor party shenanigans and Olympic National Park adventures.
UNT,
Bryan
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