On Friday I met with several members of the Forest Park Conservancy trail crew for some routine maintenance on Newton Road/Trail in the North section of Forest Park.  We had a great time brushing the creek section of the route which is shown as a single dotted line on page 2 of this map.  We ran into a few Fire Department folks checking the roads/trails for emergency access.  Two Fire staff on quads attempted to use the trail that we just cleared, but turned around quickly as they could not navigate the tight single track on the bulky machines.  This trail is in great shape right now, so be sure to include it on your rides in the park.

Log in the trail

Restoration Site

Cleared trail

Fire Folks

Mark Pickett

Nearly 70 participants, ranging in ages from less than 2 to 65 years old, and coming from New York, British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon joined Northwest Trail Alliance (NWTA) for the 3rd Annual Tour de Tillamook July 30-August 1.  The event is the premier children and family friendly mountain bike skills instructional and camping weekend event for the entire Pacific Northwest.  Camping along the Wilson River, instructional sessions, group trail rides, relaxing, BBQ’ing, adult and children sized demo mountain bikes, on-site bike mechanic, and other activities were all included in this fun-filled, low cost, weekend held near-by Portland in the beautiful Tillamook State Forest.

Mountain biking zone still remains under construction status. Single track is done and ridable, but until signage is in place and the beginner path that threads thru middle is graded... the park ranger has these tasks on To Do... then zone remains with under construction status (ride at own risk).

On other hand, there are more than 14 miles of shared use trails in the park with much of them natural dirt surface. Much to explore if you've not been there. Gradual improvements are being made to park on a weekly basis, so trails are getting some TLC.

The west side of Mount St Helens is about as different from the east side as could be expected.  It's scenic.  It's tough.  It has variety.  It's probably not for everybody.  Doing the entire 15 mile loop will involve about 3400 feet of climbing, with the toughest section along the Loowit Trail, which in my opinion is the most scenic portion of the loop, but also the toughest because of four large gullys that are subject to washouts and are hikeabike situations.

We came from near and far to pay homage to the Mountain that rules all.

 (photo verslowrdr)

From as close as LaCenter to as far as Norway they came

(photo David A's Photos)

 There was no sleeping in

photo David A's Photos

There were trails to ride

I rode part of the High Prairie Loop this past Sunday.  I had a great time out there.  The trail is in really good shape till I ran into snow at around 5300 ft just past the intersection of Trail #450 and Trail #456 headed west up toward Lookout Mountain.  I turned around after slogging through the snow for a while and was able to hit the downhill on trail #450 to trail #459 (Eight Mile Creek Loop) from the Bottle Prairie trailhead to Eightmile Crossing Campground.  Great sections of trail!  I turned around at the Eightmile Crossing Campground and headed back to the car at the Surveyor's/Dog River trailhead.  No rain and well groomed trails made for a pleasant afternoon in the woods.  Thanks to Jim Thorton for keeping it in good shape.

Mark Pickett