The ride formerly known as "The Grind"

I'm not sure what to call this ride any more, we used to call it "The Grind".  It is a pretty decent climb but I think Findley probably should be called "The Grind"- especially when the Findley Double is taken on.  It took me 17 minutes to get up to the intersection of Panther Gulch and East Fork.  After that it was 34 minutes to get to the gated road that traverses the mountain towards the old jeep trail that connects up with East Fork again.  I left the house around 8:00.  It is a little late to be leaving that late for this ride.  It took 1hr 19minutes round trip.  Unfortunately I don't have a light so it wasn't real safe on the way back- I'll have to pick one up in-case this happens again.  19 miles total.

Findley Evening Ride Again

After my last quick ride up findley I really appreciated how cool it was.  It just worked out for me to head out again for an evening ride.  This time close to about 8:15 I left the house. (getting pretty dark by the time I get home)  I got up to the top in 34 minutes from my house.  I notice it takes me about 4 minutes to get to the bottom of findley,  I ususally don't time myself from the bottom of the road but I'll start making note of how long it takes me to get there.  So, from the bottom of Findley it was 30 minutes 14 seconds to the top (basically where the junction is posted below)

In this photo you can't see the intersection but this is where I record the time as "the top".

The Right Time for Findley

Tonight I headed out about 8:00 p.m. for the top of findley.  There was plenty of light when I left.  The sun was starting to set.  It was much cooler than the last time that I did this ride.  The heat really slowed me down.  I was 2 minutes faster- 35 minutes to the top from my house.  My legs did not feel 100% even though I had a day to rest from our intense Grayback Mountain trip.  Tonight was nice and cool a great time to ride!  I was a little dark in some of the areas that have a lot of canopy cover.  Makes me really consider getting a light and doing some night rides.  I'd have to get some clear lenses though....

Grayback Mountain Trail #2

We headed out about 11:30, thinking that we would climb to the summitt of Grayback Mountain- 7048ft.  Honestly, the climb was a little more than we had anticipated.  Much of the trail is pretty rough on a bike- lots of debris, fallen logs and fairly large rocks.  On the upper portion of the trail we found ourselves getting off the bike quite frequently.  About 4 miles into the ride Dan got a flat tire.  I always carry a tube for my bike- a 29er.  His bike is not a 29er.  We thought what is there to loose?  We put my 29er tube into his 26 inch tire.  It held up most of the trip.  I was quite surprised that it actually worked.

There were 2 areas on the trail that were a little difficult to follow.  One point on the top of the first ridge portion of the trail, we actually missed the trail.  One more time, part of the trail follows what appears to be an old skid road used for logging.  Keep a close eye on a switch back- we missed it.  We followed a skid road until the trail luckily crossed paths with it.  A few portions of the that skid road were quite rough and very steep. 

The elevation was effecting my ability to recover on some of the steep climbs and switchbacks.  It was a very tough climb.  Bottom line the tanks ran out of gas.  We didn't bring enough water or food.  We got to a point that was quite close to the top- I think about 1/2 mile or so.  We headed back down the trail.  We made it about 4 miles from the truck when Dan's tire gave out.  Most likely a pinch flat with the 29 inch tube in the 26 inch tire.  I filmed the downhill with my flip cam- unfortunately it wasn't quite pointed on the trail.  I have some footage of the climb up and a stop we made with a great vista. 

Next time we will be a little more prepared and reach the top- a great ride and 4 hours of mostly fun.  (minus the flats and the down logs on the trail.) Location says cave junction- not sure why- it is in Williams.  The location is actually where we turned around...

Findley Road with a video camera

I had what I thought was a brilliant idea.  Zip tie my flip cam tripod to my helmet and film my ride.  It felt pretty heavy actually.  It is weird how a few ounces make a difference.  I noticed that the position was off a little- it would have been better if the camera was pointed up a little more.  Another hot ride- I took off about 11:30.  I filmed the way up- not too exciting.  I got to the top in 37 minutes.  At least I am starting to feel somewhat conditioned to ride in the hot weather.  Here is the trip down findley.  Top speed 33 mph.

Findley Road

Nothing too exciting, a nice ride up Findley Road and back down.  It just rained pretty heavy recently.  The road wasn't too dusty.  I headed out when it was pretty hot, about 3:30 probably.  There are several portions of the road with a lot of exposure in the afternoon.  I felt close to being "overheated" by the time I got back.  Made it to the top in about 37 minutes.  Wasn't too bad considering it was pretty hot.

Findley to Ferris Gulch

The last time I did this ride, I remember I was freezing! Here is the link to that post...  Findley is normally not a good ride in the afternoon due to the exposure.  Lately it has been cool for this time of year so I decided to head up the mountain.  I also wanted to get a few more miles in that I have been lately.  I rode up Findley, down into ferris gulch, back out to the ferris gulch road to Hwy 238 and then took that back to my house.  It was 1 hour 15 minutes and 14 miles.  It was a little windy on the road- I was pushing it pretty hard.

Grayback Mountain Trail

We jumped in the truck and headed up to the Grayback Mountain trailhead up rock creek road.

This first photo is a a shot from the upper trail head access- as you first enter the trail.

From 2011-07-12 Grayback Mountain Trail

These second two photos are from the lower part of the trail- there is still is some debris that you need to climb over on the trail.

From 2011-07-12 Grayback Mountain Trail

From 2011-07-12 Grayback Mountain Trail

We ran into a fuel reduction project.  There was a lot of down brush on the trail for about 150 yards.  We had to wade through limbs and down trees- not much fun at all.  We had to carry our bikes the entire way.  I'm hoping all the down brush will be off the trail and in piles real soon.  I was thinking, I hope they don't make a pile in the middle of the trail.

The Findley Double

Tonight our family was heading over to a friends house who lives over on Panther Gulch.  So I thought why not ride over there?  I definitely wasn't going to take the direct route.  Up Findley Road to the top of the ridge and then hook directly into Panther Gulch.  I haven't been on my bike a lot lately so it was a bit of a struggle to get up the mountain.  I took a few pics on the way up there, some great vistas.  A little under 9 miles to our friends house but it is a grueling 9 miles.  Took about 1hr and 15 minutes to get over to panther gulch.

Grayback Mountain Trail

Today we took the truck up Rock Creek Road with our bikes. It is nice to hop on the bike from the house but we needed to get to the fun stuff.  We parked about a mile up Rock Creek and started the climb. 

You can drive to the bottom of the trail head, we took the road to a junction on a gated spur road and started heading up towards Grayback.  Essentially we wanted to do at least a portion of this trail posted here on this blog post. (scroll down a bit).

 

Getting ready to head up the trail.

After accessing the upper part of the trail we headed up the mountain towards the summit of Grayback.

The upper trail access, you can head up to Grayback or down.

The upper trail had a lot of loose leaf litter on it, tan oak and other leaves.  It looks like some horses had recently made their way up because it seemed almost tilled in places.

A great ride for a warm day, lots of canopy cover.

There were a lot of neat rock outcroppings throughout the trail.

This one dropped off about 25 feet.

The trail for most of the way was a fairly gradual climb and actually quite technical in places.

Pretty easy section here.

We turned around once we got a nice vista of the top, next time we are going to take it to the top.  We rode only about 8 miles round trip and traveled close to 1500 vertical in that distance to where we turned around.  Probably the best trail around Williams.

Here is the top of Grayback.

On the way back down the trail.