Diamond Lake and Mt. Bailey Attempt

We were camping this weekend at Diamond lake.  I noticed on my Tread maps app that there was a trail that connected from the Diamond lake loop trail to the top of Mount Bailey.  I knew that there was going to be too much snow to make it very far but I gave it a try.  You start on what is Silent creek, right before a arched bridge.

Turn Left here up the creek

This is a pretty fun trail with a lot of bridges as you follow Silent creek.

You then enter an intersection where you find the Mt. Bailey trail-head.

The Mount Bailey hasn't been maintained yet so I had to hop quite a few logs.  I went until the snow was too deep and turned around. 

The trail around the lake is pretty but it is paved- not my thing but some great views.

Wipe out today.

I don't remember the last time I wiped out on my bike.  It is just something I don't do.  I was coming down findley and noticed a Deer and then a fawn along with it.  I started to slow down, the mom deer quickly dashed off the road and the fawn continued to move down the road.  I continued to watch the fawn, not really paying attention to where I was going.  As all of this was happening I was going through a section that had some deep ruts.  I fell into a rut and my tire slid out.  I was still going too fast for a wipe out just before I was going much faster, maybe I should slow down.

Quick youtube clip of the wipe out.  It probably would have looked better if someone was filming it besides me.

Panther Gulch Loop

Josh and I have been riding together a lot.  I haven't posted much of our rides here other than the Lost Creek Lake ride.  Here we drove out to Panther gulch and did a 6.25 mile loop.  Pretty fun!  Video of the singletrack section below.



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Josh likes the song so I put that to his downhill.

Findley Ridge am

Dan and I headed out about 6:30 am this morning for a Findley Ridge ride.  Great morning for a ride and took some footage with the new cam.  I thought I'd try the camera pointing the other direction.  Next time I think I'll take some footage forward as well.

My birthday present

I'm pretty excited about my new birthday present- a go pro hero cam.  I headed out early this morning to get a test ride with it before work.  I called it my "favorite" ride probably because I used to not like it.  Now it is fun but I don't "not like it" anymore.  Findley Ridge ride- a short ride to the ridge that is a great workout. I made pretty good time 31 minutes.  My cardio is still what is holding me back on this ride.  I just need to go more often. The video turned out pretty good, you just need to fast forward to 1:19 to where the fast stuff starts- I should have cut that out.

Josh and Dad at lost creek lake

We went camping this weekend at Lost Creek Lake.  I've been wanting to try some of the trails out there.  I've been on the paved trails on the east side of the lake.  I always wanted to to try out the trails on the west side of the lake.  Today Josh and I spent some time on both sides of the trails today.

On the way over on the south side of the lake it is old broken up pavement and some gravel.  The scenery is great, the trail isn't.

I have no idea why someone would put pavement on such a great trail!

Here is another neat section of the trail on the south side of the lake:

As we crossed the dam, we noticed there was a huge spray next to the power plant.

Once you get to Takelma park the trail is really nice.  All single track and dirt!  By the time we got to the nice part Josh was getting tired so we had to phone for a pickup.  Lots of fun and I can't wait to get back there.  I think we will park over at the Takelma Rec area and do an out and back over there.


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Findley peaks to Panther Gulch via Layton Ditch

Back the opposite direction from last time.  I wanted to get a little more vertical in this time.  This first pic is my quick rest to the top of Findley Ridge.  I still haven't gotten faster than 30 minutes from the bottom of Findley Road.  I was about 31 minutes to the top of the ridge today.

First I climbed to the east peak.  Not much of a view from this peak but it is actually higher than the other one.

On your way down the trail to the saddle between the two peaks there is one nice view towards East fork in Williams. 

Then I climbed over to the west peak at findley, as always a great view up here.

Then I made my way down to the layton ditch trail on a road I haven't tried before.  It is a fairly new road put in a few years ago.  It is in pretty good shape with some sections of minor ruts.

The trail was cleaned up since last time.  The manzanita that was in the way was cut out and I was able to move a rotten log that was blocking the trail too.

Still a lot of poison oak and it is growing like crazy.  Here are a few shots of the trail:

The old jeep road that parallels Panther Gulch road has been cleaned up on the bottom, a few of the logs that blocked the road are gone.  The upper portion still has a lot of branches and some brush to force your way through.  Great Ride!

Google Earth View:


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Garmin Map: