Ironman, bike-hike in the woods

Monday, June 22, 2009

To get away from Ironman running today in town, I headed north to the mountains just south of Lake Pend Oreille, to see what’s there and what it’s like. Originally I wanted to go to Lakeview, a small gathering of folks in an isolated little village. Not knowing the roads, I was leaning on my GPS to take me there the most efficient way. It was suggesting roads that would be fine for a dirt-bike, but not a Corolla S. So, I stopped at a trail and got out the bike.

As I was getting ready, 8 guys on Honda dirt-bikes came, stopped, and then headed down the trail I was going to take (677 I think it was.) So, I figured it would be find for a bike. I dropped a couple thousand feet rather quickly, ever realizing that my car was on top.

Since Lakeview was only 3 miles away, I headed down, because that was my goal for the day. And I was glad I did. Took trail 111 on the way back, and wondered if it would ever end. It started as an old logging road, which was a nice ride. But it ended up into an old-grove Hemlock forest, muddy trails, roots, and uphill (which I was expecting the latter.) I pretty well pushed my bike over a thousand feet up, and would even venture to say two. But in the end I was thankful for the opportunity to get out and enjoy some of God’s handiwork.