Seven riders and one dog showed up for another beautiful day on the Green River Gorge. We started out by riding the trail along the powerlines and then popping out on to the powerline road for a brief time before heading for the Gorge Rim trail. A quick ride down a forested logging road led us to the first leg of the Rim trail. Its fairly flat and follows the top of the gorge through tall forest and then in to the young forest of the Icy Creek property. Then you pop out on to an overgrown logging road. We turned toward the rim overlook and made a brief stop to let some forest creatures make their way back in to the forest.
At the overlook you can see the hwy 169 bridge as it crosses the gorge to the south. From the overlook you can see miles of undeveloped land that frames the gorge. Most of the land along the rim is in private ownership. MGRC is working to add land along the rim as well as in the gorge to the Green River Gorge Greenway. From the overlook there is a great section of trail that is tightly woven through thick forest. It drops down a steep hill and then winds through shaded forest thick with green moss. At the end it meets another overgrown logging road and another section of the trail takes off from the authorised of the road. This trail winds back out to the rim of Icy Creek and follows a survey clearing along the edge of the Icy Creek gorge. You can hear Icy creek below the trail and the Green River farther off in the distance. This trail is technical with roots, tight turns, and some logs to loft over. Don't fall to the right or you'll have a nice roll down a steep embankment. The trail then enters a mossy floored forest before it pops out at the top of Icy creek. We stopped briefly to let Breda (rachel's and Ross's dog) jump in the creek and get a drink. I pointed out where Icy Creek literally comes out of the ground before dropping 300ft down to the floor of the gorge.
Then we rode up out of the valley to the Hanging Gardens rim trail. I just cleared it last week so other than a few errant salal bushes it was pretty clear. It winds through the deep forest of Hanging Gardens state park along the rim. Its also technically challenging because it is a primitive trail (with no warning signs). It dropped us out at the Hanging Gardens trail where we made a detour down to the river for a lunch break and a swim. The trail down is steep with quite a few detours around large trees that fell across the trail during a big windstorm we had a few years ago. It leads to one of the most beautiful areas along the gorge. A bend in the river framed in a tall white sandstone cliff. The rocky beach is a great place to stop for a break. Below the sandstone cliffs the river becomes a deep green swimming hole before becoming shallow again and flowing across a rocky bottom. Its a great place for a swim. Although today the river was pretty cold. Depending on the time of year and other factors sometimes the river is pretty warm. Not today. It was that bone chilling cold that makes it hard to stay in for too long. But it felt good because it was near 90 degrees out. Ross and I swam across the river to some large blocks of sandstone along the cliff wall that you can climb on to before plunging back in to the river for the swim back.
After a break we climbed back out of the gorge and did a shorter loop back to our cars. We turned left at the gorge road and crossed over to the otherside again at another logging road. A short distance and we were on a old narrow road that climbs and branches right and left. We took the left branch and dropped into a small dip in the landscape. The trails branch a couple of time and we stayed right. Here the road crosses over an old mine shaft that has long since collapsed. We joke about this area and call it "Deep Shaft Estates". It is being developed so the trails in this area are slowly being lost to the rural subdivision. Probably unknown to future land owners is that this was the site of the historic "Samuel Hyde Mine" The area is littered with old mine shafts, thus the name.
We then came out on to the powerline road and then headed back out towards the gorge road. Turning left we dropped back in to our first trail via a steep hillside descent created by some ATVs. This is a rolling section of trail with some short steep ascents and descents. Then we branched off on a lower trail that parallels the road slowly sloping downwards back to our car.
Other than some low hanging branches that have dropped since I last cleared the trails the route is in good condition. Everyone enjoyed the ride and the fact that most of it was in the trees kept us cool on such a warm day.
Stay tuned for future rides and some trail work parties.
Steve Descending - 1 |
Steve Descending - 2 |
Steve Descending - 3 |
Steve Descending - 4 |
Breda, The Wonder Dog |
Stop at Hanging Gardens Overlook |
Rachel - 1 |
Rachel - 2 |
Rachel - 3 |
Richard Getting His Mojo Back - 1 |
Richard Getting His Mojo Back - 2 |
Richard Getting His Mojo Back - 3 |
Richard Getting His Mojo Back - 4 |
Richard Getting His Mojo Back - 5 |
Rachel |
Rick |
River Below Hanging Gardens |
Hanging Garden's Sandstone Cliff |
Rachel and Her Dog Breda |
Lunch Break |
Breda's Lunch Bowl |