It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:26 am

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 17 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
PostPosted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:52 pm 
Offline
Active Participant
Active Participant

Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2008 7:18 pm
Posts: 165
Given: 12 thanks
Received: 954 thanks
Bike(s): Intense 6.6 / Spider
Favorite Trails: Palm Canyon
Saturday I ventured north to check out the Whistle Lake area of the Anacortes Community Forest Lands. I had been to the Cranberry Lake area the week before and I was ready to check out some more of the goods in Anacortes.

Image

Man there was some fun single track out by Whistle Lake but there are no freebies. You have got to earn them. The good news is what goes up must come down. The number of trails in this area is simply bewildering and it is hard to go more than a third of mile without having a trail junctions to think about.

Image

While on one of the trails near the top of “Sugar Cube” I had an incredible critter encounter. As I rounded a corner a bald eagle flew up from the trail where it had recently whacked some small furry critter and had it for lunch. It flew up into a nearby tree and started checking me out.

Image

While it looked concerned with me a first, it soon seemed to figure out that I meant it no harm and seemed rather comfortable with my presence. Over the next five minutes I would go through a series of snapping pictures and moving a little closer until it decided it had better things to do.

Image

This eagle is bigger than it looks. I'm guessing that those talons if out stretched would be about the size of an average man's hand. Simply impressive.


An hour or so later in the ride I would once again have another cool critter encounter. This time it was with a spotted owl and the sequence of events was similar to that the eagle.

Image

I love checking out the “Back 40” wherever I go. On this day that looked to be the south side of the lake. The trails over here were much steeper and trickier with more roots and rocky sections.

Image

It would be a really big feat to ride all of the stuff in a single day as it takes multiple loops of climbing to the top of several hills that can work the legs over really well.

Image

I did as many climbs up the hills as I could stand and still did not get to all of the trails. I finished the day with my legs thoroughly shot and a big smile on my face.

_________________
www.MountainBikeBill.com


Top
 Profile  
 
The following 12 users would like to thank MTBBill for his or her post:
02bullit, badkittyjing, bajamtnbkr, dirtmonger, GP_pilot, jimmyj, OldDogDan, Red Hot Sloth, remgeo, Robo, Sultan Ali, TCB
PostPosted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:03 pm 
Offline
Bajacabra
Bajacabra
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:13 pm
Posts: 4415
Location: Chula Vista
Given: 7412 thanks
Received: 7175 thanks
Bike(s): Turner 5 Spot
Favorite Trails: SART, Thounder Mtn,Sweetwater
Awesome !


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:57 am 
Offline
Active Participant
Active Participant
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:03 pm
Posts: 302
Location: Chula Vista
Given: 139 thanks
Received: 214 thanks
Bike(s): Giant Trance X
Favorite Trails: are the ones that are dirty!
The trail and lush green in the last photo is cool!

_________________
-Randy


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:30 am 
Offline
Resident Hucker
Resident Hucker
User avatar

Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:11 am
Posts: 2007
Given: 50 thanks
Received: 1140 thanks
Bike(s): Reign X1
Favorite Trails: ...
Oh man I'm jealous. Those claws on the eagle look nasty. Those birds are so amazing looking... they just look powerful.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:47 am 
Offline
Moderately Obsessed
Moderately Obsessed

Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:57 pm
Posts: 1159
Given: 2184 thanks
Received: 1791 thanks
Favorite Trails: Dirt
MTBBill wrote:
I did as many climbs up the hills as I could stand and still did not get to all of the trails. I finished the day with my legs thoroughly shot and a big smile on my face.


That is awesome...exactly how I feel every time I ride there. I sucks you in to a heavenly state, and the only thing you feel besides the bliss is your legs burning. Incredible owl/eagle sightings! I've yet to see an owl out there, and the eagles are usually far off, scooping fish out of the ocean.

If you have a full day to spare, you might want to take the ferry from Anacortes over to Orcas Island and check out Moran State Park. Super fun stuff, and I believe almost all the trails are open to bikes this time of year...they close down about half the trails during the summer busy season, but the southeastern part of the park is always open to bikes and is more than enough to ride for a day. But if you go, bring arm and leg warmers or pads to protect you from the stinging nettles. I have to wear them even in the thick humidity of summer or my skin is on fire all night.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:44 am 
Offline
Moderately Obsessed
Moderately Obsessed
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:33 pm
Posts: 637
Given: 491 thanks
Received: 481 thanks
Those pictures are unreal. Awesome encounter with the eagle!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:18 am 
Offline
Obsessed
Obsessed
User avatar

Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:21 am
Posts: 2996
Given: 1505 thanks
Received: 1219 thanks
Favorite Trails: Crestridge
Sweet pics! Thanks for sharing. Gives us desk jockey / weekend warriors something to dream about


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:49 am 
Offline
Moderately Obsessed
Moderately Obsessed
User avatar

Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2008 4:51 pm
Posts: 1600
Given: 666 thanks
Received: 1790 thanks
Favorite Trails: teh gnar
nice stuff.

_________________
strava:instagram:activejunky


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:06 pm 
Offline
Active Participant
Active Participant
User avatar

Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:54 pm
Posts: 154
Given: 44 thanks
Received: 73 thanks
Bike(s): Giant Trance X2
Your pics are great, especially the eagle! Looks like you are not having too bad of a paid vacation!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:05 pm 
Offline
Darth Monger
Darth Monger
User avatar

Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2008 4:31 pm
Posts: 1414
Given: 731 thanks
Received: 641 thanks
Bike(s): Firebird, Stumpy, Glory
Favorite Trails: off limits
Ugh! I would love to ride in this kind of green. I grew up around forrests like that and nothing compares to the cool temparate humidity they have in summer. I am thinking about riding here in SoCal in June, baking atop Elfin or Anderson. It sucks to some degree...

Then I remember how dreadful it is to get rained on riding on the bike at 32 degrees or in the blistering cold of winter when your nostrils freeze shut every few minutes. I really don't know what's worse.

But I do have to put a lush forrest ride on my to-do list.

DM

_________________
Obey gravity. It's the law!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:05 pm 
Offline
Obsessed
Obsessed
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jul 12, 2008 8:35 pm
Posts: 3769
Location: Variable
Given: 5013 thanks
Received: 5052 thanks
Bike(s): Carbine
Favorite Trails: The Googliest
Those are some mighty fine pictures of the bald eagle. I've only seen one, once, flying for a moment over my head in Michigan. Even figuring for their relative recent comeback due to their protected status, your shots seem more "National Geographic" to me than "blog." Winky, winky; nudge, nudge. Nice work and those trails looks exhausting but rewarding. Something about being in shade makes breathing hard and what should be "suffering" uphill seem less hard.

_________________
"We'll ride it until they pave it."

-Big Clyde

Image


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:03 pm 
Offline
Obsessed
Obsessed
User avatar

Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2009 10:12 am
Posts: 2071
Location: San Diego, CA
Given: 1644 thanks
Received: 1322 thanks
Bike(s): Knolly Endo, Canfield Jedi
Favorite Trails: DH Trails
Wish there was more stuff like that here in SD since I don't think I'll get to venture out that way very often, or even at all.

Awesome pix. That's super cool that you got to be that close to an eagle and owl.

_________________
~I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
~Nothing from nothing is nothing.
~I'm allowed to be a pussy because I have one!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:53 pm 
Offline
Obsessed
Obsessed
User avatar

Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:54 pm
Posts: 3399
Location: San Joaquin Valley
Given: 518 thanks
Received: 1358 thanks
Bike(s): 6 of 'em
Favorite Trails: I don't ride dirt
Again Bill, I hope my "retirement" is as rewarding as yours, sweet pics dude.

_________________
A mountain biker who doesn't ride road has no legs
A road biker who doesn't ride mountain has no soul


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:22 pm 
Offline
Necromonger
Necromonger
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:01 pm
Posts: 5703
Location: Dark Side of The Moon
Given: 11834 thanks
Received: 7004 thanks
Bike(s): Push-Bike With Training wheels
Favorite Trails: Dirty Dirty Trails
Many Thanks!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:51 pm 
Offline
Active Participant
Active Participant
User avatar

Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2008 2:50 pm
Posts: 150
Location: Shadowridge
Given: 134 thanks
Received: 58 thanks
Bike(s): Bianchi SS 29r, GF HiFi 29er
Favorite Trails: Sweeping Single Track
All I can say is AWESOME!

_________________
5 Page Web Design
Where We Ride


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 17 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group