Did a solo ride of the Mackenzie River Trail today while on a road trip with my wife, visting relatives. Pretty badly overextended myself, but since this has been called the number one trail in America, there was no way I was going to skip it or bail on it. The temp today was 97, and due to our schedule and logistics, I hit the trailhead above Clear Lake at noon. That meant I was doing the hardest part of the trail in the hottest part of the day. I took the easier side of Clear Lake, because I knew there was plenty of technical lava rock and roots to come. The trail around Sahalie Falls and Blue Pool was pretty rugged in places, and there were lots of hikers in those areas. Consequently I did a fair amount of hike a bike. Although the trail basically goes downriver, that doesn't mean you're coasting downhill. There was lots of up and down to cross tributaries or the river itself, and at least a dozen single-log bridges with steps up and down, and several wider ones that were more rideable.
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Sahalie Falls.
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Typical intermediate sections that I really liked. Random lava rocks under the pines. Reminded me a lot of Flagstaff.
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Chunkier.
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One of many bridges to come. I was still having a great time at this point.
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Overlooking the amazing Blue Hole.
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However, by mile 10 I was already pretty toasted in that heat & terrain, and had nearly finished off a Camelbak and electrolyte mix bottle. I was pretty dismayed to realize I still had 15 miles to go to the MacKenzie Bridge Ranger Station where my wife would pick me up. Luckily at mile 12 there was a water spigot at this boat ramp. After tanking up, I was confident I could finish, but knew I'd be pretty beat. The whole lower section was reported to be fast and flowy, which it was, and it was fun and beautiful riding alongside the river, but it was still pretty damn pedaly, and seemed to go on forever. I had estimated 5 hours, but it took me 6. Luckily I picked up enough cell reception towards the end to text my wife I'd be late. I took no further pictures, but just ground it out mile after mile. I still enjoyed the trail, but I was exhausted. And it was still over 90 degrees when I finished, with lightning starting to flicker. Cold shower and a beer were calling me!
