Mission: Explore & MTB The Kaniksu National Forest : 2019

Sunday, May 5, 2019

Objective, May 03, 2019: Go for a quick ride of the route I re-conned on 4/30/19 and 5/1/19. I completed it in exactly 1.5 hours, and picked up three ticks along the way.

Route: Berry Rd. > via NF Road 016; Ascend Sandwich Creek, cross over to and descend Cooks Creek > Berry Rd. > Skookum Creek MTB Cabin.

Stats: 17.64 miles / 1378 vertical ft. / 3 wood ticks

Most of the route (asphalt road and part of Berry Rd omitted)

Thursday, May 2, 2019

Objective: 5/1/19, find the road and fork that I couldn't find yesterday.

Ride Stats: 25.06 miles, ~ 1600 ft elevation gain.

Notes: Great success! I found the roads and fork that I couldn't find yesterday, by starting from the bottom of the road and ascending. As these roads seem to be rarely traveled, it made route finding challenging a few times. I initially cycled passed the fork, but realized this and turned around. The fork and road were not how I imagined. Very unique scenery along the way, where Sandwich Creek and South Fork Skookum Creeks, form pond filled with downed timber. The water was crystal clear. Very remote areas, wished I had a side arm.

These routes can connect several other rides into one or more other combinations, and takes you to Cook's Lake as well. One could easily (if you consider climbing up a creek drainage easy) make one mondo-ride that includes 4 different creek drainages and a lake.

Map: Red line = proposed route and actual route, with about 1 mile of back tracking. Blue line = ascended and descended

Still some snow. I was getting close to the fork at this point

Looking up

This is the fork. However, I didn't know that when I took the photo, as this road on the left wasn't on the map.

Photos of the downed timber ponds on Cook's Creek. Tons of timber.

This area is the transition from Sandwich Creek to the very headwaters of S Fork Skookum Creek.

After two miles of back tracking, I got my shit together, and figured out that I missed the fork, and I thought I knew where it was. I put the stick marker there to mark where the fork is. Above my bike is the way I came in. To the right of my bike ascends to the top of Cook's Creek and Sandwich Creek, and access to Cook's Lake, and also connects to the ride I did yesterday. Behind me, the trail ascends S Fork Skookum Creek

Road up to Cooks Lake

S Fork Skookum Creek, very close to it's headwaters.

S Fork Skookum Creek

Conks on a tree. They were all over this area. Must be perfect conditions for them?

Ho-hum, more elk. Almost home, this herd is behind my house and across the creek about 1/8 mile. Note a Canadian goose guarding the herd.

Objective: 4/30/19 Ascend N Fork Skookum Creek > cross over to and descend into Cook's Creek > ascend Cook's Creek via ND Road# 039 > at end of climb, find road to Cook's Lake > return to top of climb from Cook's Lake > descend and find fork/roads: road that descends Sandwich Creek and NF # 016 that descends S Fork of Skookum Creek from it's headwaters.

Ride stats: 27.99 miles, 2459 ft elevation gain

Notes: I wanted to locate and ride these roads as they can be used to connect several other rides, or could be a ride in and of itself, and gets you to Cook's Lake, which I had never been to. I was able to find everything except the "fork/roads: road that descends Sandwich Creek and NF # 016 that descends S Fork of Skookum Creek from it's headwaters.", as I turned right instead of left at one fork, it was getting late, and it looked like a storm was moving in.

Map: Red lines = proposed objective. Blue lines = actual route. Yellow line = where I got off route and backtracked

Some things I saw on the way up........

Some elk in a field that is behind my house about 1/8 mile

I counted 13 turkey vultures, however, I could only capture about half in the camera frame. Was this a clue about my mission?

Where I'm headed to

This barn and this large, interesting boat are on Skookum Creek Rd.

Skookum Creek Rd

Looking towards home from the road above N Fork Skookum Creek

Crossing Cook's Creek

The climb up Cook's Creek was a workout, but I made it. Here's part of the climb, near the bottom

Here's the very top of the climb, and the jumping off point to go to Cook's Lake

Top of the climb

The way down after going to Cook's Lake

The way to Cook's Lake from the top of the climb.

Cook's Lake at the campground. Not a soul in sight.

I took this when I got off route, looking across Cook's Creek drainage, at the trail that I rode early in this ride, that crossed from N Fork Skookum to Cook's Creek.

Looking down at Cook's Creek, that forms a pond in this area that's filled with timber.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Objective: Combine rides I did on 4/22 and 4/23/19 into one ride;

Ascend Best Chance Rd/N Fork Skookum Creek, cross over/descend Cook's Creek, try to find a short cut to the trail on Sandwich Creek, ascend Sandwich Creek, cross over/descend S Fork Skookum Creek, to Vane's Lake Rd.

Ride Stats: 26.15 miles, 2323 ft elevation gain.

Here's the ride: The red line I rode on 4/23, the blue line I rode on 4/22, and the yellow line is the short cut I was hoping to find. I didn't show most of the asphalt road approaches in this map.

What an awesome ride! Great roads, great views, great climbing work out. 4 ridges and 4 creek drainages. And, I bought a new, hard tail MTB this morning and used it, and it worked great! What an improvement.

I tried to find a short cut that the map shows as a forest service road, but I lost the way, and back tracked and took the longer way, which added to the climbing vertical feet. I'm going to work on finding that short cut. Looking at the Map My Ride map of my ride (that's a mouth full) today and comparing it with the topo map, shows I was very close. But, the road I took, didn't start where the map shows it starts. So, I ended up descending more to Berry Rd., and then climbing back up. The short cut would reduce some climbing, but where's the fun it that?

Here's some photos of the ride;