10/13/12 Tom's GAG (Great Annual Gifford) Ride Report!

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10/13/12 Tom's GAG (Great Annual Gifford) Ride Report!

Postby Tawmass » Tue Oct 16, 2012 8:40 am

The word was out – it was that time of year for my Great Annual Gifford (GAG) Ride. After some sketchy years of various breakdowns and rescue missions in the wee hours, I’ve tried to stay true that this is an invite-only event and you must have game. Various people will contact me about the ride that I may not know, so they have to wait until I’ve ridden with them to know if they’ve got the chops to ride at The Giff. This year had a solid group of riders that said they’d show. About midweek a few peeps bowed out of the list due to the weather forecast. That was fine and I couldn’t blame them, but hey, it’s the GAG Ride, which is not just a ride, but consists of the full weekend of camping, riding and partying!

I finally got off work late Friday afternoon, and was smack in the middle of the utterly horrible traffic to get through Portland. (I received a late-night satellite phone call on Thursday and it was obviously Walt and Mike already up there and having a great time!) Once in Hood River, I stopped at the local Safeway for some food and as I was cruising through the aisles, who do I see, but Rory Sullivan and his lovely girlfriend Maya Hooper – what a small world! Was great to see them again and of course he was on the invite list, but conflicts loomed.
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I made it up to our camping area of Takhlakh Lake about 9pm and some of the others were already there, like Walt Koch, Mike Moore, Jared Achepohl, Scott Wilson, Kerry Owen and Stevie Ray Branstetter. After setting up my camper, firing up the generator to charge radios, it was time to cut loose around the great campfire that was already going. Shortly thereafter Milo & Mitch Juenemann showed up to join the foray around the fire! Of course we played late into the night, especially Mike!
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Saturday morn came not-so-bright and early consisting of overcast skies and mist. As we were all milling around, Dave Klug and Jeff Proctor also showed up for the day. I confirmed GPS tracks, handed out radios, and we all got our cool/wet-weather gear on. We had a brief rider’s meeting and a Kodak Moment shot.
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There was 11 of us total. Walt and Mike decided they didn’t want to go the long loop and elected to go off on their own shorter ride. We started off at around 10am north onto the High Lakes Trail. The ground was very wet with mud puddles, however the traction was primo! The top inch or two was wet, but it was actually dusty below that! We made our way past the Chain of Lakes and at the next stop, there was a sign that stated that the Adam’s Creek Bridge was out. Milo then said he saw a few posts on Thumpertalk.com about how bad the crossing was, which proved to be interesting.
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We arrived soon enough and sure enough the bridge was out (below).
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So we all analyzed the best way around/across with the least amount of water. We all surmised that a spot below the old bridge may be the easiest passage. Scott decided he would be the first lemming to dive over the edge. This proved to be a walk through the rinse cycle unfortunately for Mr. Wilson. His crossing started off well, but it appeared a rock kicked his bike into neutral, he dabbed, but nothing to dab on, and he went for a swim. I swear he was in the water long enough that a yellow snorkel grew out of his helmet!
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Dave Klug photo.
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Jeff Proctor photo.
<<<<be sure to watch in full-screen, HD mode!
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Jeff Proctor photo.
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After that major piece of entertainment, we let Scott try to empty out his boots, as he lay on his back with both legs in the air like a frat girl, then it was time to move on, so we all could get warmed up. We continued our way onto the Green Mountain Trail to the top of Green Mountain, but it was so misty/foggy, we couldn’t see squat. On our way down we came upon a group of riders from Puyallup that were changing a flat tire. We came upon about six groups of riders for the day – couldn’t believe how busy it was!
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We then caught a Forest Service Road back almost towards our starting area onto the start of East Canyon Ridge Trail. Along the road, evidently Jared took a major digger on the road when he hit an unseen rock, surfed across the road and his bike landed on him – ouch! He seemed okay though and merely had a torn jacket. Scott decided he’d had enough fun and elected to head back to camp to warm up before hypothermia set in – bummer! Stevie Ray and Dave also went back to change coats and goggles while the rest of us waited, and waited, and waited. Dave came back quickly, but Stevie Ray almost had a mutiny when he got back it took so long.

We rode to the end of the trail, caught a connector road that led us to Squaw Creek Trail, where we met another group of riders, then dropped down the trail. Wow, was this a fun trail!
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At the bottom, it was a long pavement ride up 23 Road, then onto a dirt road to the top and the beginning of Sunrise Trail.
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Jeff Proctor photo.

From there, we regrouped and pushed on. I got almost to the top of a ridge and was thinking how steep that climb was and hoping nobody got stuck, when I heard Mitch come over my radio saying he had a rear flat. Damn! I found a somewhat flat place on top of the ridge with a hint of wind protection, where Mitch rode his Honda up and proceeded to dissect the rear tire. Man, it was windy and cold!
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Jeff Proctor photo.
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Jeff Proctor photo.
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Jeff Proctor photo.
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Jeff Proctor photo.
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Jeff Proctor photo.

After nearly freezing his pinkies off, Mitch got his rear tire changed and we were ready to move forward again. We continued up Sunrise Trail onto where it connected to Juniper Ridge Trail. It had been years since I’d gone this direction on Juniper Ridge and had forgotten how many sketchy climbs there were, but we all managed to make them.
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Jeff Proctor photo.
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Jeff Proctor photo.

Then we came upon another group of riders coming at us on a narrow section of trail. Evidently Mitch barely bumped front tires with the lead KTM guy as they both tried to come to a stop at each other (limited visibility there). Even though it was a slight tap and they stopped fine, it was just enough to send him off-balance over the edge as our conga line watched helplessly from right behind. After a full tumble, everyone wasn’t sure when he was going to stop rolling, but he finally did after bonking his helmet on something. Then he and his bike were pulled back up, the oncoming riders laid their bikes against the bank, he got started and just ready to take off, but caught his outside boot on the peg, losing his balance, and OVER THE EDGE again! I was on the tail end of the line, so only so a glimpse of the second flight - scary and steep! He’s so lucky he didn’t fall down a cliff! A tough day for Mitch, but he came out of it okay.
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After that ordeal, we continued our way up towards Jumbo Peak.
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After descending down Juniper Ridge Trail, we caught Boundary Trail over to the Boneyard Trail, then onto Elk Meadows Trail, back onto the road again to the Waterfall Trail, where there was some water streaming down as opposed to a couple weeks ago.
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We then continued on Boundary Trail all the way back to Council Lake as the skies got darker and the now hard-pack trail got slicker. We eventually rolled back into camp at almost 5pm to big cheers from Scott, Walt and Mike, who'd obviously made it back fine also. It was a total of almost 62 miles, four hours of seat time, one flat, most everyone took a digger (some worse than others) and it was now time to party! Unfortunately Dave, Jeff, Jared, Milo and Mitch had to leave, but the remainder of us tried to make up for their absence. Our evening consisted of lies, stories, drinking (Stevie Ray had the most fun!) and Walt occasionally pulling out his gas-powered blower to beef up the fire – wow, is that the hot ticket (pun intended)!
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Come Sunday morn, we didn't have much left in the tank, so we drank coffee, broke camp and had a killer, late breakfast at the Trout Lake Restaurant. Another year, another fun GAG Ride! Can’t wait till next year!
-Tom
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You don't stop riding because you grow old, you grow old because you stop riding.
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Re: 10/13/12 Tom's GAG (Great Annual Gifford) Ride Report!

Postby E-Ticket » Tue Oct 16, 2012 1:39 pm

Great report, great pics. And congratulations on not having anyone get lost, seriously franged, or drowned. :D
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Re: 10/13/12 Tom's GAG (Great Annual Gifford) Ride Report!

Postby endoquest » Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:04 pm

Nice report Tom, and great pix as usual. Hope to make it next year and be a "feature" of the ride again. Cheers
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Re: 10/13/12 Tom's GAG (Great Annual Gifford) Ride Report!

Postby WOX » Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:15 pm

Dang it, leg's almost not broken anymore. You guys had a blast apparently! Next year!

Hey Walt!
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Re: 10/13/12 Tom's GAG (Great Annual Gifford) Ride Report!

Postby kate » Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:41 pm

Snow this morning but wet! I liked your posts on Gifford Pinchot - looks like some neat country! Reminds me of our trip to Foggy Dew and the Cascades
High mountain riding - what a blast! We are so looking forward to Blackdog we had a kick butt time last year as newbies. I think we have a few more
on board this year as well!
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