Friday was a nice day, so I decided to head out for a solo ride.
Hadn't been to Jones Lake in a couple of years, so I thought I'd give it a try...
The one thing I remember from last time, is that the road UP is incredibly steep and terribly bumpy...and it hadn't improved one bit. True to form, the road up to altitude was deceptively steep and incredibly bumpy. Not just potholes, but exposed rocks and missing chunks.
Once the road levels off, it doesn't get any better...yet still I saw a few trailers and RV's at the campgrounds.
Last time we were here, this bridge at the South end of the lake was gone...but now, it has been replaced.
Wherever you could pitch a tent...someone was camped. This area is strangely popular for some people, although I've never understood the attraction.
This photo shows a massive slide that started at the top of the mountain in the background, and ran all the way down into the lake, where the people are camped in the above picture.
Rode around for a bit, checking out spurs here and there but the overall condition of the roads did not appeal to me. I even went looking for a series of old mines lower down the mountain, but didn't find them. Lots of mosquitoes in the bushy areas...
The following day, wife and I took a two-up ride to the Ruby Creek area. My initial intention was to ride the Ruby FSR up to the power lines and follow them back into the valley for a ways, at the last minute, I changed my mind and opted for the Garnet/American Creek FSR loop...what a mistake that was!
We started the trip at N49.35705 W121.60399...the southern end of Garnet Creek FSR. For the first few km's the road was "normal"...a few switchbacks to gain altitude along a wide gravel road.
At around the 6 km mark, the road started getting narrower and rougher....then we got a warning about NOT STOPPING FOR 700m due to a rockfall hazard....indeed!
The road condition kept getting worse as we kept riding...wife asking to dismount several times while I handled some very rough or uphill sections.
Even with the GPS, we managed to get misdirected a couple of times...including this "Ooops" that brought us to Garnet Creek...
Shortly after that, we took the American Creek fork and then the road went to hell in a handbasket! Here's another LONG section of uphill that wife did NOT want to ride, so she had to hike up to where I waited. By this point, we had gone over half way...but I did consider turning around a couple of times prior to this.
This is MUCH steeper than it looks...cameras just can't seem to capture slope...
And still we kept climbing...the road never got any better until it levelled off and started the downhill section but even then it was full of large rocks and cross-ditches that required a cautious approach at low speed.
After an hour and a half of hell-on-earth, we came to this...we had been here before a few years ago, so I knew the end was near...and none too soon!
Indeed, these are two rides that don't need to be repeated ant time soon, for me.
Glad that I did them, but only so that I can cross them off the "to-do" list permanently.
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