RR: The labors of fruit...

Well, the title doesn't quite capture the essence, but it's a start.

On a rare weekend stuck in the city (Portland) we opted to crunch our
chores into Saturday and leave Sunday open for a ride. Since we hadn't
done Hagg Lake this season (gee, maybe not last season either), it got
the vote.

Funny, I had a dim memory telling me that Hagg Lake in August wasn't
something I wanted to do, but I couldn't get it to solidify. Once past
the 2-3 nanoseconds of my attention span, I figured I must be confusing
Hagg Lake with someplace else. After all, it's a moderate length (~15
miles), lots of ups and downs but no extreme climbs, and has a paved
ring road in case you need to bail.

Got a late start and had to make stops on the way, so arrived near
12:30. The sun overhead was really blazing, with temps in the 90s. I
was looking forward to getting into the trees. Got our packs all
stashed, added some tire pressure for the hard packed dirt, and set
off.

A couple of miles in and a few good climbs later, we hit the first open
glade type area overlooking the lake. At first all you notice is the
nice looking water and the surrounding hills with blue sky (cue the
orchestra). Lots of folks enjoying the water in various ways, but the
trail is deserted. Then you notice that the entire wall of greenery in
front of you is speckled with dots of dark blue and black.
Blackberries!! The freakin motherload!!!

We gorge for a few minutes, have some water, and start to ride again.
Something is still nagging at me, but my sugar high has me oblivious.
Finally we end a long downhill out of some trees, take a sharp banked
left and plunge into a section of very narrow rutted track that barely
allows for handlbars between the undergrowth. Wait, that's not
undergrowth, that's *#$*$ ohhh sh*t @&$&$^ son-of-a-$@#@#. Another
freakin motherload. Big green tendrils the size of your thumb hanging
from above, sticking out from both sides, lying on the trail. And big
honking thorns sticking out of those.

At speed, all you can do in hunch down, pull in your knees and elbows,
and duck your head so the helmet gets the worst of it. I bellowed a
warning at my wife who was a few yards back, and prayed my momentum
would carry my past the thicket. By the time I get out, I look like
I've had a bad tatoo on both arms and legs. My shirt looks like
macrame, but my passage has cleared things enough that I can push the
worst out of the way with a stick and let Sandy thru. She is
appreciative. Not terribly sympathetic, but appreciative. And, oh,
yeah, she declines my offer to let her lead ;-)

The next 10 miles brought on another 3 or 4 big thickets. We walk the
rest of them, moving and snapping what branches we could. It made for
a much longer, hotter ride than necessary, but hopefully folks in the
next few days won't get quite as torn up as we did.

Note to self: Bike this trail in June, and pay attention the next time
you get that nagging feeling about a particular trail.

Gary

On 7 Aug 2006 15:46:39 -0700, mamba wrote:

The next 10 miles brought on another 3 or 4 big thickets. We walk the
rest of them, moving and snapping what branches we could.

I joined the PDX club on Hagg Lake trail maintenance a couple of years
back, and being the trailworker newbie I got the task of clearing some of
those. Awful work, but I'd run the gauntlets there many times so it felt
good to clear them. Its only temporary with those, though.

Sounds like this year is worse than most. That southwest section always
has been lousy, with the blackberry bushes and cracked-clay trails.
Sometimes we just skip it and ride around on the road to the west
trailhead. The the only thing that makes August bad at Hagg is that the
lake gets low and it smells awful!

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

mamba wrote:
Well, the title doesn't quite capture the essence, but it's a start.

On a rare weekend stuck in the city (Portland) we opted to crunch our
chores into Saturday and leave Sunday open for a ride. Since we hadn't
done Hagg Lake this season (gee, maybe not last season either), it got
the vote.
Note to self: Bike this trail in June, and pay attention the next time
you get that nagging feeling about a particular trail.

Gary

Now that was pretty funny. Be sure to let BB know that more mtce is in
order.

CDB

On Mon, 07 Aug 2006 15:46:39 -0700, mamba wrote:

Big green tendrils the size of your thumb hanging from above, sticking
out from both sides, lying on the trail. And big honking thorns
sticking out of those.

Ouch.

Note to self: Bike this trail in June, and pay attention the next time
you get that nagging feeling about a particular trail.

I haven't even heard of Hagg Lake...going to put it on my list for next
year.

gabrielle

[...very nice RR...]

gabrielle wrote:

Ouch.
[...]
I haven't even heard of Hagg Lake...going to put it on my list for next
year.

That's the spirit.

CC

On Mon, 07 Aug 2006 19:26:50 -0700, gabrielle wrote:

I haven't even heard of Hagg Lake...going to put it on my list for next
year.

Its probably the easiest singletrack in the area, and being at low
altitude it dries early in the summer.

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

Go in June, after it's been dry a few days. The rain makes the fine
dusty stuff turn into a nasty slipperly clay that is not fun.

Also, Brown's Camp is about the same distance from Portland, and has
great trails.

gabrielle wrote:
On Mon, 07 Aug 2006 15:46:39 -0700, mamba wrote:

I haven't even heard of Hagg Lake...going to put it on my list for next
year.

gabrielle