Annie Creek SnowPark is down the highway a short distance from where we are camped and the drop in elevation means little to no snow there. We scoped out a route on Google Maps the best we could given the near lack of internet we have. Off we went!
Well, the loop we planned was thwarted by snow and a road that didn’t exist in real life. So, our ride was 26.6 miles with 1717′ of climbing. This was true exploring because we had no idea what it would be like or what we would see. That said, we had an AWESOME time!
First off, the trees! We’re are in heavy forest area so lots of douglas fir, pines, hemlock, and even cedar! It’s almost overwhelmingly green and fragrant. I love it! After a series of wrong turns we got on track and in a few miles we glimpsed Wood River flowing to the right below us. Picture stop! Then we noticed an extremely green and clear body of water up ahead. This pristine site is the headwaters of the Wood River. This stream flows from the pine forest into open meadow land laced with picturesque quaking aspen surrounded by the southern Cascade Mountains. The spring fed lagoon is beautiful!!
Back on our bikes we started the climbing portion of the ride as we wound up further on some gravel roads. There are several roads out here that we need to explore further. We eventually came to snow drifts blocking the road as we wrapped around to the north side of the mountain. Looking at the map we noticed a different gravel road that looked like it would get us back on route to finish our loop. However, that road was decimated and covered in trees and debris. So, we turned around and back tracked all the way to the start.
We’ll be back to this area to ride more gravel roads and explore.
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