Mount Saint Helens Windy Ridge Ride

I was looking for more paved mountain rides this fall when my friend recommended Windy Ridge on Mount Saint Helens. He suggested starting in Randle, which meant spending nearly the entire time on paved forest roads with minimal traffic. Dale and I decided this would be an ideal fall ride with otherwise iffy weather around the state.

We got a leisurely start from Seattle, making it down to Randle and leaving his van there at about 12:30pm. The ride does a short climb and then about 10 miles of moderate descent before starting the real climb, which was a perfect way to warm ourselves up. We transitioned from the open farmland of Randle to the lush forest for much of our climbing. The road was in pretty good shape and we only encountered a couple of truck drivers who were perturbed by our very existence. We were able to ride side-by-side for most of the time, keeping up a good conversation and riding at a pace where we were working but could still chat.

At mile 20, we took the right up toward Windy Ridge, which continued to climb through the woods for another 4.5 miles before breaking out with our first views of Saint Helens. We had done about 3,200 feet of climbing by this point. We stopped at this viewpoint for a snack before charging into a blustery headwind that was lurking for us behind many of the bends in the road between there and the end of the paved section—another 11 miles or so.

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The views of Saint Helens, Adams, and Hood were really spectacular and the fall colors really lit up the hillsides. It was crisp and brisk, but never too cold. And the road was a lot of fun, with frequent twists and turns as well as rises and descents. We had a ball. It took just under 3 hours to get from Randle to the end of the paved road at the Windy Ridge viewpoint.

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We soaked in the sun and views for a few minutes and then headed back, taking our time for some photos while we were up high and then putting the hammer down once we were back in the forest. It took just over 2 hours to get back to the car. What a really lovely fall ride!

North Cascades Highway Ride - Newhalem to Mazama and Back

I’d been meaning to ride my bike over Highway 20 in the North Cascades for years, but hadn’t yet made it happen. My friend Will was a very effective instigator and, after a summer plagued with wildfires and heat waves, fall seemed like a pretty good option.

On Saturday, October 2, I drove up early we started our ride from Newhalem at about 8:30am. It was 45 degrees and a little humid, which made the air feel especially chilly. We didn’t expect it to warm up much over the course of our ride since we’d be at a higher elevation during the warmest part of the day.

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Having driven the road so many times, it was really nice to slow down and experience the nuances of the road as well as the views and surroundings in much more detail. We tried to set off at a pace we could maintain for ~8 hours and were still moving at a decent clip, reaching Colonial Creek Campground in a little under 40 minutes at about 15 miles per hour. From here, we kept up a reasonable pace, chatting side-by-side when we could and ground out the climb up to Rainy Pass in about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The grade was really nice for keeping up momentum.

We descended from Rainy Pass, climbed up to Washington Pass, and then bombed down to the Mazama Store for lunch. This took a little over an hour and we were really cold by the time we made it into the Methow Valley. Thankfully some mochas, lunch, confectionaries, and sugary beverages lifted us back up.

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From Mazama up to Washington Pass was definitely the toughest part of the ride. It’s a much steeper grade and it’s always tougher to get going again after a rest. After about 20 minutes, I thankfully felt back in the groove. This climb of 3,300 feet took us about 1 hour 50 minutes and we spent a lot of it marveling at the beautiful landscape and the yellow larches coloring the hillsides. After descending and then climbing again to crest Rainy Pass, it was (mostly) downhill from there. Will took some hero pulls on the descent. From WA Pass down was just over 2 hours averaging over 20 miles per hour.

Hurricane Ridge Ride

Looking to escape the smoke, I found some green air quality indicators over the Olympic Peninsula on Thursday and decided to make a one-day trip to Port Angeles for the big climb up Hurricane Ridge. Leaving the town, the climb starts almost immediately and only relents a couple of times. Knowing it would be around 17 miles of straight climbing, I tried to settle into a rhythm and pace I could maintain.

As the road climbed higher, the views started to open up on my left and they were thankfully pretty clear up high, with smoke clearly filling the valleys below. I could eventually see the Mount Olympus massif in the hazy distance. With few cars on the road and little smoke, it was a pretty nice day for the ride despite the heat and I saw a couple of other cyclists on their way down. I started to fade a bit at the end but was pretty happy with the effort overall.

I arrived at the main parking lot just shy of two hours after I’d left Port Angeles and decided to continue on to the end of the road. I must have done a pretty good job emptying the tank because the short climbs on that last little bit were really tough and I felt myself bonking hard. I stopped at the end of the road for a massive dose of sugar before turning around, soaking in the views at the visitor center, and then barely touching the brakes on the way down. Great climb!