Fall Mountain Biking on the Wishbone Trail
By Rachel Richards
All that hard work last week doing homework paid off because I was completely done it all by Saturday afternoon and was able to head to the mountains on Sunday with Rachelle with a carefree mind.
Last weekend was amazing weather-wise; the perfect warm sunny fall day.
And as she was on her way to my place, I asked Rachelle if she wanted to bike the Wishbone Trail to Loon Lake.
Loon Lake has evaded me all summer; I attempted to get there a couple times paddle boarding and didn’t make it, so I figured I would try it on land.
The bikes I had for us are borrowed from family and not in the best shape. Neither of them had gears that changed.
Ever been mountain biking with a one gear bike?
Even though Wishbone is relatively flat, the areas of slow and steady incline made our legs really burn.
But those views…… worth it!
I forgot about the stream you have to walk through with your bikes to continue on the trail.
I didn’t think anything of it, I took off my shoes and splashed on into it. How on earth can a small shallow stream be so cold in September?
It was FREEZING! By the time I got to the end of the stream my feet felt prickly from the cold.
Rachelle had flip flops with her so she was able to run through it faster than I was but it was cold and she was not happy.
I laughed as she yelled on her way through and wonder if she’ll ever come with me on my hare-brained adventures again. Ha ha ha!
By Rachel Richards
All that hard work last week doing homework paid off because I was completely done it all by Saturday afternoon and was able to head to the mountains on Sunday with Rachelle with a carefree mind.
Last weekend was amazing weather-wise; the perfect warm sunny fall day.
And as she was on her way to my place, I asked Rachelle if she wanted to bike the Wishbone Trail to Loon Lake.
Loon Lake has evaded me all summer; I attempted to get there a couple times paddle boarding and didn’t make it, so I figured I would try it on land.
The bikes I had for us are borrowed from family and not in the best shape. Neither of them had gears that changed.
Ever been mountain biking with a one gear bike?
Even though Wishbone is relatively flat, the areas of slow and steady incline made our legs really burn.
But those views…… worth it!
I forgot about the stream you have to walk through with your bikes to continue on the trail.
I didn’t think anything of it, I took off my shoes and splashed on into it. How on earth can a small shallow stream be so cold in September?
It was FREEZING! By the time I got to the end of the stream my feet felt prickly from the cold.
Rachelle had flip flops with her so she was able to run through it faster than I was but it was cold and she was not happy.
I laughed as she yelled on her way through and wonder if she’ll ever come with me on my hare-brained adventures again. Ha ha ha!
Do you know what else we came upon on the trail?
Mud! Thick, sticky mud.
You don’t expect that in September but I guess we’ve had such a wet summer and even a wet fall it makes sense.
We rode up until the Vimy Peak/Wishbone Landing fork in the trail.
The sign says ‘no bikes’ and I originally thought that just meant for Mt. Vimy so we started off riding the trail to Wishbone Landing.
We didn’t make it very far before we ditched the bikes.
This section of the trail is narrow with a lot of overgrowth.
While we did see a bike trail in the mud, we decided we would give our jello legs a rest and proceed on foot.
I had never been in this section of the park before and the trail was clearly not visited often.
Mud! Thick, sticky mud.
You don’t expect that in September but I guess we’ve had such a wet summer and even a wet fall it makes sense.
We rode up until the Vimy Peak/Wishbone Landing fork in the trail.
The sign says ‘no bikes’ and I originally thought that just meant for Mt. Vimy so we started off riding the trail to Wishbone Landing.
We didn’t make it very far before we ditched the bikes.
This section of the trail is narrow with a lot of overgrowth.
While we did see a bike trail in the mud, we decided we would give our jello legs a rest and proceed on foot.
I had never been in this section of the park before and the trail was clearly not visited often.
Neither of us had brought our bear spray so I made a point of yelling out every so often to make anything out there aware of our presence.
But when I saw a fresh track in the mud that looked large and mammal-like I suggested we turn around.
I’m sure it would have been fine, but with neither of us prepared, it wasn’t worth any sort of risk.
I have no desire to encounter a bear on the trail and will do what I can do avoid it. So Loon Lake evaded me again!
The way back was a little easier because a good section of it is a slight decline.
We got back to the car with full hearts and jello legs!
I’m hoping to get my homework under control enough that Ryan and I can go this Sunday because I want to see that darn little lake!
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