Seattle Forrest

I've been wanting to do this for years; Saturday I finally took my bike to Marblemount and did Cascade River Road, end to end. My favorite hiking trails are up here, I've come several times every year for a decade, I've hiked to Stehekin from here (it took three days), stayed at Sahale Glacier Camp, etc. Lot of happy memories here, plus a great climb mostly on dirt, and the best scenery I've had the pleasure to ride through.

After 21 miles of rainforest, the woods open up, and suddenly there's no shade. Saturday was the hottest day of the year, it's been cloudy and 50 to 60 F for a month, then suddenly full sun and 95 F. There are shortish, punch 20 % sections up at the top in the sun and I started running out of gas quickly after a couple of those. Wound up taking a nap at the trailhead after eating a bunch of snow to cool down. Heard an avalanche, like the sound of thunder, saw it coming down J'berg Mountain.

It took an hour and a half to ride back down the mountain.

Peak-a-boo view on the way up.



Minus the sign, this is what most of the ride looked like.



This is what I came for.



Torment Creek was one of the many places I refilled.



Cascade River Valley.



Those are glaciers up above. The snow fields below are deposited by avalanches. Sometimes I hike up in the spring to watch the avalanches.



One of two bear sightings. This one was 1/10th mile before the end of the road.



Bike with glaciers and waterfalls.



Where I took my nap.



The beginning of the descent.

Luis G.

Wow thanks so much for sharing. Spectacular views.

woodcraft

Sweet.

I can almost smell the greenery & feel the breeze off the snow fields from your pics.

RJM

Nice! Sounds like you had a good time enjoying nature!

Seattle Forrest

The road is gated 3 miles from the top, so traffic was pretty light most of the way, and then non-existent.

I thought Marblemount was about 1,200 to 1,500 feet above sea level. Turns out it's more like 300. The trailhead is 3,500 feet ... I thought this was going to be a breeze.

I was real glad to have a water filter.

superdex

Beautiful.

gl98115

Great photos.

The first hot day of the year usually kicks off a round of avalanches on the steeper slopes. Snowpacks hate changes in weather. J-berg is a pretty dramatic mountain from any angle.

mcours2006

Very cool.

Seeing the bear made me wonder if you could out-ride the bear on your bike if you had to.

cthenn

Damn, that's amazing! You got me jonesing for some Sierra scrambling now! Really cool, thanks!

Ajkollme

Great pictures! Thank you for letting me live vicariously through you during my Tuesday lunch break!

Seattle Forrest

There are a few ~20 % grades up near the very top. I know bears can run pretty quick and you're never supposed to run from one ever (they see you as prey if you run from them) but I think gravity would be your friend here on a bike.

But the heat was getting to me in a big way so I took a snow nap instead.

mcours2006

Only if you were coming down. I'd think an animal on four legs could run up a 20% grade faster than a cyclist could trundle.

BounceCT

beautiful photo's

RocThrower

Thank you for sharing these! Looks amazing!

Seattle Forrest

I think that would be a good enough reason to turn around and come back another day. Assuming you can turn around quickly enough.

But black bears in the Cascades have a reputation for being pretty cowardly. Unless there are cubs or huckleberries to defend, you're just supposed to yell at them. (Seriously, when I got my permit to spend a week hiking from Easy Pass to Stehekin, the NPS ranger told me "don't carry bear spray, just talk to them.")

indyfabz

Sweet. Having ridden the North Cascades Highway, twice I always have a hard time wrapping my head around the concept of it being hot there. I know it gets hot, but my rides were in late May. Both times it was quite cold when I started out from Colonial Creek CG. The first time, it was snowing at both passes, and there were plow banks 6' high along the sides of the road.