Had a pretty good turnout (10 riders!) for a ride up Sunrise Road at Mt. Rainier N.P. on Saturday.
The Sunrise Road is one of the classic climbs in Washington State. It’s really a special ride in late spring when the road is still closed to car traffic. So many riders out there enjoying the mountain, it felt like an “off leash dog park” for bike riders!
The traditional start is just outside of the park by Crystal Mountain Blvd.
Some of us started there
Sunrise 3 by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr
while the others elected to drive into the park to start on the Sunrise Road proper by the Ranger Station. They got a 30 minute, 6 mile and a nearly 1000 foot elevation jump on us starting there but Ty, Lynn and I were able to catch up with them at Sunrise Point a few miles from the Visitors Center at Sunrise.
Sunrise 18 (Bob Freeman photo) by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr
Sunrise 5 by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr
Sunrise 13 by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr
We sat in the warm sun at the Visitors Center and had fun people watching as we waited for the rest of our group to arrive.
Sunrise 17 by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr
Sunrise 25 (Bob Freeman photo) by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr
Sunrise 19 by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr
All good things must come to an end and so it was when the Lenticular Cloud covering the top of Rainier started to collapse and spread down the mountain towards us. We left while the sun was still out and enjoyed a fast 10 mile descent down to the White River campground. From there, we had to share the road with cars but there weren’t many and soon we were back at our cars outside the park. 40 miles and 4500 feet of climbing for the day..
Sunrise 22 by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr
Sunrise 24 by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr