Two Club Members, Bill and Jim, headed out to Washington state to visit some friends. 

We really knew we were in Washington when we were in line for a drive up espresso .  It was twice as good and twice as cheap as in Vermont and you have to get out of your car in Vermont.

Mike suggested that we should ride our first day in the Capital Forest area on the outskirts of Olympia. This is a rather large tract of land that supports multi use trails.  We rode the gravity assisted downhill race trail being used the next weekend.  Bill is happy that Mountain Bikes are included in the multi use sign  

We decided to drive down South to the Mt. St Helens area and ride a few trails near the Mountain.  We had excellent weather and the scenery was extraordinary.  

The Trail to the East of St. Helens went around the end of Ape Canyon where we passed by a narrow ledge where the cost of screwing up meant a 1000' drop.

We camped South of St. Helens and the next day rode the Lewis River trail that left from our campground and followed the Lewis River Downstream.  The trees were quite a bit bigger than our maples.

Our last ride was near Rainer.  We drove to the Crystal Mt. Ski Area and rode a trail that climbs to the top of the area and descends on steep switchbacks.  After we got near the top the weather enshrouded us and we had to make a decision to bail and return on the Ski Area work roads.  We tried to follow the NORBA downhill course that was run at Crystal this year but it was sick. Huge ruts and major drop offs.  Out principle goal was to get down in altitude and back to the vehicle.  It was starting to snow up high.