Ancient Lakes and the neighboring Babcock Bench along the Columbia River Gorge are among my favorite places to backpack. The arid openness yields views for miles and the ground is crisscrossed with hiking trails and old jeep tracks. On previous trips I’d often thought about how great it would be to be able to quickly scoot around the landscape on a bike. With state lands re-opening on Tuesday I took the day off to put my idea to the test.
My bike is a ye olde Trek DS 8.3. It’s a hybrid bike which means that it’s not a great road bike nor a great off-road bike. The idea was to be able to use it anywhere but it’s been in storage for years so in reality it doesn’t get used at all. I grew up on rural farm roads in eastern Washington so I used to ride my bike around for hours and hours every day during the summer. I suppose I’ve been hoping to recapture a bit of that magic but so far my efforts have fallen a bit short. Aside from a 40-mile loop along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail last summer this was my first serious outing in recent memory.
It did not go well. On foot the patches of thick powdery sand, rocks of various sizes, and basalt slabs that litter the trails pose no challenge whatsoever. On a lousy bike with a lousy rider they’re murder. Within the first 10 minutes I had crushed one pedal against a rock and I’d estimate I ended up walking my bike a little less than half of the 14-mile loop. Mostly this was due to my butt being so sore I couldn’t sit but this was exacerbated by constantly running into or over bowling ball-sized rocks. I think my next bike trip is going to be on Forest Service roads just south of Cle Elum.
One takeaway is that being confined to a specific route or path really isn’t my style. I’m an explorer (or dawdler depending on who you ask) and one of my favorite things about being in the wilderness is the freedom to take little side trips to check out this viewpoint or that tarn or what-have-you. On this trip the bike was more confining than anything, being able to go faster was a poor consolation for the lack of freedom.
On the plus side, I saw my first rattlesnake! It’s hard to believe that after 20-odd years on the east side of the state I’d never actually seen one of these in the wild.
Gear
What Worked
Not being an overnight or even a hike I figured I’d just take the little commuter backpack that I normally wear to work. Sadly, in a fit of curiosity I threw it on the scale and discovered that my Osprey Levity was actually significantly lighter. It was also incredibly comfortable to wear for the duration of the trip so I think I’ll continue using it. It might not look like the typical biking (or even bikepacking) setup but it works for me.
What Didn’t
Where to begin.
Well, for starters: the bike. Although it has a front suspension (which I had to double-check was actually engaged) it was crap at handling the rocks and other obstacles the trail threw at it and I can forget about my dream of just being able to ride cross-country between the sagebrush. The tires slipped on the slightest amount of loose, well, anything – dirt, sand, gravel, you-name-it. Also the flat handlebars were incredibly uncomfortable on my hands. Now, I should have brought gloves to prevent abrasion but there’s also the fact that flat bars don’t allow a ton of hand positions which really concentrates the wear and tear. Although this is probably down to poor technique, I often found one of my pedals all the way down as I’d go over rocks and inevitably they wouldn’t clear – do bikes have ground clearance in the same way that cars do?
Lacking gloves, I attempted to fix up my hands by applying tape from one of Litesmith’s mini Leukotape rolls. Although the amount of tape in one of the rolls definitely seems adequate for patch-ups I found it difficult to get off the roll due to its small size and collapsible straw core. I also found that it seemed to lack Leukotape’s trademark stickiness, assumedly because the tape had to be rewrapped in order to go around the straw in the first place. Less than ten minutes after being applied the tape was rolled up and hanging in bits and pieces from my hands.
After a particularly rough collision with a sagebrush I found a three-inch sliver of gnarled wood sticking out of the side of my shoe’s sole. Combined with a sense that they felt a bit mushy on the pedals and I’m thinking my Oboz Aretes might be too flimsy for this kind of riding.
I managed to get incredibly filthy over the course of the day and the combination of dirt, sweat, and sunscreen meant my eyes were getting irritated. Unfortunately at some point I had removed any kind of towel from my ditty bag so I wasn’t left with any cleaning options until I got back to the car. On longer trips I find that having a cloth to “bathe” with is crucial for maintaining comfort so I was disappointed to find that at some point I had stopped carrying one.
I got more blisters on the outsides of my big toes. I think this is going to be an ongoing thing with the Aretes but may have had more to do with the bike. In any case I’m going to have to either apply Leukotape to my big toes (should be doable) or start carting around some toe-specific tape (paper tape, etc.) again.
Finally, I didn’t bring any water filtration because I expected it to be a short trip and that was just dumb. I only normally carry 1.4 liters of water and despite cameling up at the trailhead I burned through my supply rather quickly due to the heat. By the time I got back to the car I had run dry and although I was happy to open up one of the fresh bottles of water that I keep there I didn’t really find it all that appetizing. When I got home I sucked down two liters of Nuun-laden water so I’m thinking it may have been an electrolyte thing.
What’s Next
I’m going to give the bike another chance by taking it on some less demanding Forest Service roads this weekend. If it works out, great, if not, new bike. Entry-level gravel bikes can be had for around $600 so it wouldn’t be an intolerably expensive upgrade. I’m also going to bring some fingerless Glacier Gloves with breathable backs and synthetic leather palms – this should solve the hand discomfort issue.
I purchased a Montbell micro hand towel so that’ll allow me to be less filthy for only six grams.
I also picked up a case of Gatorade so that I can start stashing a bottle in the car for after trips. Water is nice but tooth-rotting magic sugar water is nicer.
Route
Gaia track:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/swEJcS8vKqCU5LPHUH0DklKu
14 miles, 800 feet of gain.
Flowers & Critters
Haven’t seen this section in a while, it’s nice to finally have something to report on.
Photography
SmugMug gallery:
https://turigrinos.smugmug.com/Adventures/2020/Ancient-Lakes/
I think this HDR shot of a large basalt prominence above the eastern wall of the Ancient Lake coulee turned out quite well. The HDR gives it a nice poppy brightness, brings out all the detail in the rock, and makes the non-HDR shot at the top of the post look dull in comparison. I was experimenting with the circular polarizer and trying to figure out whether I should engage HDR even if the histogram on the camera indicated that I had plenty of room on both ends. Based on this the answer is an unequivocal yes.