Okay so I'm a little behind on my blog posts. This photo album is from May 22, 2009. Seems to me that was Memorial Day Weekend and we were headed to Yakima to do some mountain biking with friends.
The mountains received a lot of snow in May so the passes were opening later than usual. In fact, Chinook Pass opened at noon the day were were headed to Yakima so we threw our skis in the back of the truck along with the mountain bikes. I'm glad we actually bothered to check the internet to see if the pass was open before we got up before dawn to make the drive over. Since we checked, we were able to have a lazy morning AND get first tracks in right after the pass opened. That's right, ours were the first ski tracks on Chinook Pass.
That actually sounds better than it was. The snow was 7-11 variety slush but not as tasty. There was still about 90 cm of snow up there. The other side of the highway was still closed due to avalanche danger (different aspect). In fact, a DOT person stopped by to talk to us and actually checked our avalanche beacons to make sure ours were on and working. He told us the better skiing would be earlier, before the sun hit it. But we didn't set the plowing schedule so we got full sun mush.
I only made one lap because turning was so difficult. Randy actually bothered to make three laps but not because the skiing was fun. After we got back to the truck, less than an hour later, Randy carved the word "WIMPS" into the snow bank. Yes, it was wimpy skiing but not really worth pursuing a hard day. Plus we had the mountain bikes. The next day was the official start day of the mountain biking season for us.
I don't have any pictures of our mountain bike rides. Seems to me we did one ride that involved pushing our bikes through snow at the top of a ridge. It was hot in Yakima so I wore cotton socks. My feet got soaked and cold. We were out for a long time, got a little lost on the spider web of jeep and elk trails but made it back in one piece. Now I wear wool socks even if the temps are 90F (will post about our mountain bike vacation at Mt. St. Helens at a later date).
A few weeks later we came back to Yakima to ride a jeep trail loop high in the mountains. The snow was gone and the riding was pretty good. The next day we rode single track in hot, hot Cowiche Canyon. Fun, fast riding but had to end before it got really hot. Probably don't have pictures of that either. Randy does. I'll post an album sometime after I get his pictures. He's the photographer; I'm the scribe.