Feb 11, 2007 Quarts Mt Ride report

as seen by Fred

On Sunday Lee led a group of nine riders, five in the social security bracket, on a ride from Gardeners in South Cle Elum. The sky was overcast with some blue showing to start. We got to Tamarack Springs via the new Shadow Creek trail. The trail was rough but had about three inches of new snow. The weather was warm and the snow soft.  After a rest at Tamarack Springs we went mostly cross country on a series of loops to lunch in the sun at Frost Mt. From there we went to Hereford Meadows and along Manastash ridge to the “Craters of the Moon”.  While there, the clouds dropped, the light became flat, and the visibility got poor.  Fred was leading and stopped on a hill and Mario got stuck. Mick, following behind, was in a rapid assent on the hill when Mario made one last attempt to get unstuck.  Mick disappeared behind a huge spray of snow and when Mick came out of the cloud there was a snowman ridding his sled. Mick need several minutes to clean all the snow from his helmet and jacket.  

 We went through the Dunes to string Lake in the fog and had the feeling of vertigo, but once we were back in the trees again visibility was good. We went mostly cross country to Tamarack Springs. At that time it began to rain and the next 15 miles of road was extremely rough, visibility poor, and we needed to use Mick’s Bunje to get both him and Mario out of the ditch. At Five Corners it stopped raining. We returned to Gardeners at 5:30 with about 75 miles on the sleds and what every one agreed was an enjoyable adventure. Eight of us recapped the day at the Caboose over an enjoyable meal.