Post by Mike S on Aug 21, 2006 17:13:31 GMT -8
The detour was: Charlie, Alan, Sirott.
The detour started at my place by RSP. Originally we were going to start at Riverside, and proceed to Mica Peak on the south side of town. Charlie's idea for the ride included attempting to find a route, by dirt, from the Spokane Valley, to the peak of Mt. Spokane. Since we had thoughts of summiting Mt. Spokane, we decided to skip most of Riverside SP, forget Mica Peak, and get right to business:
We followed the Spokane river from TJ Menach bridge into downtown, and then up to the South Hill Bluff.
After a quick stop for fuel at the Rocket Market, we headed across the South Hill on 57th:
We headed up Brown Mtn from the South Hill:
From Brown, we followed the ridge to the northern towers on Tower Mountain:
From Tower, we descended into what we guessed was the Dishman Hills area, toward Spokane Valley.
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home.comcast.net/~mikesirott/DetourDishman2.jpg [/img]
From Dishman, we made the boring trek across the valley, and over to Upriver Drive. We climbed the hill past the Arbor Crest winery (but no wine drunken), and then proceeded north to Forker Road.
At this point, we were realizing that we were running low on water. We didn't see any locals outside on this hot day, or we would have asked for some water. Charlie did find a well that pumped pure, refreshing mud:
Without water, but still full or motivation, and the fun-meters still on high, we headed off the pavement and into the woods again. We were headed over to Newman Lake, in hopes of finding a fire road north to Quartz Peak, and eventually Mt. Spokane. Here is a shot of Alan, with his increasingly empty CamelBak, and Newman Lake to the south:
At around mile 45, in 95 degrees, we were about 10 miles off any paved roads, riding on dusty and undulating logging skidder tracks, when Alan ran out of water, and Charlie and I were low. We abandoned plans to go to the Mt. Spokane peak, and instead tried to find the nearest route to water. We found a nice lady watering her plants on Madison Road, and filled up the Camel's.
Mile 60: Charlies place, with beer, brats, and home roasted Vietnamese Latte:
Charlie decided to bail on the detour for the day, and complete the detour (back to my house) on another day. Now a day later, he is riding over to pick up his car from my place, as I type this. Before the sun got too low Alan and I hit the road, and took the Peone prairie route back into town:
When it was all said and done, we had plenty of miles, most of them on the road, but with enough dirt miles to keep it honest. There are two segments that have yet to be explored to in order to call this a complete detour.
1) a route from Dishman to the top of Mica Peak, via the town of Mica, and
2) a route from Newman Lake, or Forker, to the top of Mount Spokane.
Both are doable according to the map, I'm sure of it, but will have to wait until another day.
Peace out. Hope to see some of you all on the next detour.
The detour started at my place by RSP. Originally we were going to start at Riverside, and proceed to Mica Peak on the south side of town. Charlie's idea for the ride included attempting to find a route, by dirt, from the Spokane Valley, to the peak of Mt. Spokane. Since we had thoughts of summiting Mt. Spokane, we decided to skip most of Riverside SP, forget Mica Peak, and get right to business:
We followed the Spokane river from TJ Menach bridge into downtown, and then up to the South Hill Bluff.
After a quick stop for fuel at the Rocket Market, we headed across the South Hill on 57th:
We headed up Brown Mtn from the South Hill:
From Brown, we followed the ridge to the northern towers on Tower Mountain:
From Tower, we descended into what we guessed was the Dishman Hills area, toward Spokane Valley.
From Dishman, we made the boring trek across the valley, and over to Upriver Drive. We climbed the hill past the Arbor Crest winery (but no wine drunken), and then proceeded north to Forker Road.
At this point, we were realizing that we were running low on water. We didn't see any locals outside on this hot day, or we would have asked for some water. Charlie did find a well that pumped pure, refreshing mud:
Without water, but still full or motivation, and the fun-meters still on high, we headed off the pavement and into the woods again. We were headed over to Newman Lake, in hopes of finding a fire road north to Quartz Peak, and eventually Mt. Spokane. Here is a shot of Alan, with his increasingly empty CamelBak, and Newman Lake to the south:
At around mile 45, in 95 degrees, we were about 10 miles off any paved roads, riding on dusty and undulating logging skidder tracks, when Alan ran out of water, and Charlie and I were low. We abandoned plans to go to the Mt. Spokane peak, and instead tried to find the nearest route to water. We found a nice lady watering her plants on Madison Road, and filled up the Camel's.
Mile 60: Charlies place, with beer, brats, and home roasted Vietnamese Latte:
Charlie decided to bail on the detour for the day, and complete the detour (back to my house) on another day. Now a day later, he is riding over to pick up his car from my place, as I type this. Before the sun got too low Alan and I hit the road, and took the Peone prairie route back into town:
When it was all said and done, we had plenty of miles, most of them on the road, but with enough dirt miles to keep it honest. There are two segments that have yet to be explored to in order to call this a complete detour.
1) a route from Dishman to the top of Mica Peak, via the town of Mica, and
2) a route from Newman Lake, or Forker, to the top of Mount Spokane.
Both are doable according to the map, I'm sure of it, but will have to wait until another day.
Peace out. Hope to see some of you all on the next detour.
...you'll have to use your imagination i guess. 
