We estimated the full moon would rise around 10:15 pm. Sunset was sometime after 9 pm. Even with a long afterglow it would be dark by 10 pm.
Hmmm... how long would it take to ride six or seven miles uphill at a constant 6% grade? Also add in driving time to reach the Loop where we planned to start.
Colleen came to get me at 6 pm. She brought me several pieces of a huckleberry cake she had made earlier that day. Oh god, it was good. Larry and Curt... you thought the huckleberry ice cream you had, or the huckleberry jam I had made was good, you haven't tasted good huckleberry food until you taste Colleen's huckleberry cake.
At the Loop we felt we had a little time so we walked on the Granite Park Chalet trail a quarter mile to the first stream. This section of the trail gives a good view of the burnt trees from the 2003 Trapper fire that swept up this mountain side. This is where I have taken each year the photos of the burnt trees and new growth that are on my blog's sidebar.
Before we got our bicycles from Colleen's pickup we spoke to a father and son next to us. The son had just hiked the Highline-Granite Park Chalet-Loop trail. About 12 miles. He strongly disliked hiking the four or so miles down the mountain through the burnt trees from the chalet to the Loop.
I learned the son had climbed Reynolds Mountain the previous day and we discussed the route he had taken to the top. I want to do that climb.
Then we started out on the ride to Logan Pass. The sun was sinking red in the west/NW. The smoke plume from the fire near the Talley Lake area I had seen earlier from Rebecca Farm was drifting NE and across the sun. The sun lit the smoke plume red.Colleen did great riding up the steep road. I think we only stopped a couple times for her to get a drink of water and a few times for me to take a photo.
Little traffic was on the road, but cars still passed occasionally. It seemed as if lines of cars stacked up behind a slow driver when going down the mountain but not for cars going uphill.
It was dark by the time we reached Logan Pass. We stopped in the parking lot to rest and drink water. The temperature had been warm but now was dropping and a breeze was at the Pass. It wasn't long before I put my t-shirt on and also put on a windbreaker. Colleen put her windbreaker on also. We huddled together to keep warm.
Within minutes the moon rose over the mountains to the SE. We could see a pointed mountain peak against the moon as the moon first came up over the line of mountains. Then the moon crossed a smoke plume from the fire near Hwy 2 before rising into the clear and starry sky.
After a bit we decided to ride down the mountain back to the Loop. I discovered my bicycle light did not work now even though I had replaced the batteries this afternoon and it worked then. Colleen had a head mounted light which we struggled to figure out how to turn on in the dark.
"Where is that switch?!"
Colleen shined her cell phone's light on the headlamp. We still could not find a switch.
A car drove into the parking lot and I asked the driver if I could use the lights from his car's headlights to find the switch. The driver had a powerful flashlight and using that we found that you had to twist the light to turn it on. I tried earlier to twist it but not too hard as I was afraid I would break something in the dark.
Down we rode. I wore the headlamp and shone it before us. The moon had not risen high enough yet to light the Sun road.
It was very windy as we started our ride. Between the wind, our speed, and braking my mountain bicycle developed a shimmy which made aiming the light harder. A mile or so below the Pass the wind quit. And so did the bicycle's shimmy.
As we raced down the mountain we would encounter warm and cold air pockets and quickly zip through them. At one point a large bird flew off the road as we approached. We think it was an owl.
We began to meet other bicyclists slowly riding up to the Pass. We both called out "Hi!" and "Hello!" as we zoomed downhill past them. They all would merrily reply "Hi!" and "Hello!" back to us. At one point we encountered a group of eight riders. We couldn't see the riders other than by their lights, but from their voices many were women riders.
When cars came from the opposite direction their headlights would light up the road then drown it in darkness after they passed. We felt blind, then our eyes readjusted to the darkness and my headlamp light.
Then Colleen hit, with her rear bicycle tire, a rock that had fallen on the road. Flat tire!!
By now we thought we were close to the Loop and began to walk. Hmmm... not around this bend in the road. Nor this bend. Or this bend. Going downhill the road seemed far longer than going uphill. But then Colleen and I had chatted away while riding uphill. At one point two men we passed by on our uphill ride, and who were taking photos of the mountains lit by the setting sun, complemented us on having the ability to talk while riding up the steep road.Finally I had enough walking, and in the moonlight that now lit up the road, and using the headlamp for light, I took Colleen's tire off and switched her bad tube for a new one. A good thing as we still had a ways to ride to reach the Loop.
Next to Colleen's pickup were two men preparing to begin their ride up the mountain. We suspected it was them who left the two empty beer cans in the bed of Colleen's pickup. It was just after midnight now. A few riders had returned to the Loop's parking lot from their ride downhill and the women especially were whooping it up in their excitement from their ride down the mountain.
It was a great ride and Colleen and I plan to do this ride again. Next time we will start later and ride up the mountain in the moonlight.
We drove home slowly savoring our successful ride. I never got home until 1:40 am.
First photo: Mt Oberlin in sunset light and Logan Pass to its left.
Second photo: the moon from Logan Pass.
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