Well, May and the 10 day forecast for June are conspiring against us.  What's in the forecast? Rain, rain, and more rain.  February looked so promising, March ok and now April, May and the beginning of June just suck.  With all the winter training rides it's hard to stay motivated on soggy days, not only is it just 'not fun' but riding it the heavy rain damages many of the sensitive trail systems.  There are a few local trails that stand up well to the weather but after all the winter riding at those locations, we're getting a little tired of riding the same trails day after day.  For local trail suggestions for soggy months - click here .

Fortunately we can head over east of the mountains in search of sun or at least somewhat dry trails.  This time we headed out to Cashmere, WA .  Just a little further east of the bavarian town of Leavenworth (where we enjoyed Oktoberfest last fall), Cashmere is a small town with some big rides.  Cashmere is surrounded by the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area is just a few miles to the west.  Cashmere also is home to river rafting, apple/pear growers, and the Peshastin Pinnacles which is a historical climbing area located a few miles from town. Some of America's first technical climbing routes were established.

On to the ride though - the rides best known are Devil's Gulch and Mission Ridge.   We decided that the creek crossings his early in the season might turn us back so we started up the Red Hill Trail from the trailhead at the end of the parking lot.  We crossed a bridge immediately and then straight across a gravel road.  At the first trail junction we took a right onto Red Hill Trail (No 1223). The other trail is the Red Devil Trail (No. 1221) and we came back down on this one (rivals Devil's Gulch descent, really fun).  At another trail junction around .6 miles in, stay left on the Red Hill Trail. The trail climbs steadily uphill on a nicely graded path, making a number of switchbacks.  At mile 2.25 we went straight across an old road and kept climbing.  Eventually we reached a T- intersection and turned left on the Red Hill Spur Trail (No 1223.1).  The trail ahead climbs a little, and then drops into Devils Gulch.  The descent in has some exposure and was really muddy in some sections, would be awesome just a little later in the season before it gets too dry.  At the intersection for Devil's Gulch we turned right and climbed up to the first big creek crossing. There we decided not to get soaked up to our thighs with freezing cold snow melt and turned to return down.  

We passed the Red Hill Spur and continued down towards the Devil's Gulch Trailheaded.  The Mission Ridge Trail branches off to the right but we kept going straight.  At the Intersection with the Red Devil Trail #1221 we went left and started climbing again. The climb back out is constant but less steep than the route we came out on.  After climbing steadily for about 1.5 miles, we reached the crest. From here the trail dropped a little and wound past a little meadow.  Was a beautiful little meadow with a band of horses - some with halters others without but just loose and grazing peacefully without any humans in sight.  Not sure if they were wild or how or why they were there but they didn't seem afraid of us at all. After that the trailed dropped steadily back down to the cars.  At the bottom, you pass the trail junction that we turned right at on our ascent.  We went back down the way we came in and ended up at the cars.

I forgot to turn the GPS back on when we climbed up that portion of Devil's Gulch so the mileage is a little off but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 17+ miles and 3,900' of elevation.  Definitely would do this ride again later in the season - loved it except for the muddy sections.  While it wasn't the longest ride ever we did get some elevation in and didn't get rained on.  A fun and successful trip that was a relief from the continuous rain and drizzle in Seattle. 

Come on June - bring us some sunshine so we can finish up the training strong!!