Suntop Mountain/Skookum Flats, Near Mt. Rainier, Washington
Saturday, 6 July 2002

I have long heard about the Suntop Mountain/Skookum Flats trail so when Troy
Hopwood of Dirtworld.com fame asked if I wanted to try it out I was stoked.
On a perfect Washington summer day I met up with Troy at his house in
Newcastle at 9:00 a.m.

The entrance to the trail is a little past the town of Greenwater (the home
of Wapiti Woolies) - a little bit of a jaunt from the Eastside. Luckily,
Troy had directions and, with some effort, we found Forest Road #73.
Apparently the Forest Service has difficulty counting. We first saw Road
#72. Then #74. Then #70. Maybe some of my more math inclined friends can
figure out the algorithm that they are using for this.

Any who.it was a little crowded at the trailhead and we met a group from
Olympia. We thought we would catch up with them so we let them take off.
We would never see them again that day but I am getting ahead of myself.

The first part of the trip is a grueling 7-mile, 4,000-foot climb to the
crest of Suntop Mountain. Undaunted, Troy and I muckled into the climb.
Since it wasn't Africa hot the climbing wasn't bad. The fire road got old
after awhile but the scenery and company was good. At one point I asked
Troy how many miles we had pedaled and he answered "about 10". I thought
that was a little odd as we were only supposed to climb seven. Five or ten
miles later (who knows?) we stopped at lookout. Troy mentioned that we
might have taken a wrong turn, as he did not recognize this particular
section (we would have started to descend).

Shortly after we stopped a Forest Service truck pulled up. A Ranger got out
of the truck and said, "You boys are lost, aren't ya?" and asked where we
were headed. He laughed and pointed to Suntop Mountain across the valley.
Oops! He then pulled out a tracking device and told us he was tracking a
bear and a cougar. The cougar was released at Snoqualmie Pass. As we were
quite a ways from the Pass we inquired to the normalcy of such a travel. He
said it wasn't normal but that the cougar was a "real man". "You guys will
go home and brag to your girlfriends how you climbed 5,000 vertical but
that's nothing compared to what this cougar has done." And then he gave us
a lecture about what wussies we were. Odd individual. Probably spends too
much time with fury animals if you are picking up what I am laying down.

After Mr. Stud left, Troy and I headed back down the way we came. Well,
actually, I meandered while Troy was launched out of a cannon. Whereas I am
better suited for climbing Troy is the man when it comes to Fire Road
downhills. Not any Fire Road downhills mind you. The kind that has
washboard and loose gravel corners with 1,000 foot drops off the side. Of
course it took us only 20-30 minutes to bomb down the mountain.

Once back near the trailhead we found the error in our ways. There was not
one, but two signs pointing to the Suntop Mountain route. Silly us. I want
to blame Troy but the signs are as clear as day and there is no reason to
miss 'em. Of course, I was "Homered" by the pretty "No Fireworks Sign"
(Oooh! Look at the pretty sign!).

We were pretty spent by our adventure so far but I wanted to at least hit
SOME single track so we hopped on the Skookum Flats trail. This trail is a
mountain bikers dream - relatively flat, very smooth, twisty, up-and-down,
etc. All this right next to a sweet river. It was heaven. At least it was
until a branch got caught in Troy's rear derailleur. That was ugly. So
ugly in fact that his rear derailleur snapped off. He tried to set up his
bike as a single speed so he could at least pedal out but couldn't make it
work. Ergo, the mile or two back to the car Troy basically "scootered" his
way back. Poor bastard. I want to say it serves him right for sending us
some 15-20 miles out of the way but I won't, as Troy is too cool of a guy.
:-)

We ended our adventure by stopping in Greenwater for a tasty burger at
Naches Tavern. Despite our misadventures, I thought it was a great day. We
were on our bikes, in the mountains - how could one not have a blast. I
definitely plan on going back to at least check out the Flats more. They
were a blast!