Day 20: Iron Creek campground to Swift reservoir

September 4, 2011

Route from Iron Creek campground to Stevenson. Days 20 and 21. Turn on Terrain view!

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I slept late this morning and got on the road at 9:15. Today's ride starts with a forested 3000 foot climb going south on Forest Road 25. The first 12 miles duplicates the last 12 miles of yesterday's ride. But I see it much better at 4 mph than at 30 mph. The climb was 7% at the bottom, gentle in the middle, but 7-8% at the top.

A third of the way up the climb is the Iron Creek falls trailhead. The waterfall is a 1/4 mile walk off the highway in a lush canyon.

Near Elk pass was one final view of Mount Rainier.

A 7 watt solar panel charged my phone, camera, bicycle tail light, camp headlight, and shaver.

The temperature was in the 70's at the unsigned summit of Elk Pass. But it warmed into the 80s during the descent. The descent had several good views of Mount St. Helens. In one area I could smell smoke from a fire, but the big fire to the east didn't seem to affect visibility in the directions I could see.

I was hoping for a view of Mount Adams, but there was always a nearby tall ridge obstructing views to the east. During this tour I had good views of Mount Baker, Mount Rainier, and Mount St. Helens, but was unable to complete the set of Washington volcanoes with a view of Mount Adams. I'm not too upset because I saw Mount Adams during a 2006 bike tour.

Forest Road 25 is not plowed during winter. This year Elk Pass didn't open until mid-July. Most years it opens in May.

I had to be quick to take this picture while no cars were parked here.

Mount St. Helens from the east. The blast didn't go this direction.

Panorama from the Clearwater viewpoint east of Mount St Helens.

Wasps buzzed around me for most of the afternoon. No stings, but it was very annoying. I don't recall ever seeing so many wasps while on the road.

Eruptions of Mount St. Helens typically inundate the Muddy river valley with a giant lahar (mudflow).

The temperature was 87F when I arrived at the Northwoods store and campground near Swift reservoir. I got a campsite in the crowded campground. $18, with shower. The place is off the grid. A diesel generator ran until midnight, but it was in a shed so it wasn't very loud. I arrived at about 4 PM, so I had plenty of time to relax and finish reading my book Oregon's Greatest Natural Disasters, which has several pages about Mount St. Helens even though it's in Washington.

The store was the first store I've seen in two days, but the food selection was pathetic. The store had no deli sandwiches, milk, ice cream, frozen foods, meat, fruit or vegetables. If I was off the grid I would also be reluctant to sell perishable food.

The temperature was in the 70's in the evening. Warmest weather since I was in the desert more than a week ago. The campground was much noisier than the previous campground. It's kind of a party place, apparently.

Forest Road 25 has much more traffic than the typical forest road because it's the only road through this region of Washington. And traffic was heavier than usual because it's a holiday weekend.

Starting today Oregon license plates were about as common as Washington license plates. I'm now in Portland's sphere of influence rather than Seattle's sphere of influence.

Today's distance was short but the mountain climb was big.

Distance: 38.1 mi. (61 km)
Climbing: 3643 ft. (1104 m)
Average Speed: 8.3 mph (13.3 km/h)

Today's ride: 38 miles (61 km)
Total: 950 miles (1,529 km)

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