Bike Ride

Our purpose for staying at Stub was to get a few training rides in for our planned bike tour that will happen this June. Due to weather and our general vacation mindset, we got one good ride in.

First we biked up the hill from the Mountain Cabin Village.

We rode on the Banks/Vernonia rail trail. Stub is in the middle of the trail and we took off for Vernonia. However, we eventually discovered we were actually headed toward Banks. I was surprised we made this mistake, because Stub has a lot of signs. I checked on the way back and there is no sign indicating which way is Banks and which way is Vernonia.

Being that it was a trail and that there weren't many people about, I took the opportunity to take a lot of photos by bike.

After we made it out of the "woods" we rode through farm land. Matt stopped to "kill a layer" and I documented the weather.

Matt killing his layer.

We made it to Banks. It was a slight downhill grade the entire way, so it went by very quickly.

We had lunch at a cafe and while eating, it began to pour, so we braced ourselves for a cold and rainy ride back. While waiting for our lunch, I noticed that one of the fliers advertised well water testing by the Washington County Extension Service. In my previous job, I helped coordinate that effort, revising and printing the fliers.

On the ride back, happily, the sun came out after the first 10 minutes of rain and it was time for Matt to kill a layer once again.

We're back in the park.

More photo by bike collage.

We found an amphibian and Matt helpfully moved him off the trail.

The ride from Stub to Banks took one hour, the ride back took two. The last 10 minutes of the ride were particularly grueling as Stub's elevation changes rapidly from the entrance to the Mountain Village cabins. I wasn't sure I was going to make it back up the hill without walking the bike, but my 21 gears came in handy.