Had Delusions of Trying to Ride to Carson, WA on 5 January

[FeralRdr]

So this past Sunday a friend and I tried to do this loop out of the Portland/Vancouver area.

We call this the Cougar/Carson loop. http://goo.gl/maps/nKTLa

Though we knew there was a good chance of snow up in the higher elevations, we had hoped that it might have cleared up a bit with the recent good weather that we had.  The ride out to Cougar, WA (NE corner of Yale Reservoir) was surprisingly awesome: Clear skies, not too cold, and predominately dry and clean pavement.  This actually led us to believe we might make it over Old Man Pass to Carson.  Unfortunately, as we headed East out of Cougar, we started encountering small patches of black ice.  We didn't get discouraged, as most of the patches either had clear tracks through them, or were small enough that they didn't really pose a huge risk.  Unfortunately, our luck ran out as we reached the NE corner of the Swift Reservoir and encountered sections of the road that looked like this (only the frost went across the entire road and was in sections that ran upwards of several hundred yards/meters).:

Vicinity Pine Creak Ranger Station/Info Center (Checkpoint B on map)




So this was as far as we made it.






So after a short break, we decided to head back and once we cleared the large sheets of black ice, we were able to set a faster pace, as we had a good idea of where all the slick spots were.  Luckily, we were able to make it back into town well before dark.  Though we didn't make it around the whole loop, we did have a great time.  I could have done without riding on the black ice, but at least I learned how to do it somewhat safely; not too slow, not too fast, and stay as smooth as possible.

[rktmanfj]

Izzat an XS400?   

[FeralRdr]

Izzat an XS400?   

Yep.  It's an '81.

[TexasDave]

Exactly what happened to me when I rode south through Oregon from Spokane in November. Nice roads and sunny day in the valley, beautiful country. Why is there an "ICE" sign on the road? Being from Texas I didn't realize the roads and weather were completely different in the mountain passes. Slowed me way down! Stay warm--Dave

[FeralRdr]

Exactly what happened to me when I rode south through Oregon from Spokane in November. Nice roads and sunny day in the valley, beautiful country. Why is there an "ICE" sign on the road? Being from Texas I didn't realize the roads and weather were completely different in the mountain passes. Slowed me way down! Stay warm--Dave

Based off of how far I had to ride on the ice (only a few hundred yards total, but my first time ever in 20 plus years of riding), you have my utmost respect. 

[TexasDave]

Left Spokane (22degF) and took hwy 395 south through Oregon. Only met one car all day at a rest stop. A couple sightly older than me was on their way to Idaho for Thanksgiving. They came over to talk and find out what kind of idiot was riding in this weather. He told me of riding a Honda 450 from PA to CA when he was a younger man and she wanted to shake my hand. I said normally I would but in this case I did't want to take the chance that "stupid" would rub off on her!  Stay warm--Dave

[pdxfj]

Excellent attempt!   You've been out more than I have.. can't even remember the last time I started the FJ, let alone ride it..

Hopefully this summer will be less crazy and I can actually get out and ride..

[FeralRdr]

Give me a shout when you get back Garth, and we'll get a ride in.