Lake Tapps, new territory

I belong to a Facebook group that urges us to "Heed the Call of the Trail Not Pedaled".  Today I did just that.  After being at Lake Tapps for a birthday gathering last night, today I had the hankering to ride around a bit. My hosts suggested a path that went from Auburn to Sumner.  Against the advice of my hosts, I decided that I should ride to the ride.  It is a hilly area, and there was a mile long 10% grade getting to and from the trail along with 6 miles of significant roller coasters.  I wasn't sure if I could get the fixie up a 10% grade for any appreciable distance, but there aren't many hills that I can't push my bike up if necessary, so off I went.

Before getting to "the hill" there were non stop rollers.  On a geared bike, this would have been fun.  On the fixed gear bike it was work.  There were no shoulders on most of it, and a reasonable amount of traffic, but drivers were considerate.

Once I got to "the hill" there was a wide separated path, that locals appear to use for exercise.  I would get my exercise keeping the fixed gear bike under control as I went down the 10% grade.

When I got to the bottom it was just a short jaunt to the trail I was heading to.

It was a nice ride along the White River.  The White River is a component of the whole White, Green, Black, Duwamish, Puyallup, and Stuck River man made and natural river route modifications.

It looks like the changes are not yet finished.  This project will remove the pedestrian/bike bridge and replace it with 2 lane automotive bridge, and widen the river channel by 200 ft on each side to allow high flows to better get through the area without flooding the nearby commercial buildings.

As I crossed the bridge I had a front row view of something in the river.

It appears to be some sort of fishwheel, perhaps part of a fish counting or tagging operation.  There was nobody staffing the barge and no apparent action going on.  There was a sign farther up the river saying that the area was under rehabilitation and fishing was not allowed.

I saw a path that headed back east, at a tangent to the trail I was on.  It was packed gravel for a city block or so, then turned to asphalt.  It looked to connect to what I determined to be the East Valley Hwy.  When I got to the road, it was indeed East Valley Hwy.  I took out my phone and started the Maps.me app to find a way back to Lake Tapps without having to retrace my route.  The climb couldn't be avoided, but the route could be.  Forest Canyon Rd went up the hill, but it looked like it would be a circuitous  route with a lot of turns to memorize.  I headed back north toward Lake Tapps Parkway, "the hill" I had come down on.  Just before getting there, there was a turn marked "to Lake Tapps", that worked for me.  It was steep, steep enough that I had to resort to the "paperboy weave" to keep making progress. By the numbers it was just over 11%.  When I arrived at "the hill", I noted a paved multi-use path directly across the hwy.  I made my way over to it and began pedaling up it.

The trail diverged, and I took the wrong way.  after some significant climbing, I found my way had turned into a sidehilling single track.  I didn't want to give back the hard earned elevation, so I continued on.

I eventually reached roads and without the sun to keep my bearings, I soon found myself pulling out the phone again.  I reestablished my directions and continued on.

Before long I was back on the roller coaster working my way back to Lake Tapps.  I pulled into the house just as it started to rain lightly.

After the rain passed, I twisted friend Julie's arm to join me for some bonus miles.  We pedaled around the community.  Having not taken my phone, or camera,  I missed some nice photo opps of beautiful lakeside homes with views of the lake.  Next time.  Julie and I added 4 miles to my 18.

22 miles

It was another good workout on a short mileage ride.

1327 ft

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ........22................0...................0.......................0...........22
Jan...............0................0...............,...0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......559................0..................0........................0..........559
YTD...... 960...............0...................0.......................0...........960