Day 12 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

I am still up in the South Puget Sound area.  This morning the temperature was 24F, and "The Mountain" was out.  I waited until noon and the temperature had warmed a bit, and went to Buckley to explore the Foothills Trail.

The first part of the exploratory experience was to find the trail!  I could see from the map that it went through Buckley so I drove there. I should have been thinking and realized that many of these towns grew up around the railroad, and this was a Rails-to-Trails path.  The path went right through the middle of town!  I hopped on the fixed gear bike and pedaled west(ish), not with a particular plan or destination in mind.

I had to pass through a busy multi-street intersection.  There were several crosswalks to navigate.  Luckily, there was information to keep me occupied while I waited for the signal to cross.

Of course, you can always click on photos to view full size and more easily read any text

I made my way through the intersections and was met with a long straight run through the trees.

As I was mounting the bike preparing to ride, a guy on a flat bar bike passed by.  I took pursuit and was not surprised to find that it was an E-bike.  We cruised along at 17-18 mph and talked about bike life.  I didn't stop for any photos until we reached Orting.  This was Tom's finish point, and my turn around point for today.

Tom, post ride, barely breaking a sweat!

I pedaled back with plans to ride a bit slower, and to stop for photos from time to time.
The first thing I noted as I turned around was that "The Mountain" had been behind me the whole time!

The trail followed the somewhat unpredictable Carbon River for a significant distance.

In addition to this former rail bed being slightly uphill on my return, today it was also experiencing a  brisk head wind.

On the plus side, the east wind over the Cascade summit was responsible for record setting warmth.  (61 F in Seattle) As I reached South Prairie, the explanation of the broad flat bottomed valley was explained on this trail side reader board.

Tom and I had talked about lahars and earthquakes. After reading this sign, I wonder how fast I could ride my bike if I really needed to get out of Dodge quickly?. ;-) (ANSWER: Not fast enough!)

One of the sure ways of knowing you are likely traveling on a former railroad bed are deep cuts to allow relatively flat passage through small hills.

As I was wrapping this 25 mile ride up, I noted that I could have looked at a map of the route.
It looks like there is much more to explore.

I wonder what the chance is that next time the mountain will be out again?

Today .....25.................0..................0....................0...........25

Jan.........26................ 0................0.....................0..............26

Feb.........7..................0................0.....................0...............7

March.......5.................0................0.....................0...............5

April.......0.................0...............66.....................0...............66

May.........0..................0..............79......................0...............79

June........2..................0...............0......................0...............2

July........64.................0...............0......................0...............64

August......11..................0...............0.....................0...............11

September 0..................0................0.....................0................0

October 0..................0...............0......................0................0

November 147................0................0......................0...............147

YTD........265...............0...............154.....................0.............419