Johnson Pass- First Ride of the Season!

Johnson Pass has been on the to-do list for a while.  We’ve heard it’s a great trail but has a tendency to get a bit overgrown in the summer. We both hate fighting devils club and cow parsnip so we thought we would go before they were out in full force. Neither of us had biked, or really done any physical activity lately, but we decided to give it a try anyways. We would have the whole day to take it slow and enjoy the scenery.

We decided on the North to South route and drove two cars to shuttle around. The view on the drive to the trailhead was a bonus.

The trail up to the lake was fun, dry, and the rolling hills disguised the climb well.

We enjoyed lunch at the lake then pressed on only to find a large swath of snow and debris covering the trail from avalanches this winter. We stayed near the lake and didn’t have any trouble picking up the trail.

    

It’s hard to think of snow as light, fluffy, powdery stuff when you see its ability to rip grass off rocks

After reaching the lake I was anticipating a gradual enjoyable descent, unfortunately, the second half of the trail seemed like more of a climb than the first half. Thankfully the trail hugs Trail Lake as you near the end and the beautiful teal green water quickly erased any uphill frustration I had. We finished in about 6 hrs, with plenty of breaks included.

The first bike of the season, and a 27 mile one at that, in the books May 25th, 2015!