Return to the Meadows!

Another weekend, another adventure! This time we took a trip up to the Sierra Nevadas to Kennedy Meadows. During the summer it’s too hot to ride in the local desert areas we typically frequent, so about once a year we make the trek up into the mountains north of Lake Isabella for a cool summer retreat up in the mountains and some great trail riding at 8500 feet.
As I was heading up the mountain, I was talking to Katie (Turner) and heard that Vicki was in labor and headed to the hospital! I was in the middle of telling Katie that I was mountain bound and might not get reception up........
Fortunately Vicki and I have always had a really strong connection and I could feel that night at the campfire that it was done. The baby was here and all was well. Thomas Steven Chase is a spitting image of his daddy and Vicki is a stud and toughed it out without an epidural. Go’on wicha bad self, baybe!

Kennedy Meadows was pretty sweet. I got set up despite a tent pole malfunction... aka I left four poles at home. Fortunately I got some mad skills and with some ingenuity we were able to improvise. It’s a good thing we got it all sorted out because at three separate times during the first night it POURED on us. It was coming down so hard at one point I was sure I’d wake up rafting down a raging current on my air mattress, but I stayed dry to my surprise.
We rode all day Saturday – and I do mean ALL DAY. We had a three-hour outing in the morning which included the whole group – Me, Dennis, Leo, Gray, his kid Race, and Keith. We hit some pretty rough trails which 50% of us were enjoying, but it had been a while since a few of the guys had ridden, and being at nearly 9000 feet only makes things harder. We headed back for a lunch break and a while later we were headed back out for round two.
The first ride was 20 miles (and mountain miles are a lot more challenging than desert miles!) and this time we were bound and determined to make it all the way up to Osa Meadow. And when I say “we” I mean me... kinda dragging everyone else with me. We got a little over an hour into our ride and Leo and I stopped at an incredible little creek crossing. It was beautiful with lush grass, flowers and flowing water. It was a good place for a break so we stopped and waited for the others. And waited. And waited. When no one came we finally turned around and back tracked, about a half mile back we found Dennis, Keith and Gray parked at a road crossing. They were off the bikes, helmets off, sprawled on the ground in the shade – done.
“We’re tired, Gray is cramping up and my back hurts,” Dennis said. They were going to head back the way we came, but Leo and I decided to forge on to the meadow. I remember vividly the last time I was there. It was about five years ago and Mark was with us. The ride was awesome and the meadow was absolutely breath taking! It looked like a movie set! There’s a picture of all of us sitting on a log overlooking the meadow and it’s still hanging on the wall in the shop at Mom’s. I was really looking forward to seeing it again and ridng the trails again.
About a half hour later Leo and I reached the meadow. It was as beautiful as I remember, but the trails are really whooped out after years of use. Oh well... it was still a fantastic ride.
Leo and I could have gone back the way we came, but we decided to make a loop instead of back-tracking our way back. Dennis had told us that it was a really looooong loop to go all the way around, but it didn’t look all that much further on the map... That’s officially the last time I’ll ever doubt Dennis. That stupid map isn’t to scale! We took Granite Trail all the way up to Jackass Peak (it’s actually called that) and headed back to camp on Jackass Trail. What “didn’t look that much further” ended up being an extra 17 miles! It was fun, but a much longer ride than we were anticipating. Needless to say, we were wiped out at the end of our ride, but very satisfied that we got so much out of our day.
The next morning we headed back down the mountain. It’s a pretty amazing drive because one minute you’re up in the mountains and it’s 70 degrees, but 20 miles later you get back down to the desert and it’s 104 degrees!
The trails weren’t as good as they were five years ago, but it was great to be up there again and it meant a lot to me to make the trip again. Monday morning and it was back to the grind. True to form, it was a grueling Monday – bruises, scratches, sunburn, bug bites, sore muscles and exhausted. Good times!!!

This coming weekend it’s the opening round of EnduroCross in Las Vegas. This is my favorite series and the Vegas rounds are always a blast! I’ll be rooting for my boy Kyle (Redmond) to win, and also trying to stay out of trouble. Hopefully at least one of those will happen!