White Mountain Peak on Mountain Bikes – September 15th – A Lesson in Humility

So I'm at it again. I finish one accomplishment and then find myself right in the middle of yet another adventure in progress. Upon finishing my first solo backpacking adventure to the top of Mount Langley I seemingly began to plan my next summit almost immediately. Being my first season spending any amount of time in the Sierras, I wanted my next summit to be a somewhat easy summit to "get my feet wet." I read the easiest 14'er in California was White Mountain Peak and decided this would be the next summit. Upon further reading and planning, I noticed that some people do this by way of mountain bike! It didn't take much time to decide I too was going to summit White Mountain Peak on my mountain bike. Now the fun part...who will come with me?
Almost immediately, my friend, and new dad, Andy Olivares said he was in. In fact, it was more of something like, "yes, Yes , YES!" He made sure to check in with me to let me know he was still in. I was extra stoked to have someone coming on the trip who was as excited as I was!

The Plan

Andy decided to take Friday off work and take his time getting to White Mountain. We decided to stay at Grandview Campgrounds on the way to the Barcroft Gate which leads to the summit. The campgrounds are situated at around 8900ft and are a popular destination for star gazers. Andy arrived early to secure our spot and explored the area a bit.

 [I had to add this photo I took of this vehicle I passed while driving to my destination. Google the model number to learn the amazing history of this remarkable, and extremely fuel efficient, classic RV.]

 I arrived at the campgrounds Friday after work about 11:30p.m. and woke Andy up. He generously offered me some Fire Ball and I obliged. Although I knew this was a bad idea, I thought we would have no problems getting to the summit in the morning. We explored and looked for some mines Andy heard about but never found them. It was fun running around talking about our kids and exploring the area. We woke up later than we wanted. It was my fault...I kept hitting SNOOZE.

Actually fit quite nicely and car camped in my VW Rabbit

We packed into Andys VW GTI and took off up the mountain. The description of the roads are that they are scary mountainous roads that require 4x4. Not quite. These roads were not scary at all honestly and no 4x4 needed, just patience. In fact, these were some of the most fun roads I've ever driven on.

En route to the gate you will pass the Bristlecone Pine Forest which has the oldest living(trees) things IN THE WORLD! Some are dated 4500yrs and older! (Basically, the trees were around before Jesus). The landscape is quite barren but undeniably beautiful. It's one of those places where you have to visit to really understand.

 

We reached the gate around 10:00a.m. and knew we were very late but again didn't think it would be that big of a deal since we are only doing 14 miles...did I mention the gate is located at 11,680ft?





The Ride

We geared up, debated on bringing our wind jackets, ultimately decided against it then headed out. About 300 yards into the initial hill climb I had to get off my bike. My gears seemed to be jamming up so Andy helped out and we were back at it. Secretly however, I was spent and couldn't believe how terrible I was feeling less than 1 minute into the ride! My legs screamed at me, my lungs couldn't get enough oxygen to the point of dizziness and we had 13 miles left to go! WTH did we get into!? Andy kept a slow steady pace that seemed to be working out better than whatever I was doing so I soon joined suit. We were granny gearin' it at 1 and 1.  After about 20 minutes my body started to wake up and kick into gear. We cruised into the Barcroft Research Station 2 miles into the ride to get some rest, get water, pee out water, and take photos of sheep.

The maintained dirt road gave way to an off-road jeep required path from this point on. Rocky and filled with ruts was the name of the game. We cruised down some really fun downhill section to get to a long gradual path that lead us to a viewpoint of the mountain...and the part where the steeps really kick in.

At this point we just kept trudging along to yet another small summit where we met and talked to a hunter. Apparently the man, who must have been in his late 60's, was scouting a family of 8-10 big horned sheep. He said he had a tag for one of them and had been tracking them for a while. I wondered how it would feel to kill a big horned sheep after watching, following, and getting to know the family of animals for a number of days. He told us where to watch for them as we said goodbye and went on.

There was an extremely steep downhill section that we just has to stop and walk down. Just slowing down slightly almost threw you over the bars. After this section the final stretch of steeps began.

 

After a few switchback of rough and often extremely rocky roads, we came across the family of sheep aforementioned. At this point we were really feeling the effects of the altitude. A few switchbacks at a time would render you utterly breathless and lightheaded. You would start wondering how hard you could push it before passing out...and would you know when to stop.

 

Truth be told, we ditched our bikes just shy of the summit. The road seemed impassable by our bikes as it was just large sized rocks, and loose sections of shifting rock. We cursed ourselves for not bringing the jackets we decided against bringing back at the cars. It was damn near freezing with quite windy conditions and gusts near the summit. We ended up walking a little more than a quarter of a mile to the summit.  We were both quiet in our walk to the summit and I knew quietly why. The altitude is always a funny thing and it was doing the same thing to my mind. One just seems to go into survival mode and thinks deep, sometimes wild thoughts to keep the mind occupied as the foot seems to mechanically step one in front of the next. It was tough and I knew why. We had wildly underestimated the mountain. It was a lot tougher than expected and the lack of sleep, pushing our bikes up the steepest of sections, along with other factors made this quite tough. Upon reaching the summit we signed the registry, sat down, and took it all in. The view was quite remarkable!

A really funny thing happened regarding the photo on the bottom right. (above) The man in the photo next to me is Patrick. This happens to be the SAME Patrick aforementioned in my previous blog post regarding my Mt. Langley Solo Backpacking Trip! He had also Mountain Biked to the summit but really biked to the summit and was rewarded with the coveted photo of the bike in front of the victorious rider. Both Andy and myself knew we would have to come back to get this reward. We fell short just ever so slightly but deserved it.

Andy and I quickly walked and jogged down to our bikes. We were so excited to start the real fun of some high speed downhill riding! We hopped on our bikes and were off in no time. The road is so rough you really just have to find the path of least resistance and go for it. A little too much on your brakes will throw your tire into a boulder and toss you over your bars at an easy 40mph in parts. It was a no error situation but THE most fun I have EVER have on my bike, bmx included! I was very glad I knew how to hop my bike from bmx experience as some parts going downhill became so rough the best thing to do was to simply bunny hop over the roughest sections to an easier path of least resistance.
Patrick stopped to film and photograph Andy and myself and we passed by the family of big horned sheep. The largest and obvious leader of the pack was always attentive and facing us as we passed quickly. I thought of the youtube video of the man getting bucked off his mountain bike as we passed. Luckily this sheep was chill and let us pass.
The rest of the way down was extremely fast, fun and intense. My eyes watered as I went much faster than I had expected but didn't have time to wipe my eyes or brake to slow down. These moments were so thrilling and I just trusted my instincts, bike, and skills I had learned throughout my life and literally enjoyed myself to the fullest.
We raced towards Andys car and towards the final stretch where the road becomes maintained and where we can speed with no real worries of rocks or deep ruts.
As with all ends to a real adventure, the end is not really the story at all. We sat down, drank the rest of our water and ate the rest of our snacks while congratulating the finishers that were making their way to their vehicles. Then we left.


The Conclusion


After packing our bikes and gear up, we quickly drove down the mountain and talked about how otherworldly the whole experience seemed. The landscape really is the best idea I have ever had in my mind of what mars would look like, although this landscape is here in California and partly in Nevada to be all specific....We slowed as we passed the Bristlecone Pines then kept on our way down he mountain thoroughly enjoying the winding road back to camp. We are very small things in this universe and the understanding of that lack of power is refreshing in a way. These thoughts along with all the new Dad talk about babies, poop, joys and stresses and all that encompasses being a new family were joyfully talked about around a campfire and good beer. We were happy to stay the night and relax another night at Grandview Campgrounds as we could recuperate for some fun bouldering at Bishop the next morning...but that is another story.