Green Mountain Mountain Bike Ride

I used to ride a lot on Green Mountain. Almost 40 years ago I rode motorcycles there and then more recently I rode mountain bikes up and down the mountain. But it has been several years since I have ridden there. After I moved to East Bremerton, there is just something about hauling the bicycle somewhere to go riding. Most of my off road riding has been in Illahee Preserve which has a lot of fun trails, but not much climbing and is only a mile and a half away.

So today, I found my Camelback hydration pack, cleaned and filled it and loaded the bicycle on the roof rack of the Bronco and headed to the Wildcat Trailhead. The Wildcat Trail seems to be my favorite. It is about 9.5 mile round trip to the summit and about 1100 ft of climbing. The day was great for a ride like this. The weather was cool and overcast and the ground wet, NO DUST! There was some water on the trail, but nothing you could drown in.

I started up the trail and realized how rusty I am. The rocky sections were probably no harder than they ever were, but it took me a while to get comfortable attacking the ridges and overhangs. One thing I noticed was how wide most of the trail was. When I started riding motorcycles there, all there was was motorcycles. Now Quads have become popular and they need a wider trail. Also, there has been a lot of trail maintenance and a lot of logs placed across the trail for erosion control. These gave me fits on some climbs when I could not get enough momentum to clear them.

I made it to the summit without a lot of walking. After a short rest, I started down. By now, I felt more comfortable and rolled attacked the downhill sections. I also felt better on some of the uphill sections and was able to clean some technical parts.

It was fun and I really need to get out and visit some other areas like Newberry Park, Banner Forrest and Port Gamble. The Kitsap Mountain Biking Club ( http://www.kitsapmtb.com/ ) has been working on a lot of new trail systems.

I feel like a kid again!

The Wildcat Trailhead.
The summit of Green Mountain.

Looking toward Bremerton.