Hood River: Post Canyon Mountain Biking & Beer
The second to last stop on the #toasterroadtrip was Hood River, Oregon. I was born (and lived until I was five) just down the Columbia River from there in The Dalles, but a lot has changed since 1989! The drive along the Columbia was incredibly windy, and the toaster + rocket box was blown all over the place. We finally arrived, hot and windblown, and headed straight for Double Mountain Brewery. Overall, this brewery had great beer and delicious food - I would highly recommend!
Here's what I tried (descriptions by Double Mountain Brewery):
The Vaporizer Pale Ale (4/5): Challenger hops, Pilsner malt, and our house yeast strain are the headliners in this easy pale. The result is agile, alluringly herbal, and supremely refreshing. The dry hop really makes this one sing.
Hop Lava IPA (3.75/5): Our flagship IPA glows with substantial amounts of Cascade and Centennial hops grown right here in the Northwest. A clean, resinous citrus aroma and a sturdy grain bill create a splendid symmetry in the Northwest IPA tradition.
Hop Lion IPA (4.75/5): Tropic resin, tangerine, evergreen, and the earthy scent of Northwest petrichor leap from the nose of this proud IPA. Tangelo and fresh bread stalk closely behind, finishing with orange and dank pine.
Pilsner (4.25/5): This is Matt’s own “Bohemian Rhapsody”, fermented with a Czech Pilsner yeast and lagered for two months. The distinct fresh melon apple character comes from the courtship between Sterling hops and yeast, dancing over a malt profile of fresh baked bread. Crisp, light, and delicious. Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?
Mountain Biking Post Canyon
We knew that we wanted to ride in Post Canyon, so Greyson found the perfect location to camp - Kingsley Reservoir. This is a pretty primitive campground - just pit toilets and no services, but it's also cheap and you can ride from your campsite to a pretty awesome trail network. Note: some of the trails around Kingsley Reservoir are closed until Spring 2019 due to a construction project, so be sure to do research before you ride.
We started with a pretty tough fire road climb - it was pretty steep and hot and so washed out in sections that we had to push up. Trailforks calls it Kingsley to 170 Dirt Surfer. We then rode down Dirt Surfer for about 1.2 miles until we decided to turn around. I loved Dirt Surfer! It was a fun, flowy trail with just enough rocky drops to keep things interesting. I could have ridden down it forever, but we realized that we'd eventually have to climb back up, hence the early turnaround. We rode back up Dirt Surfer for about 0.6 miles when we came across a fire road that seemed like it would take us back to camp. That turned out to be the right decision and we were able to cut across near Green Point Dam and take a flat, easy route back to the car.I really enjoyed the ride we did in Hood River, and I wished we had more time to spend in that area. After that, we got on the road to Bend for a quick overnight at Smith Rock State Park. We caught an amazing sunset there, and after that we were off to Truckee and the #toasterroadtrip was over!
Smith Rock State Park // tahoefabulous.com