14 mile Christmas Eve Ride along the 181 Corridor with Big D

I thought I was going to have to do another solo MTB ride but Big D called me just as I was heading out the door so we planned to meet on 181. There was a high level of moisture in the air and and the air temperature was significantly warmer than yesterday. When I checked later, it was about ten degrees F warmer, which also meant unlike yesterday, the ground was not frozen today. We opted for the trails off of hwy 181 for their exceptional drainage qualities, staying away from Raspberry and the bottom section of Hedleys which I expected to be a little slushy. I think we made good choices, the trail conditions were good to go.
Total mileage: 14 miles
Total time: 3:44 Moving time: 2:19 stopped time: 1:25 # of stops: 17
Avg moving speed: 6.1 mph
The theme of the day was fog. Fog is preferable to rain while MTBing. We were spared rain the entire ride. It started spitting as we left the parking lot, post ride.

Big D takin' care of the Stumpjumper drive train pre-ride:

Rock & Roll, Upper Barkhouse, Ripshin Ridge and Hedleys down to Licklog Ridge (I didnt want to ride the muddy stuff at the very bottom of Hedleys). On the road ride back up we detoured for a break from the foggy highway on the upper section of No Shin.

Amos' Epics