Into the Alpine, Out of the Darkness
Writing by Tabias Croteau | Photos by Brendan McClennon
There’s something satisfying about riding in the dark. Maybe it's the fear of what lurks just outside of where your lights stop, or maybe it's just because I was never quite sure where I was.
Two weeks ago there was good weather and I wanted to accomplish a Lord of the Squirrels lap for sunrise, it's something Brendan and I had been talking about doing all summer, so we set the date, October 1st 2020, which was possibly our last chance before snow flies. A 2am wakeup call had us, or me, terrified as we drove to meet Jon and Jim at the bottom of the climb. Sub sandwich taped to my top tube; we set off up the climb trail, eventually leading to “Into the Mystic”, 8.5 kilometers long and 913 meters up.
3:45 am ― We stop to take a quick break and read the surrounding signs. Bear sightings, okay, nothing too concerning. Potential grizzly, but not too nearby so we opted to keep on riding.
4:01 am ― Climbing away, really wondering why in the hell we are doing this. Starting strange sleep deprived conversations about aliens, thinking that might keep all the wildlife away.
5:15 am ― We reach the first lookout. We all take a break, turn off our lights and stare up at the stars, soaking in the last few minutes of complete darkness with nothing but the moon. We hear a crunch from behind us. Never have 4 grown men fumbled so much with headlamps, rushing to get our stuff back on and get out of there. As we whipped out of the lookout, we all commented on how we abruptly had so much energy.
5:54 am ― We have no energy. We have, however, reached the Alpine. We could tell even in the darkness as the trees began to be smaller and more spread out, and the air had a crispness to it that I hadn’t felt yet. Yes, this was it. The wide open starry sky reminded us how high up we were. As we carried on, the small still ponds and alpine meadows became more and more.
6:22 am ― Left we go up into a meadow when we look overhead and see the clouds slowly become lit up by the sun that hasn't quite risen yet. They said sunrise was supposed to be at 7:09, but we have now idea how far the top is. On the horizon, a bright pink-ish orange hue lit up the first bit of sky.
6:37 am ― Heading up the last pitch, only 4 corners from the top, we can see the summit. Our pedals turn a little faster, excitement setting in as we know we beat the sun. The grade steepened, some of us walk, some of us ride, but we creep up to the top6:43 am ― We made it. The mountains formed a pink silhouette as the sun began to rise little by little. The pinky orange color lit up more of the sky. We sat in awe of the landscape while we scarf down whatever snacks we had left. I looked down and remembered my sub taped to my toptube. After I fiddled with the tape, coxing it to let loose, I heard Brendan call from up ahead a little bit.
“Dude! You have to ride this corner!” I paused with my sub in my mouth, slowly backing it out. “For the shot!” Damn he was right. Strapping my sub back to my bike, we pedaled over and was he ever right.
Beginning the descent down, each corner we had a new view and we stopped to enjoy them all. The small alpine lakes stood completely still giving you a near perfect mirror image. Brendan ran here, there and everywhere to get different shots, yelling for me or all of us to drop into the trail so he could capture whichever idea he had at the time. From there we rode down a ways, getting all the photos we could and soaking up every ray of early morning light there was. Finally we took another break, and I untapped my sub again but this time was able to dive into it. We heard Jim call out while we stood around eating what we had left for snacks, “Look!” and we looked over to see him holding a mega mushroom. I guess you really never know what you’ll find in the alpine.
Hopping back on the bikes, we cruised down further, breathing in all we could of the crisp morning air and soaking up every moment and we descended further towards the tree line.
The real “Lord of the Squirrels” trail starts with some wide open, rocky switchbacks still above the trees. It has all the views you can imagine, and although the reasonably technical trail leaves you needing to pay closer attention to the ride, there are more than enough spots to stop for a break and snag a look of the world around you. As we dropped into the trees, the vibrant shades of red and yellow scattered throughout the forest. It was so breathtaking we didn’t even get any shots, we just rode and enjoyed the scenery. The rest of the trail is pretty technical, winding through the forest with roots and rocks galore, dropping into what felt like rock slab after rock slab, then into mini shoots. What an experience it was, and one thing is for sure, I can’t wait for the next opportunity to get up in the early morning hours and do another sunrise adventure.
