McCulloch Peak, Endo & Extendo

I went to my Matrix and Power Series math class today only to find a sign on the door saying that it was cancelled which presented a perfect opportunity for me to jump on my bike and explore more of the MacDonlad-Dunn Research Forest nearby.  After stopping at the house I was able to make it to the Oak Creek parking lot by 3:30pm to start my ride.  Initially I had planned to just bike up the forest service road to the top of the Extendo Mountain Bike trail and head down but I ended up going further...  I had gotten my bike repaired at Hike & Bike downtown over the weekend so it was in great condition and peddling wonderfully with a new chain and fixed back brake.  When I got to the top of Extendo I noticed another singletrack trail coming into it from above so I decided to keep going up the road until I possibly saw the entrance to that trail.  I had heard that there were many more "un-marked" trails in the area that were great for biking so I figured this was probably one of them.  When I got to where I thought the trail started another biker caught up with me (unfortunately I forget his name now).  He told me that it was indeed the trail I was looking for and that the manager of the forest didn't like Mtn. bikers so had blocked off most of the un-marked trails with downed trees... (He doesn't like mtn bikers because he thinks they destroy the ecosystem but is willing to cut down 20-30 trees and destroy several acres to prevent the bikers from going down trails that are invisible from the sky above... how does this make any sense?).  I told him I was planning on biking to the top of McCulloch peak and he replied that he was as well.  So we biked together up the remaining 800 feet or so to a rock quarry with great views near the top of the 2,400 foot mountain with his dog running up beside us.  He is a PHD research assistant in the geosciences
at OSU and has lived here for a long time so gave me a lot of good tips on the trails back there.  We hung out at the top for a bit and then went our seperate ways down.  I rode up another quarter mile to the true summit of the mtn (I'm such a peak-bagger) and then bombed down the gravel roads to the top of the un-marked trail which I was told was called "endo".  I had to carry my bike over many cut trees to get to the trail but when I did I was greeted by a seesaw right away which I happily
rode over.  The trail down was steep as hell and pretty technical so I was having a blast on my freeride Kona.  When I got back down to Extendo I followed a guy on his freeride rig down the trail who showed me several cool spots including riding between two trees so tight together that I only had about an inch or so on either side of my handlebars to make it through.  I got back down to my truck about 2 hours after I had left it.  It was a great ride and I can't wait to explore more of the trails back there.  I plan on bringing my gps on every ride so that I can make a map of the un-marked trails for myself and close friends.

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