Living on the most eastern of the San Juan archipelago islands, Fidalgo island, the variety of trip & training paddle routes from here are endless. While strong currents do exist in nearly every channel surrounding our island shores, learning how to use these currents to travel in the back eddies, the mid-channel-river-like 'green tongue', along with harnessing the strength of the winds (with kayak sails), is what paddling the San Juans is all about to us... Efficiency. Speed. Using what Nature offers to help us achieve our paddling (distance travelling & racing speed) goals. Which sometimes mandates a combination of styles & skills from river and sea kayaking mixed in with occasional surfing and sailing. Adreline rushes. Personal Speed Records. Risk-taking. Innovation. ~Paddle the Islands and let Nature Inspire.~

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Riding Capital Forest on Christmas Eve

Riding Capital Forest trails on Christmas Eve from Island Paddlers on Vimeo.

Under sunny skies and unseasonably warm, 55 degree temperatures, after a long I-5 drive and handfuls of holiday cookies later, we eagerly grabbed our mountain bikes and headed for some of the Pacific Northwest's finest single track trails in Olympia's Capital Forest to go for a muddy holiday ride...

Armed with our new Santa-delivered, action cameras fresh out of the boxes, we clicked in and excitedly mounted up to see what kind of adventures we could film over 10.5 miles of ups, downs and rooty arounds... 

*Includes fast & fun, expert rider Jim views, testing out his new Contour ROAM camera bombing down narrow sections at speeds near 20 mph! And Nadja with her new Nikon pocket waterproof camera! = :) + :) !!

Additional holiday gift appearances by a couple of our nation's most well-known volcanoes surprised us and enhanced the clear cut views when majestic Mount Rainier and neighboring sleeping giant, Mount Saint Helens appeared on the eastern Cascade mountain horizon, with possibly a sleigh and reindeer overhead...



~ Happy Adventuring Holidays 2011
from us @ Island Paddlers! ~