We met our match today and failed. We did a great ride along a logging toad that we had taken before but we wanted more. So we returned to the Stocking Lake Climb trail that we had tried before but had found the entrance barred due to construction traffic. The trail seemed open and since it ends at a lake we were excited to try it.
The trail looked ok. The profile seemed a gentle grade up and we thought “we can do this”. We started up it and we quickly realized it was not for us. It was really steep. And then when you do the math, 300m in just over 3 km is 10% grade. We chickened out and went back down after not even a km. Even going down was scary for us. We have a goal now. We need to be able to climb this mountain but it will take some time to gain skills and confidence.
The good thing about the trails here is that there is always another option. So we chose another one in another direction that forked off this one. It was a little gnarly with lots of loose rocks etc but the grade was fine. So we tooodled along until we met this:
Hikers that we met earlier said that it was new in the last couple of days. There is some clearing going on, probably for new houses, and this lovely pile of stumps blocked our progress. The only way through was down the slope with our heavy bikes.
It was not a lot of fun getting them down into the grassy area and then walking through the thorns and thistles and blackberry bushes that have angry thorns on them too. I landed up falling in the middle of them and needing some assistance to get up.
So we decided the slopes and bushes got the better of us and we headed home. It was still fun to ride in the forest and along the trails. And we know we have a ways to go to gain better skills for this area.
Needless to say I am a little worse for wear this evening but I will survive. It is a beautiful summer evening on the deck and will enjoy yet another sunset with my pot of tea! Life is good.
Life on the Island 
I think you might want to rent a quad ATV for that journey. You guys are sure adventurous. Be careful out there kids. 😜 Derek
Sent from my iPhone
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