Day 6 Biking Diamond Lake

The John Dellenback trail around Diamond Lake is about 12 miles of paved, easy trail that circles the lake with no more than an 8 percent grade. We tried biking this trail over Memorial Day, but it was still snowed in too deeply to complete the ride. This time we left from the southern end of the lake, near the south boat launch and rode west to the Theilsen View campground, where we were stopped by snow in the spring.

It was a great ride, with Abby enjoying the small lakes for a cooling swim. We had her on the leash at the beginning of the ride, but with very few people on the trail, decided that she could run on her own. Abby is the kind of dog that doesn't want to stray any distance from her mother, Mo, so we don't have to worry about her running off. Even the tempting squirrel or two will only take her for a moment and she is right back. If we saw people coming, Mo would call her to her side and she would wait patiently for them to pass.

When we left, the skies were clear and it was warm with lots of mosquitos. Bring LOTS of mosquito dope because they are thick here, especially on the southern end of the trail. If you keep moving, most of the time they won't catch you, but stop for just a moment and they are everywhere.

On the way back we heard thunder and the clouds started forming over Mt Theilsen. To our delight, the great thunderstorm and downpour waited until we were conveniently loading up the bikes and climbing back into the protection of the MoHo, where the kitties were patiently waiting for us again. Abby had a great run, some great swims, and it was a good way to end the week. Home to Rocky Point via HWY 138 down to HWY 97 was much faster than the way we went previously and we were home from Diamond Lake in less than 2 hours.