Historic Hood River

Notes

I ran across this deep on my computer hard drive while pulling together material for a talk in January on the history of mountain biking in Post Canyon.  While mountain biking was well-established by the 1980s and 1990s, the invention of better bicycle suspensions in the late 1990s gave birth to the “Free Ride” movement which this image captures.  The free ride aesthetic included steep terrain, big drops, lots of “skinnies” (narrow elevated tread), and use of existing materials and obstacles.

This image (circa 2004) was a trail area in Hood River’s Post Canyon called “South Shore”, where a storm had deposited plenty of material for the trail builders to work with.  The feature in the foreground was called “the wood organ.”  This spot is now part of the much more tame “Seven Streams” trail along Flume Creek (aka Post Canyon Creek).

Our January talk will discuss how recreation in many forms and logging coexist in the Hood River County forest, and how the relationship between the county and user groups has evolved from the “wild west” days up to today.  I’d say more, but we’re still figuring it out!

The rider is Jens Klett, and the photograph is either by Douglas Johnson or Jay Carroll.

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