Anyone know anything about the Iron Bear Trail (Cle Elum whereabouts)? i.e. the kind of ride, distance, difficulty, etc, I should expect. I'm going camping/riding there this weekend and I'd like to know what I'm in for.
Iron Bear Trail
- Thread starter LOS
- Start date
Iron Bear is half of an up and over to Iron Creek in the upper Teanaway drainage. You can camp at 29 pines campground on hte North Fork of the Teanaway and just ride the road up to it. It's a 4 mile ride up and pretty much ridable the whole way. Just one short section that gets chowed by the motos and makes it unridable. heading back down as an 8 mile total out and back is a blast. It's a bomber. It's the first leg of the Miller Peak loop that several people do from that trailhead. There's other good stuff in that drainage that hardly anyone knows about as well. Both Startup and Standup creek trails are fun and connect over to Beverly to make a nice high country ride. This year, they may be as snow free as Miller. (It's also a good way to ride into the Enchantments for some buff singletrack. But, I wouldn't know anything about that...)
But, getting back to Iron Bear. You can also head South on Teanaway rideg to the Red Top fire lookout. That's pretty cool too.
Lots and lots of great trails in that area and you rarely ever see another biker.
There's another ride up past Camp Lake to Teanaway Butte that's pretty cool. That leaves right from near the 29 Pines CG. (It's a free CG too!)
Need more details, let me know. Otherwise, I'll write a book about that drainage.
But, getting back to Iron Bear. You can also head South on Teanaway rideg to the Red Top fire lookout. That's pretty cool too.
Lots and lots of great trails in that area and you rarely ever see another biker.
There's another ride up past Camp Lake to Teanaway Butte that's pretty cool. That leaves right from near the 29 Pines CG. (It's a free CG too!)
Need more details, let me know. Otherwise, I'll write a book about that drainage.
Borneo Need more details said:Borneo-There was a book written for hikers and scramblers in the Teanaway. Its called Teanaway Country and it was published in 1980 by Signpost-Author Mary Sutliff. I bought a used copy a couple of years ago its nicely dated like my Metzger Map of Kittitas. The other local publication is the mtn bike trail book for the Taneum available at RE Cycle in Eburg.
As a side the Cle Elum Ranger station has purchased two mountain bikes for patroling the trails. I have heard a woman ranger is a former pro rider and is still a very strong rider. I can imagine it now the Ranger hot on the trail of a couple of expert epic riders poaching a trail. A 20 or 30 mile chase that you can write your own ending for.
I found out a little more about our treck.Borneo said:
http://www.nwsource.com/outdoors/scr/of_detail.cfm?category=biking&rt=41305
We're doing the 20 mile loop
in preparation for the MS Bike Challenge in Fall City (that one's a 30 mile tour).Looks like a gut buster :nuts: Hopefully that 1600 ft drop in elevation at the end will be worth all the hike-a-bike sections.
If you arent a member of the Backcounty Bicycyle Trail Club you should think about joining. I see the writer from the article called it an "epic" it might be with the hike a bike. The BBTC members will usually schedule maybe six totally insane rides between late summer and fall. All of the rides call for top conditioning and a fair amount of preparation to detail of things to bring.
The MS Challenge will have a lot of bikers. The BBTC along with REI I believe are big sponsors. Greggs Bike Team will also be there. As for me unfortunately it falls on the same day as the Bike and Brew which this year should attract about 300 riders in Leavenworth. Hope your bike makes it around the loop in one piece.
The MS Challenge will have a lot of bikers. The BBTC along with REI I believe are big sponsors. Greggs Bike Team will also be there. As for me unfortunately it falls on the same day as the Bike and Brew which this year should attract about 300 riders in Leavenworth. Hope your bike makes it around the loop in one piece.
LOS, you should see the similar thread we just went over on this ride over on the WA forum page at MTBR. W/ pictures. Go there too.
Gotta love John Z. But, this version of the ride is what I like to call the "long and wrong" version. Do the lollipop version using Iron Creek. Either CW or CCW up top. Both have their advantages/disadvantages. I'll be doing this ride on July 4th. Gotta do it every year.
Lots of pictures at www.trailspin.com.
And, it's a lot harder ride than the MS Ride. (Higher altitude, more difficult trail, and more climbing.) Let's just say I'm pretty intimate with the MS route and although it will be 34 miles this year, there's some logging road in that and maybe a total of 2K of climbing at a lower altitude. Hope you like it though. If not, feel free to let me know.
Yeah, the whole bike and brew thing stinks. But, the first weekend in June is the latest the land owner will go with due to possible fire danger since these have to be planned so far in the future.
There's something every weekend once the summer starts. So, there's always going to be some conflict. Stinks. But, reality.
This is a tough, tough ride. Especially early in the season. It's a 7 hour 20 miler with the almost mandatory hike to the peak. The MS Ride better only take 3-4 hours...
Borrego, as for the former racer now ranger. I can only think of one person and several people here know her. Yeah, I know I could not out run her...
Gotta love John Z. But, this version of the ride is what I like to call the "long and wrong" version. Do the lollipop version using Iron Creek. Either CW or CCW up top. Both have their advantages/disadvantages. I'll be doing this ride on July 4th. Gotta do it every year.
Lots of pictures at www.trailspin.com.
And, it's a lot harder ride than the MS Ride. (Higher altitude, more difficult trail, and more climbing.) Let's just say I'm pretty intimate with the MS route and although it will be 34 miles this year, there's some logging road in that and maybe a total of 2K of climbing at a lower altitude. Hope you like it though. If not, feel free to let me know.
Yeah, the whole bike and brew thing stinks. But, the first weekend in June is the latest the land owner will go with due to possible fire danger since these have to be planned so far in the future.
There's something every weekend once the summer starts. So, there's always going to be some conflict. Stinks. But, reality.
This is a tough, tough ride. Especially early in the season. It's a 7 hour 20 miler with the almost mandatory hike to the peak. The MS Ride better only take 3-4 hours...
Borrego, as for the former racer now ranger. I can only think of one person and several people here know her. Yeah, I know I could not out run her...
DUDE!! You're alive!!
You still loyal to B.E, or did you switch jobs to the big building about 15 mins south?
How's the shoulder?
You still loyal to B.E, or did you switch jobs to the big building about 15 mins south?
How's the shoulder?