Kettle Crest Trails in the Colville Forest in Northeast Washington. Just north of the Colville Indian Reservation and just a short distance South of Canada. A few years back hardly a person would put tread on these trails that were enjoyed by cross country skiers, horseman, and a few hikers. Times are changing as we brought over 28 mt. bikers to experience an extremely outstanding section of backcountry riding in the North Americas.
This would be my fourth time there and the third annual BBTC(Western Wa)/FTTRC (Eastern Wa) mt. bike club ride. Where besides Whimps(Whatcom County), the 2 clubs that do most for the recreation of mountain biking come together for holiday riding and camping.
But before all this fun commenced a short stop over for some fun had to happen.
i took a week off work and called up a pal. A happy go lucky fella, who is constantly working on Colonnade, we both wanted to kick off a riding binge in a good way. We decided to hit up a shuttle ride of Lake Creek trail above the Entiat drainage. A week earlier riding at the well know trail Devils Gulch near Wenatchee, i ran into some riders by chance that i had met on the trail a year ago near Mt. St. Helens. They told me that Lake Creek was the best trail anywhere.
Well i always take bold statements like that with a grain of salt. But with that trail running down the Entiat side of the ridge, and another trail Pot Peak running down the Lake Chelan side of the ridge. AND Pot Peak being the trail i had heard from a few very well respected riders as the best descending trail anywhere.
Well it was time to see what all the hubbub was all about.
*All pictures were taken on Devils Backbone, too busy riding on the descent to get anything of Lake Creek, or Pot Peak*
We decided to shuttle up and do both rides, at the Trailhead we met a mt. biker getting geared up. In that drainage there are multiple options for riding so i was curious where he was planning his ride. Turns out he was preparing for 100 mile race somewhere so he coincidentally was planning to ride the same ride as us. At first i thought he intended to ride singletrack the whole way, which would have truly been insane, but we passed him on forest road up to the top....
We blazed down Lake Creek in about an hour, and honestly we weren't all that impressed. But really we stopped well short of complaining since we had just railed through 4 large of descent in 10 miles unhindered by any tree blowdown or washout. A first for us this year with a record breaking winter storms, and a devastating low budget for trail maintenance for the Forest Service.
So onward to what we both found to be an outstanding ride. Along Devils Backbone to Pot Peak.
Looking towards the Lake Chelan side of the ridge.
Pal later sent me an email with interesting stats of the day... He believes in gps, i believe in compass. i don't need a computer to tell me i'm in the middle of nowhere.
Here are the stats for Sat's rides looks like we descended 25 miles with almost 12,000 feet of vertical gnaaaaaarly!! Topo software says over 12,000 but I rounded down because it's usually a little high.
Lake Creek
10 miles
Trailhead Elev: 2200
Summit Elev: 6700
Total vertical feet of descent: 4700
Devil's Backbone
5 miles
Start Elev: 6700
End Elev: 6700
Highest Point: 6850
Lowest Point: 5600
Total vertical feet of descent: over 2000
Pot Peak
10 miles
Trailhead Elev: 1950
Summit Elev: 6700
Total vertical feet of descent: 5000
Looking towards the Entiat side of the ridge.
We both found this hilarious, leave it to a racer to let us know "he won".
Kudos racer dude, but we did make it to the top twice as many times as you....
So on to Kettle. No pictures of Old Stage Coach/Midnight Ridge. Let's just say that i'm extremely lucky my pal is a nice guy otherwise i could have easily been left for bear food. Old Stage Coach runs right through a 10 year old burn and deadfall had to have been at an all time level. We cleared a large amount of dead trees from the trail but about halfway up, we had to shift gears into survival mode as we couldn't walk for 20 feet before encountering another blockade.
Luckily Midnight Ridge Trail was cleared a hundred feet down from the saddle otherwise we would have spent the night on the Crest.
Jungle Hill's ride went spendidly. As many people rolled into camp, and we were joined by Penny and Craig, co-founders of Fat Tire Trail Riders Club of Spokane. A young club that has done a great deal of integral advocacy work in a relatively short time. Along with Peter and Chelsea who also attended the first official Kettle ride 2 years ago.
Hopefully our Eastern Washington contigent continues to grow.
Wednesdays ride Jungle Hill rolled wonderfully, we brought a saw and cleared a bit of trail. And besides Penny's bike everyone left unscathed enjoying a true gem of a ride.
Kettle Crest North (Stickpin) 30 mile, shuttle assist, 2500' climb, 5000' descent.
The Kettle Crest Trail itself meanders along the mountains of the Kettle Range. On average you're always riding at 5 to 6 thousand feet. It's pretty common for most of us sea level dwellers to ride to a trail that high then descend back down, but to continously ride at that level and with the heat wave it was tough.
Everybody took the challenge and rode like champs.
Chelsea has made every single Kettle Club ride and she's involved in talks to keep trails in this area open to mt. bikes. This was her ride, and even though she asked me to be the "official leader", she really showed the necessary qualities it takes to be an outstanding trail guide. Not surprising to me, this ride was an absolute success in strong part from her participation.
Powerful
Me and Chelsea did a great job in convincing everyone there was only a little bit of climbing left. Such a good job i even convinced myself and bonked hard by the end of the ride. i certainly left it all on the mountain this day.
Kettle Crest South
Group 1: Shuttle assist Sherman Loop to Snow Peak and back to Sherman Trail to camp. 14 miles 2000' climb 3000' descend
Group 2: Shuttle assist Sherman Pass to Snow Peak to Ninemile Falls via Rabbit Rd to Thirteen Mile Trail via Bearpot to Sanpoil River. 38 miles 4000' climb 8000' descent
Group 2 Shuttle assist Sherman Pass to Snow Peak to Barnaby Buttes to Thirteen Mile Trail via Hall Creek Rd to Sanpoil River. 40 miles 5500' climb 9500' descent
i'm using an educated guess on these numbers i would bet the numbers are actually higher.
An ambitous undertaking for all the group, but especially so for the 2 adventure groups breaking off for the epic.
Kettle Crest South/Sherman Loop Trail is a splendid challenging section of trail where you earn every pedal stroke.
And awesome views at almost every turn pays the rider a high nature return.
And views...
Snow Peak Cabin where you can sign up on a lottery to stay. We crashed it for bit for some shade, and a point on where the different groups split.
The ride for the adventure group started a little after 10 and ended about 8 at night. Struggling through fatigue and swarms of moquitoes on sections of Thirteen Mile Trail threatened to hinder the ride. But our trek was galvanized in a positive ending before spectacular evening views of the Sanpoil River Valley from atop Thirteen Mile Mountain, and the burnt glow from the setting sun on the canyon walls on the final descent. The camera never made it out of the bag mainly out of concern of a fatigued group making it safely out of the hills before nightfall. No those grand images are etched eternally only in the minds for the 11 that rode from Sherman Pass to Thirteen Mile Campground.
But as a conselation for others, more pictures from the ride on Kettle Crest riding from Snow Peak Cabin and along Snow Peak Trail.
For all the campers who were around for stories around the campfire of bearded lady prison sex, smoked bear power, glowsticks, weed frenzied Canadian downhillers, bad karaoke in Republic, and drier lint... Leem lunt (Thank you)
This would be my fourth time there and the third annual BBTC(Western Wa)/FTTRC (Eastern Wa) mt. bike club ride. Where besides Whimps(Whatcom County), the 2 clubs that do most for the recreation of mountain biking come together for holiday riding and camping.
But before all this fun commenced a short stop over for some fun had to happen.
i took a week off work and called up a pal. A happy go lucky fella, who is constantly working on Colonnade, we both wanted to kick off a riding binge in a good way. We decided to hit up a shuttle ride of Lake Creek trail above the Entiat drainage. A week earlier riding at the well know trail Devils Gulch near Wenatchee, i ran into some riders by chance that i had met on the trail a year ago near Mt. St. Helens. They told me that Lake Creek was the best trail anywhere.
Well i always take bold statements like that with a grain of salt. But with that trail running down the Entiat side of the ridge, and another trail Pot Peak running down the Lake Chelan side of the ridge. AND Pot Peak being the trail i had heard from a few very well respected riders as the best descending trail anywhere.
Well it was time to see what all the hubbub was all about.
*All pictures were taken on Devils Backbone, too busy riding on the descent to get anything of Lake Creek, or Pot Peak*
We decided to shuttle up and do both rides, at the Trailhead we met a mt. biker getting geared up. In that drainage there are multiple options for riding so i was curious where he was planning his ride. Turns out he was preparing for 100 mile race somewhere so he coincidentally was planning to ride the same ride as us. At first i thought he intended to ride singletrack the whole way, which would have truly been insane, but we passed him on forest road up to the top....
We blazed down Lake Creek in about an hour, and honestly we weren't all that impressed. But really we stopped well short of complaining since we had just railed through 4 large of descent in 10 miles unhindered by any tree blowdown or washout. A first for us this year with a record breaking winter storms, and a devastating low budget for trail maintenance for the Forest Service.
So onward to what we both found to be an outstanding ride. Along Devils Backbone to Pot Peak.
Looking towards the Lake Chelan side of the ridge.
Pal later sent me an email with interesting stats of the day... He believes in gps, i believe in compass. i don't need a computer to tell me i'm in the middle of nowhere.
Here are the stats for Sat's rides looks like we descended 25 miles with almost 12,000 feet of vertical gnaaaaaarly!! Topo software says over 12,000 but I rounded down because it's usually a little high.
Lake Creek
10 miles
Trailhead Elev: 2200
Summit Elev: 6700
Total vertical feet of descent: 4700
Devil's Backbone
5 miles
Start Elev: 6700
End Elev: 6700
Highest Point: 6850
Lowest Point: 5600
Total vertical feet of descent: over 2000
Pot Peak
10 miles
Trailhead Elev: 1950
Summit Elev: 6700
Total vertical feet of descent: 5000
Looking towards the Entiat side of the ridge.
Haha well unlike the crazy racer, we shuttled, but we did have to "earn" 2 large on the "Backbone". And much of the elevation is off the bike, if we had slipped on our clipless shoes, it would have been a fun sled ride down the skroggy snow about 70 feet into a few hundred feet of very steep of rocky skree. So to quote the old tired purist rhetoric of "earning your turns", we certainly appeased that end of the spectrum imo.That isn't mountain biking. Sounds like downhilling to me.
Perhaps if you showed us a picture of you riding up the hill we'd all be more sympathetic to your claim.
We both found this hilarious, leave it to a racer to let us know "he won".
Kudos racer dude, but we did make it to the top twice as many times as you....
So on to Kettle. No pictures of Old Stage Coach/Midnight Ridge. Let's just say that i'm extremely lucky my pal is a nice guy otherwise i could have easily been left for bear food. Old Stage Coach runs right through a 10 year old burn and deadfall had to have been at an all time level. We cleared a large amount of dead trees from the trail but about halfway up, we had to shift gears into survival mode as we couldn't walk for 20 feet before encountering another blockade.
Luckily Midnight Ridge Trail was cleared a hundred feet down from the saddle otherwise we would have spent the night on the Crest.
Jungle Hill's ride went spendidly. As many people rolled into camp, and we were joined by Penny and Craig, co-founders of Fat Tire Trail Riders Club of Spokane. A young club that has done a great deal of integral advocacy work in a relatively short time. Along with Peter and Chelsea who also attended the first official Kettle ride 2 years ago.
Hopefully our Eastern Washington contigent continues to grow.
Wednesdays ride Jungle Hill rolled wonderfully, we brought a saw and cleared a bit of trail. And besides Penny's bike everyone left unscathed enjoying a true gem of a ride.
Kettle Crest North (Stickpin) 30 mile, shuttle assist, 2500' climb, 5000' descent.
The Kettle Crest Trail itself meanders along the mountains of the Kettle Range. On average you're always riding at 5 to 6 thousand feet. It's pretty common for most of us sea level dwellers to ride to a trail that high then descend back down, but to continously ride at that level and with the heat wave it was tough.
Everybody took the challenge and rode like champs.
Chelsea has made every single Kettle Club ride and she's involved in talks to keep trails in this area open to mt. bikes. This was her ride, and even though she asked me to be the "official leader", she really showed the necessary qualities it takes to be an outstanding trail guide. Not surprising to me, this ride was an absolute success in strong part from her participation.
Powerful
Me and Chelsea did a great job in convincing everyone there was only a little bit of climbing left. Such a good job i even convinced myself and bonked hard by the end of the ride. i certainly left it all on the mountain this day.
Kettle Crest South
Group 1: Shuttle assist Sherman Loop to Snow Peak and back to Sherman Trail to camp. 14 miles 2000' climb 3000' descend
Group 2: Shuttle assist Sherman Pass to Snow Peak to Ninemile Falls via Rabbit Rd to Thirteen Mile Trail via Bearpot to Sanpoil River. 38 miles 4000' climb 8000' descent
Group 2 Shuttle assist Sherman Pass to Snow Peak to Barnaby Buttes to Thirteen Mile Trail via Hall Creek Rd to Sanpoil River. 40 miles 5500' climb 9500' descent
i'm using an educated guess on these numbers i would bet the numbers are actually higher.
An ambitous undertaking for all the group, but especially so for the 2 adventure groups breaking off for the epic.
Kettle Crest South/Sherman Loop Trail is a splendid challenging section of trail where you earn every pedal stroke.
And awesome views at almost every turn pays the rider a high nature return.
And views...
Snow Peak Cabin where you can sign up on a lottery to stay. We crashed it for bit for some shade, and a point on where the different groups split.
The ride for the adventure group started a little after 10 and ended about 8 at night. Struggling through fatigue and swarms of moquitoes on sections of Thirteen Mile Trail threatened to hinder the ride. But our trek was galvanized in a positive ending before spectacular evening views of the Sanpoil River Valley from atop Thirteen Mile Mountain, and the burnt glow from the setting sun on the canyon walls on the final descent. The camera never made it out of the bag mainly out of concern of a fatigued group making it safely out of the hills before nightfall. No those grand images are etched eternally only in the minds for the 11 that rode from Sherman Pass to Thirteen Mile Campground.
But as a conselation for others, more pictures from the ride on Kettle Crest riding from Snow Peak Cabin and along Snow Peak Trail.
For all the campers who were around for stories around the campfire of bearded lady prison sex, smoked bear power, glowsticks, weed frenzied Canadian downhillers, bad karaoke in Republic, and drier lint... Leem lunt (Thank you)
