Rides South of Randle (WA)

Submitted Mon, 08/09/2010 - 10:38am by michaewh

I made the mistake of not doing more research on the rides for a camping trip this last weekend in the area south of Randle, WA.  It was gorgeous, for sure, but I would remind bikers to note the trails in this area that are shared with motorcycles.  I was greatly disappointed at the poor trail conditions of the Juniper ridge Loop (the trails leading up to the Juniper Trail were pretty torn up and only consistently rideable by expert riders).  Adding insult to injury was the prolific attack of the mosquitos (though it was motive to keep moving). After 6 hours of riding/hiking we bailed out at the Dark Meadows trail to drop back down to FR 23. We missed some of the anticpated viewpoints, but it was an overcast day anyway. If you enjoy dirt riding on a motorcycle, I'd consider this a world class trail.  The Horseshoe/High Lakes trails were also pretty torn up.  This experience makes it clear to me that it would be a bad idea to create new trials to share between motorized and non-motorized users...

 

‹ Fire in the Western Yacolt Burn area. St. Helens - Ape Canyon / Plains of Abe ›

I've been exploring the

by OldHouseMan - 2010-08-09 11:58

I've been exploring the trails in the Gifford Pinchot NF on the north and west side of Mt St Helens over the last couple years. Yeah, the trails that are open to motorcycles can get torn up, but in my experience so far, the trails that are not open to motos in that area, are not even passable.

 

A couple points that kind of go hand in hand.

 

The motos have a much shorter season than any other trail user groups due to fire danger later in the summer, so they get in there early to clean them up to get the most out of the season.

 

Also, some of these areas are very remote and don't get the love from maintenance the crews. Try riding the Quartz Creek Trail, it's closed to motos, but is littered with very large blow down. If it weren't for the moto groups, these trails would most likely not be accessible.

 

And two moto trails that I absolutely love are the Wright Meadow and Craggy Peak trails.

 

Good Point

by Charlie Biggs - 2010-08-09 20:15

Great feedback, OldHouseMan.  I too believe that as a user group we shouldn't condemn the motos out of hand.  They too deserve a place to experience the back country.  

 

On the other hand, if as a user group we could get some folks chainsaw certified and into mountain biking, we could get those other trails cleared and accessible. 

Clearing Trails

by jarredjackman - 2010-08-10 13:06

I would be willing to get up to that area to do trail work, but I think the Quartz Crk trail isn't worth the time.  Even if it were totally buffed out, it would still be steeper than anyone I know, could actually ride.  It's a fair bit steeper than the upper portions of Siouxon Crk! 

Motos aren't the problem, it's the riders.  We ride a lot in ID each summer and many of those trails are shared use, all of them in fact, and almost none of them are torn up.  The riders just need to not slam the throttle, but many of them do it anyway and tear things up.  Motos definitely maintain large amounts of trail pretty quickly though!

I'd rather have more shared use trails than not have more trails, if that were a choice.

I'm with you Jarred, the

by OldHouseMan - 2010-08-10 17:28

I'm with you Jarred, the Quartz Creek trail probably isn't worth it. I did hear that the WTA and FS are looking into cleaning it up.

 

What I've seen over the last couple years from riding the moto trails, is the trails seem to get more torn up the steeper they are. The flatter trails are not really all that bad.

 

Charlie and I rode a section of the Boundary trail that is open to motos a couple weekends ago and it was in pretty good shape.

 

I know it's purely personal preference, but I like the moto trails. They do tear them up, but this is what I like.