Ten friends & I just returned from an adventure in the Fremont Nat'l Forest. We took 4 days to ride most of the Crane Mtn Nat'l Rec Trail plus about a third of the Fremont NRT, ending at the Chewaucan River 10 miles south of Paisley. This was a really fun experience and the trails are in great shape (thank you, NWYC & OTT Assn). We had support so "all we had to do" was ride our bikes -- no loaded touring this time.
The whole time we only saw one other trail user (a local trail runner who lives in Lakeview) plus three 4-person NW Youth Corp trail crews sawing out trees between Rogger Mdw and Crane Mtn's summit. We thanked them.
Because of pre-trip reports of lingering snow on Crane Mtn, we started at Willow Creek instead of at Cave Lake in California, intending to avoid miles of post holing by skipping the summit of Crane Mtn. But by the time we arrived Crane's snow appeared to be largely gone so we decided to aim for the top regardless. Day 1 started with a 2100' climb from Willow Creek to Crane's summit via jeep road. Our route up wasn't bad (though briefly the mosquitoes were). Views from the top of Crane were worth the grunt. We only lost the trail once due to a lingering snowfield; we eventually found it on the far side.
At the end of day 2 we avoided the 10 miles of gravel & pavement separating Mill TH and Cox Pass TH by shuttling this non-singletrack section (which includes 2.5 miles on Hwy 395). This may sound like somewhat of a decadent adventure but believe me, we spent plenty of energy and got plenty tired on these remote National Recreation trails. No e-bikes were employed during this tour.
It was all good, in fact we were blown away. Having the place to ourselves felt special. High elevation ridgetop riding through Ponderosa stands and elevated meadows felt so inspiring we often had to stop to ask ourselves, "Is this really happening?" I'm not even kidding.
NWYC built these trails and did an amazing job. For instance, along ridgetops the trail typically goes back and forth between upper slopes so trail users get great views into the valleys on both sides of the ridge. Often these views are breathtaking. A good part of our trip was spent above 7000' and most of it over 6000' -- less rolling sage-covered hills and more elevated forests up on these ridgetops. Day 4 ended with a multi-thousand foot descent from Morgan Butte (7200') to the Chewaucan River (4800'). An end-of-ride dip in the Chewy made for a nice finish.
On day 5 we drove up to Currier Spring near Gov't Harvey Pass atop Winter Rim just to take in the view and knock around. A couple guys in our group ended up riding the endless babyheads (more like monster heads) from Currier Spring to the Fremont Cabin and back -- 24 miles of that shite. The rest of us rode a little and relaxed a lot that final day, saddle-butts sated from the previous four days of pedaling.
Here is our route plus my stats (rounded):
Day 1: Willow Creek to Rectangle Lake via Crane Mtn = 18 miles, 3700' gain.
GPS track
Relive vid
Day 2: Rectangle Lake to Mill TH via S. Fork Crooked Cr = 28 miles, 3700' gain.
GPS track
Relive vid
Day 3: Cox Pass to Moss Pass = 15 miles, 2800' gain.
GPS track
Relive vid
Day 4: Moss Pass to Jones Crossing Forest Camp = 20 miles, 2900' gain.
GPS track
Relive vid
Really good stuff -- highly recommended. I'll try to add some photos.
=sParty
The whole time we only saw one other trail user (a local trail runner who lives in Lakeview) plus three 4-person NW Youth Corp trail crews sawing out trees between Rogger Mdw and Crane Mtn's summit. We thanked them.
Because of pre-trip reports of lingering snow on Crane Mtn, we started at Willow Creek instead of at Cave Lake in California, intending to avoid miles of post holing by skipping the summit of Crane Mtn. But by the time we arrived Crane's snow appeared to be largely gone so we decided to aim for the top regardless. Day 1 started with a 2100' climb from Willow Creek to Crane's summit via jeep road. Our route up wasn't bad (though briefly the mosquitoes were). Views from the top of Crane were worth the grunt. We only lost the trail once due to a lingering snowfield; we eventually found it on the far side.
At the end of day 2 we avoided the 10 miles of gravel & pavement separating Mill TH and Cox Pass TH by shuttling this non-singletrack section (which includes 2.5 miles on Hwy 395). This may sound like somewhat of a decadent adventure but believe me, we spent plenty of energy and got plenty tired on these remote National Recreation trails. No e-bikes were employed during this tour.
It was all good, in fact we were blown away. Having the place to ourselves felt special. High elevation ridgetop riding through Ponderosa stands and elevated meadows felt so inspiring we often had to stop to ask ourselves, "Is this really happening?" I'm not even kidding.
NWYC built these trails and did an amazing job. For instance, along ridgetops the trail typically goes back and forth between upper slopes so trail users get great views into the valleys on both sides of the ridge. Often these views are breathtaking. A good part of our trip was spent above 7000' and most of it over 6000' -- less rolling sage-covered hills and more elevated forests up on these ridgetops. Day 4 ended with a multi-thousand foot descent from Morgan Butte (7200') to the Chewaucan River (4800'). An end-of-ride dip in the Chewy made for a nice finish.
On day 5 we drove up to Currier Spring near Gov't Harvey Pass atop Winter Rim just to take in the view and knock around. A couple guys in our group ended up riding the endless babyheads (more like monster heads) from Currier Spring to the Fremont Cabin and back -- 24 miles of that shite. The rest of us rode a little and relaxed a lot that final day, saddle-butts sated from the previous four days of pedaling.
Here is our route plus my stats (rounded):
Day 1: Willow Creek to Rectangle Lake via Crane Mtn = 18 miles, 3700' gain.
GPS track
Relive vid
Day 2: Rectangle Lake to Mill TH via S. Fork Crooked Cr = 28 miles, 3700' gain.
GPS track
Relive vid
Day 3: Cox Pass to Moss Pass = 15 miles, 2800' gain.
GPS track
Relive vid
Day 4: Moss Pass to Jones Crossing Forest Camp = 20 miles, 2900' gain.
GPS track
Relive vid
Really good stuff -- highly recommended. I'll try to add some photos.
=sParty
