Did the full loop from Finner creek campsite to Rock Creek via the Finner Rock tie trail. Then Rock creek trail, tie trail to Basalt Ridge trail, up to the peak where views are indeed fantastic. Then down the Basalt Peak trail back to Finner. Much of the up is unrideable now due to dozens of blowdowns and thick alder and shrub growth. This is especially true on the Rock Creek tie trail. In places, there are big trees down almost every 100 yards. It appears there has been no maintenance in the last 2 years. Very tiring riding and having to stop to lift up the bike. Also, the Rock Creek trail has dozens of new water bars made of logs which are a good 4-6 inches elevated above the tread making this section also near unrideable on the uphill except for the strongest riders. The downhill on the Basalt Peak trail is sheer bliss though. Smooth tread, only a few blowdowns, great views and near 4000 ft of nonstop descent. A great day, but a lot of work due to the poor trail conditions.

Based on the current batch of reviews, I would say this trail was grossly overrated.

The first 300 yards of Rock Creek are definitely a bit of a climb, but then it does even out a little more - you are certainly conscious of the fact that you are climbing, but it's ridable. After three small stream crossings, you come up to the Rock Tie trail that forks off uphill to the rider's right. After a short stint, the trail becomes unridable, even in the lowest of gears, so you end up pushing your bike for a majority of this climb. The trail switchbacks up the side of the mountain for quite a while - this is about the time when you start wishing you were anywhere else (prison, Antarctica, etc.). Special Note - drench yourself in bug spray before you go, because you'll be swarmed mercilessly by mosquitoes and flies. When you reach the summit of the Rock Tie trail, you find the Basalt Ridge trail headed to your left (Downhill) and to your right (Uphill). Your path is on the right (uphill) through another section that is less than 35% ridable. The "summit" of this trail is marked by a sign that was more than likely scribed by some other victim of the trail - it reads "CUCK YOU" - the lower portion of the "F" has since been washed out.

At this point you can unlock your suspension, because your ride turns to the right (downhill), but I have to say it would have probably been more rewarding to just turn around and head back down the way that we came up. The trail downhill is neither steep nor technical, and evokes feelings somewhat reminiscent of what most people would think about vanilla ice cream - not exactly terrible, but certainly not exciting. The only way to make the trail challenging is to take it at blazing speed, which could prove to be dangerous because the switchbacks come at you like lightning.

Herein lies the problem: this is clearly not a mountain bike trail. It is a hiking trail that just so happens to be open to mountain bikes. If you're interested in 3+ hours spent to the left or the right of your saddle (ie: pushing your bike) followed by a descent that could only be compared to a Sunday ride down the beach boardwalk.

Boring. Not worth it.

Customer Service

Remain in your tent/truck/suburb.

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Stay away.

The trails around Basalt peak are pretty much the only ones that are open to mountain bikes and closed to dirt bikes. So they have a different feel to them which I like. I also like that there are two ways to get to the peak (well, there are four but only two make sense). You can either go up Rock creek as most people do, or you can take the harder route from Chikamin creek TH that I recommend for (very) strong riders who also like steep downhills.

Customer Service

Start from Chikamin creek TH and climb 1000' up to Minnow creek TH. That was the warm up. From here, the trail gets pretty steep but you can still ride it all the way to the top. First you climb another 1000' or so to the junction with Basalt ridge, turn right and go all the way to the view point (it's worth it). Now go back half a mile and go up the Basalt ridge trail for 2.5 miles climbing 1,500' higher. Checkout the awesome views from the peak and head down to Basalt pass. The descent to Basalt pass is fast is swoopy, very fun. Once you come to Basalt pass, lower your seat before hitting the eponymous trail. It's pretty steep but a lot of fun on a trail bike. Once you come down to the road, you can either cruise back to the trailhead or if you have energy left, ride Chikamin creek. To get to that trail go down the road a bit and look for a hidden trail on the left.

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Upper Chikamin tie.

This is a trail that you are missing out on. A fantastic climb up Rock Creek to the top of Basalt Ridge offers some great views of the Cascades and Glacier Peak. The downhill back to the Chiwawa Road on the Basalt Ridge trail rocks. This trail gets NO use, not even horse tracks. A trail crew has gone over the trail in the last couple of years so it is in excellent shape.

Customer Service

The one described in the introduction. The Chicimin Tye trail would be another alternative.

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Mad Lake

I originally rode the Rock Creek trail in 1997 to the edge of the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area as described in Kirkendall's book. I have also ridden the Chikamin area rides on numerous occasions and been curious about the Basalt Pass and Minnow Creek trails. Although short, this is a small chain ring climb the entire way so allow at least four hours to complete the ride.

The Rock Creek trail after the initial steep start is a nice,but continuous climb to the Rock Tie trail. From here it can be described as either strenuous, or grueling depending on your attitude and conditioning.

The Rock Tie trail switchbacks for several miles to the top of the ridge. It is a clean, non-technical single track trail that sees very little use. I saw no evidense that anything but a couple of horses had been on the trail all summer.

The Basalt Ridge Trail at the top of the ridge is pretty much the same way. I looks like a trail maintence crew had been over the trail within the last couple of years. It is in great condition. The are superb views along the way.

The decent back to the road is absolutely a big ring rip. There is no one and has been no one on this trail for ages. At the top there was one set of boot prints, but literally nothing has decended the trail and left a mark.

If you are interested in a high quality, if somewhat difficult ride, this is it! Maybe the length of the the does not qualify it as "epic" but I guaranty you the effort and the views do.

Customer Service

Directions to this trailhead can be found it both Kirkendall's "Mountain Bike Adventures in Washington's North Cascades" Ride 39, and Alan Bennet's "Mountain Bike! Washington A Guide to the Classic Trails". While neither author did the route mentioned above the directions to the trailhead are the same, and Bennet's book details the area with a sketched map.

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Mad Lake via Chikamin Tie

same as route A high endurance type ride cause of 3,000 + elvation change in a few miles. The rode ride makes some of the climb a bit easier.

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go up fs6210 that's the one to chikamin tie turn on minnow creek tr #1539 go up 2 miles turn right on basalt ridge trail 1515 and ride and sight see for 2 miles turn left on rock creek tie 1538 go ripping downhill on this newer trail for 2.8 miles 3,000 foot descent or so and turn left on rock creek tr. #1509 and go 2.5 miles to chiwawa river road and down that road for 2 miles back to car. Forgeet some of the other trails cause they were nuked by horses. A great alsmost no use trail that was cleared when i rode it june 2001. A true narrow singletrack.

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all the motohead trails