This is a great day of riding on the southern portion of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We’ll rendezvous in the morning off of the 90 road, adjacent to Lewis River.  We’ll load up our bikes and gear, and hit the road for a massive shuttle day exploring a diverse drainage full of all sorts of sweet trails.  Let’s break this down!  

There are 3 great descents along the Drainage we can explore, we’ll have time to explore 2 of them.  We end up running the best version of the day based on trail and road conditions.  The Gifford Pinchot is notorious for having devastating winters, huge landslides and road washouts.  Nothing is for sure in this place, and that’s why we like it.  Here’s what we can tell you, we will definitely put together a memorable day for you on the bike!

Option 1: Summit Prarie.  We get a bump to near the top, from the car add a little 20 min climb/hike a bike to get to our intersection where we traverse to our high point and beginning of our descent.  If we can make it to the ridge top, meadows reward you with views into the expansive tree-lined valleys of Quartz and French Creeks. The horizon holds snowcapped volcanoes and high open ridges of the Dark Divide.  Once we point it downhill, all eyes on trail!  This reminds us of a world cup downhill track with wide sweeping corners, roots and little natural stepdowns as a result of water flowing through and sifting the earth.  We follow the flow of water all the way back down to our shuttle rig, our coolers and beverages await.  Grab a bite and something to drink, off to round 2!  

Option 2: Wright Meadow.  We’ll make our way down the 90 and eventually to our shuttle road spur.  We’ll pound the gravel for another 45 minute shuttle uplift to a point on Craggy Peak, just above Wright Meadow Trail.  We’ll hop on our bikes for a bonus descent on a solid portion of Craggy Peak trail and run this right into Wright Meadow Trail.  Wright is a great decent with wide trail, full of natural features and variety on perfect grade.  Thousands of Feet down, we ride, laugh and “Just Pull Up” all the way down.  Our rig will be waiting at the bottom with an onramp back into the time machine and onto….

Option 3: We’ll make our way back east on the 90 and for those riders who’ve had enough for the day, can sneak off the bus for an early drop at their car.  For those eager, our third and final descent awaits; Table Mountain. We’ll get another bump to the top of the ridge and the beginning of our descent.  On our way down we’ll descend by several ponds and ride through several meadows, another absolute beauty of a trail that includes the best single view of Mount Adams. Enjoy the ride down and seal the deal with our third and final descent.  Add a couple more thousand feet of descending to your Trans Cascadia Excursions Piggy Bank, I dare you to not smile when you’re done with this day.  Our ride will be waiting for us at the bottom with our cooler of goodies and some stories to share on the day.  What a ride, we’ll see you this summer!