Trail Description:
Ignore Kirkendall's description of the trail. The guy gives directions for riding up some of the best single track in the state. Don't we live for awesome single track down hill? Ride up the access roads underneath the chair lifts to the summit house. The access roads are steep but you can make the 3.5 mile climb in about an hour. Head north out Crystal's Northway Trail and get ready for babies butt smooth single track, spectacular views of Mt Rainier, wild flowers in all colors and beautiful old growth forest. Sweeping banked turns and several sharp switchbacks make the Northway Trail a fast and rowdy ride.
How to get there:
Take Hwy. 410 from Enumclaw. You will pass through Green Water. About 20-30 minutes after green Water take a left at Crystal Mt. Blvd. Park in the ski area parking lot. Parking lot is six miles up from 410.
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| Posted by: Trikekahuna on 8/2/2011 |
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7/30/11. Some hike-a-bike below the ridgeline & some on the ridgeline due to snow. A couple trees across trail on lower section. Still a fun ride. Lots of people at the top due to the gondola.
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| Posted by: Tim on 8/25/2010 |
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Would give it 5 stars if it wasn't so
sandy and loose (this review is in late
summer- August 24th 2010). The views are
incredible on the top so the grind
(hardest climb I've ever done) is worth
it. We started at the old Northway lot
and took the switchbacks up. It's about
a 6+ mile climb to the top. A lot of
pushing your bike here since there's not
a ton of traction and it's a constant
climb (keep in mind if you're doing the
total loop, it's 16+ total miles, so
don't burn out). Once you reach the
first viewpoint, you are riding through
Northway, which is gorgeous. After
Northway, you take a rough and bumpy cat
track on the backside up to the summit
house at Ranier Express. From there you
take the cat track (again, extremely
bumpy and loose- will probably need to
walk some of this) just off of the Green
Valley chair. Follow this all the way
down and you'll finally hit downhill
single track that will open u
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| Posted by: Tim (continues from below on 8/25/2010 |
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...will open up to seemingly endless
possibilities of ways to go. We kept to
the right each time, trying to complete
the entire loop which brings you past
several lakes and streams behind the
Quicksilver area (also knows as the
lower Silver King back country area). If
you take this route, the single track
here is very compact and good and rutty.
Fun stuff. It will eventually take you
right out to the middle of Golden Hills.
I recommend riding right down Golden
Hills here to the parking lot up top. If
not, you will be riding down a loose
forest road which will bring you about 2
miles down Crystal Mountain Road. NOT
fun after 16 miles of riding if you
parked up top like we did. Next time I
will ride up the cats to the top and
take single track down and around the
main mountain. I really wish they would
run the chair for loading up the
mountain.
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| Posted by: paintierman on 8/9/2010 |
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road this yesterday, in good shape. Bugs are brutal.
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| Posted by: PTUX on 9/8/2008 |
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Rode yesterday, 9/7. Went up the Gold Hills route through lakes and up to top. 2 hour climb, quite a bit of hike-a-bike. Downhill is awesome, especially lower half. Top half wasn't too bad either. 3 hour ride total with pics at top. 3K feet of climbing.
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| Posted by: Brandon Cope on 10/18/2007 |
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Awesome ride! Spent a couple of hours climbing tortorously upward only to meet up with a group coming up the back side who had no trouble at all. Oh well... the downhill makes it all worth it.
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| Posted by: The Martay on 7/8/2007 |
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We parked at CM resort and went up the cat service road to the Summit House, the views are well worth the slog up, the slog up... a hump and a half... nuff said. The ride down is great, better than described above, it's getting a bit sandy from the horses so use your wider tires. I would suggest you wait 'till after a rain to do this ride if your going to climb up the singletrack, let the sand compact a bit. The views are better than Sun Top if you can believe that. Enjoy.
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| Posted by: jonny boy on 8/18/2004 |
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This trail is excellent and can be made into a day's worth of riding - depending on your style. My suggestion (I used to live at Crystal) is to ride up the Gold Hills road which starts accrossed the Crystal road from where the Northway Road goes in (actually it's before you go acrossed the creek) on left. Park at the resort, cycle back down to this point, ride up to the Jim Town trailhead - there's 4 roads there. From there ride up to the top of the valley into the South backcountry area of Crystal and up to the summit. Then ride the trail back down. This is a great ride - fall is best when you can pick fresh huckleberries!! But its a great long ride anytime. Bring a lunch.
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| Posted by: max on 10/12/2002 |
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Rode it last w/e. Conditions were optimal. Opportunities to ride it this year are dwindling...
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