Ride Summary:
The pride of Washington's Olympic Pennisula.
Trail Description:
This is an extremely fun ride and probably the most talked about of all the trails in the Olympics. This ride will take you on both the Lower Dungeness Trail and the Gold Creek trail passing through scenic old growth forests. 0 miles start up the singletrack on the Lower Dungeness Trail 6.3 miles Reach FS#2825. Follow it up to the top of the Gold Creek Trail. Follow the Gold creek trail 6.4 miles down to FS #2950 and the beginning of the loop.
How to get there:
From Hwy 101 turn South onto Palo Alto Road. This becomes FS #28. Keep left at the Y. 1 Mile later you will encounter another Y. Go right onto #2860. You will pass East Crossing Campground and a mile later pass over the Dungeness River. .25 miles past the bridge is the trailhead for the lower Dungeness Trail.
Additional Notes:
The rideable times of this trail vary with the amount of snow present.
| Posted by: mike on 7/9/2011 |
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Rode my enduro up the gold creek trail of of 230 spur, BURRLEY! maybe not a trail for motor cycles that are street legal.
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| Posted by: PTUX on 12/5/2008 |
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Did this ride today- get it while there's no snow! Up 2870 to 3 O'Clock Ridge then up remainder of LD to top then road to top of Gold. Both trails in excellent shape. Took 3.5 hours. Will ride up lower LD next time... the road climb out of the bottom is a real bummer at the end. Props to Mike's Bike's in Sequim, highly recommended if you need a pre-ride tightening.
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| Posted by: PTUX on 6/17/2008 |
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Correction, drove up 2870, rode down Lower Dungeness then pedaled back up 2870.
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| Posted by: PTUX on 6/17/2008 |
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Rode yesterday afternoon, 6/16. Drove to top of 2860, took Lower Dungeness (LD) down and then took 2860 back up to car. 3K feet total climbing. Did it in 2:40. First mile of LD is destroyed with blowdown... every 50 feet there were 1-5 trees to cross. (And really, why wouldn't it be after the winter we had?) Considerably better in mile 2 and by mile 3 to the end, only occassional. I was pressed for time and will definitely ride up LD next time and down Gold Creek... but there were some tremendous downhill sections on LD.
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| Posted by: Rod on 7/24/2007 |
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For updated directions, see the Olympic National Forest trailbike listing http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/recreation-nu/trails/MountainBike.pdf
All of these trails have been cleared of trees in 2007 by the Washington Trails Association wta.org
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| Posted by: Meat Motor on 5/5/2004 |
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Rode this trail on 5/2/04. We rode the decomissioned section of FS2860, making the total mileage around 23, and leaving a real buzz kill climb at the end. If you are not up for some pain, drive the 2880 road past the Dungeness forks camp ground, park at the junction with 2860 and start with a short down hill to the Dungeness trail. The first half of the ower Dungeness is an unrelenting climb. The lower Dungeness has probably 6 large downed trees over it's 6 miles, and the one big slide at 0.5 mi. Another option is to climb the road, forgoing some hike-a-bike, and taking the connector trail that joins the lower dungesss trail at it's apex (Don't descend on the road!). Gold Creek has some ripping sections that rival anything in Washington. No obstructions on this section.
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| Posted by: Gearz on 11/14/2003 |
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Don't know why the rest of my post was deleted but anyway...From Road #28 stay right at the Y and at the next intersection turn right on Road #2880. Go past Dungeness Forks Campground then turn left on Road #2870 and follow it for a couple more miles to Road #2860 (past the washout)-turn left here and follow the road downhill a mile to the trailhead which is now also the trailhead for Gold Creek Trail as the road will be permanently gated from here. Enjoy this exceptional ride!
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| Posted by: Gearz on 11/14/2003 |
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This is indeed an awesome ride, I did it again yesterday. Both trails are in excellent shape except for two short sections on the Lower Dungeness Trail, the slide at 0.5 miles is bypassed by hiking steeply uphill 100' then traversing across slide area to trail on other side and a new washout where the trail has slid into the river at the 5 mile point. This 75' section is steep and muddy but should be passible to most intrepid bikers. I guarantee everyone will do some hike a bike in the first 2.5 miles but most is rideable and more worthwhile than the road start variation described in the Zilly guidebook which I have also done. The driving directions to this ride have changed since this ride was posted and the guidebook published as Road #2860 was washed out before East Crossing Campground I believe in 1999 and will never be fixed. Rather than ride up the 4 miles of closed road to the trailhead like some have been doing follow these directions: Stay right on FS Road #28 at t
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| Posted by: Rider A on 1/27/2003 |
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This is by far one of the best loops in the state. Don't underestimate the stated elevation gain of 2000 feet because the actual gain starting from the washed out fire road for 23 miles is 4200 feet. We expected to finish the loop in 3 to 4 hours, but instead it took a full 5 and a half hours. John Zilly states that the first 3 miles of the Lower Dungeness are Hike-a-bike when in fact a strong rider could ride the whole thing. The climbs are steep and relentless requiring a high pain threshold but are totally rideable if your fitness level and technical ability is there. Overall the trail condition was excellent with only 1 large windfall near the beginning of the trail and the landslide described in other reports that was easily passable.
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| Posted by: christopher on 12/5/2002 |
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Just rode this trail two weeks ago.parking at the top of closed 2860 is the choice ticket.this loop is 23miles not for the weak. the comments regarding washout are exaggerated,some portaging is required but tough it out you will be rewarded.gold creek is a rush like no other.e-mail christopherstrails@earthlink.net for local trail guide.
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