Ride Summary:
A tough ride with long climbs and technical descents.
Trail Description:
A 5000 foot climb to begin an already long ride makes Pot Peak a serious work out. Be sure you carry enough water and that you can handle a long, fast technical downhill. Almost 2000 feet. Some gravel fire roads but mostly single track along the ridge and all the way to the bottom.
How to get there:
From Wenatchee, take U.S. Route 97 on the West side of the Columbia River. Go left at State Route 971 (Navarre Coulee Road). Drive 30 miles to the "T" in the road at the Lake Chelan shores. Turn left onto South Lakeshore Drive. Drive to Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park. Just on the other side take left on Shady Pass Road (Forest Service Road 5900). Drive to "Y" in road, about three miles, to the snowpark. Park here or at the Ramona Park Campground.
Additional Notes:
Trail is used by motorcyclists as well. The local ORV groups keep the trail maintained extremely wel
| Posted by: Hansel on 8/2/2010 |
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I tried to find the trail up instead of just following the fire road up to Devils Backbone.. bad idea. by the time i got to the scree field i was spent and it was getting dark. I was just pissed and enjoyed the 10mile downhill for the first 5 but then it started to get dark and i couldn't stop to feel my hands. 30+ miles solo but me and my bike are much closer now
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| Posted by: bumpus on 5/31/2010 |
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Yeow! What a ride! Long after it's over, you'll be grinning just thinking about it. Little bit discouraging after reaching the trail-head, considerable up and down. Great mix of difficulty, riding on the backbone is pretty challenging and at least gives you a bit of that airy ridge feeling. After you reach the Pot Peak turnoff, pretty much all-out joyriding, for over 10 miles! Important! my USGS map seemed to be incorrect. It shows the scree slope descent/ascent on the right side of the ridge. Wen I saw the scree slope on the left side of ridge, it practically broke my back. I thought I was going to have to go way down, climb up and then do the same thing on the other side of the slope. After a real cardio and thigh beating all day long, would have been complete bummer to have to come down in shadows or maybe even after dark, plus the stress/uncertainty of finding the trail completely uncorrelated with my map late in the day. I've done quite a few WA rides, this is waaay up
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| Posted by: Pudding Boy on 10/8/2007 |
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Trail was ridden Labor Day weekend, 2007, and it's in great shape for the most part--definitely an awesome ride. There are some sections of dense scrub on the main descent that really need to be cut back, but I don't ride with either a machete or a chainsaw, so I'm leaving that one up to the local motorbike users. Also the switch backs descending down to the scree field hike-a-bike are loaded with pretty loose fist-sized rocks making them a bit technical for the weekend warrior.
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| Posted by: UK Alien on 7/27/2005 |
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Trail open-rode on 7/24. WA singletrack at its finest! Very tough climb, undulating ridgetop trail, but.....Wow!-descent is arguably Washington's longest smooth downhill.
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| Posted by: Richard Uhlhorn on 3/2/2005 |
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Pot Peak will probably be closed this summer (2005) because of last year's Pot Peak wildfire which totally destroyed the trail. It is unfortunate because Pot Peak is an Epic Ride everyone with the skill level should ride.
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| Posted by: Richard Uhlhorn on 12/22/2002 |
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This year, Pot Peak was in excellent condition.This 10-mile downhill still has to be considered some of the best in the state
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| Posted by: Richard Uhlhorn on 9/27/2001 |
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Since my last post on this ride in 1999 things have changed on the Pot Peak Trail (at least for this year). We rode it several weeks ago and it has become very technical and difficult to ride because of the many motorcycles who have torn it up this year. The moon dust is three to six inches deep and the singletrack is rutted out making riding very technical. If you are looking for technical riding, this is the trail to access. However, I still suggest that you get a ride to the Devil's Backbone Trail head and take off from there. By the time you arrive back at Ramona Park, you will have riden 17 miles.
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| Posted by: Richard Uhlhorn on 8/3/1999 |
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Pot Peak Trail is connected to the Devils Backbone which separates the Chelan and Entiat Ranger District and drainages. It is not located in Wenatchee. The trail head to the Devils Backbone can be accessed by vehicle from either the Lake Chelan South Shore or from the Entiat Valley on dirt Forest Service roads. Check in at either Ranger district for a map. If you like to climb, the Lake Chelan 25 Mile Creek Trail will take you the top from 1100 to about 6000 feet. At that point you hit the Devil's Backbone which is a rocky spine sitting amongst old burnt out trees which have turned silver with age. At the Pot Peak junction from the Devil's Backbone, be ready for a slamming, technical 10-mile downhill ride to the Ramona Park trailhead. The ride is well worth the effort. Bring food and water with you. Good luck and have fun
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