5.0 miles
Distance
4,595 ft
Climb
-78 ft
Descent
04:50:25
Avg time
Supporters, Builders, Maintainers & Land Managers of 4th of July Trail

  • USFS
    Land Manager

4th of July Trail Details

  • Activities
    • Mountain Bike
    • Hike
    • Trail Running
  • Riding Area
    Icicle Ridge
    Leavenworth, Washington
  • Difficulty Rating
    Black Diamond rate
  • Hiking SAC Scale
    T1 Hiking
  • Trail Type
    Singletrack
  • Bike Type
    AM, XC
  • Direction
    Uphill Primary
    Popular direction shown
  • Climb Difficulty
    Black Diamond
  • Physical Rating
    Hard
  • Season
    Spring / Fall
  • Dogs Allowed
    Yes
  • eBike Allowed
    No
  • Global Ranking
    #76423 in Mountain Biking [+]
    • #31970 in Trail Running
    • #14113 in Hiking
  • Local Popularity
    70 in Mountain Biking [+]
    • 85 in Trail Running
    • 100 in Hiking

After a brutal 4800-foot climb up Fourth of July Creek, you reach Icicle Ridge with its big-screen views of the nearby Stuart Range and it's long views of other Cascadian peaks. After the uphill pain (it will take most people four or five hours to push/carry a bike up) comes a massive 5600-vertical-foot descent.

The descent down the Icicle Creek Trail is totally ridable by skilled freeriders. Cross-country riders, meanwhile, will find some of the rocks, ruts, and bush sketchy. Such riders will sometimes find themselves wondering whether they should walk the sketch and hurt their pride or ride the sketch and risk snapping a collar bone. Decisions, decisions.

Note: You need to pack LOTS of water. This is largely a dry trail. Four to five hours of climbing and pushing. 50+ switchbacks in all, the first 25 of them being the hardest.

source: Justgetout.net
Access Info

NOTE: Northwest Forest Pass needed to park at the trailheads.

There's a few different ways you can do this ride:

climb up 4th of July, down Icicle Ridge. This loop involves 8 miles of paved road along icicle creek road, which could be shuttled out.
Out and back up Icicle Creek.
Up icicle creek, down 4th of July. Note the 4th of July TH is higher elevation, so this CCW loop will get you more climbing and less descent on singletrack, but makes the paved road section DH

Local Trail Association
Traditionally Indigenous Territory
More Stats for 4th of July Trail multi-use trail trail
  • Altitude change
    4,517 ft
  • Altitude min
    2,263 ft
  • Altitude max
    6,781 ft
  • Altitude start
    2,263 ft
  • Altitude end
    6,781 ft
  • Grade
    17.1%
  • Grade max
    -24.5%
  • Grade min
    100.2%
  • Distance climb
    5 miles
  • Distance down
    1,010 ft
  • Distance flat
    433 ft
  • Avg time
    04:50:25
  • Avg reverse time
    01:32:23
  • view trail stats
Status:
on Sep 2, 2022
Dry
Avg: 3.6 (5 votes)
Your vote: 0

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  • Basemap 
  • Trail Style 
    • ?
  • Activity Type  
3D
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Snow Cover Inadequate
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
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      Directions to 4th-of-july-trail trailhead (47.578360, -120.797230)
      update trails status or condition

      4th of July Trail Trail Reports

      statusdatedescription
      Sep 2, 2022 @ 9:58am
      Sep 2, 2022
      		 Steep push made harder by thick brush on the top half. Brush makes the climb pretty miserable, but doable. Only one tree down if I recall. Ran...
      Sep 30, 2020 @ 9:04pm
      Sep 30, 2020
      		 No change from last report Sept 12. Really thick bushes hard to get through the trail or even see the trail in spots. Really difficult to push...
      Sep 12, 2020 @ 8:53am
      Sep 12, 2020
      		 reporter Extremely overgrown and ~10 down trees. Hike a bike most all the way but the best/only way to access icicle ridge. Hopefully evergreen central...
      Jul 27, 2020 @ 9:21pm
      Jul 27, 2020
      		 The climb up 4th July is verging on overgrown so expect to find a lot of time pushing through thick bushes. Great ride down when you do get to the...
      Jun 8, 2020 @ 7:03pm
      Jun 8, 2020
      Trail is very dry, it's really soft. Keep an eye on rotors and derailuers, a ton of rocks. Happy sending!!
      view all reports »

      Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

      Past Week
      • 0 rides
      •  
      6 Months
      • 2 rides
      • 20 miles avg distance
      All
      • 53 rides
      • Last: Sep 23, 2022

      Technical Trail Features (TTF)

      Photos

      more »
      37 |
      Jul 14, 2021 @ 2:05pm
      Jul 14, 2021
      37 |
      Jul 14, 2021 @ 2:05pm
      Jul 14, 2021
      44 |
      Jul 14, 2021 @ 2:05pm
      Jul 14, 2021
      83 |
      Jul 27, 2020 @ 9:23pm
      Jul 27, 2020

      Routes with this trail

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      5 Reviews & Comments

      • + 1
      BenjaminR (May 28, 2022 at 16:18)
      While the views are awesome, this trail is in NO WAY designed nor intended for MTB. Unless you have ridden everything thing else in the area and love to punish yourself for utterly no reason, I'd highly recommend going anywhere where else. As stated it's damned near hike a bike the entire route up.
      [Reply]
      • + 1
      JasonNewYork (Jul 26, 2020 at 5:19)
      It’s a tough climb, very steep with rocks that further complicate. The trail is also very close to be overgrown and you spend a lot of the hike up fighting through thick hedges which really need to be cut back. For those reasons you really are carrying and pushing your bike far more than riding until about mile 4. The ride down is a blast though with lots of varying terrain and some hair raising descents. I took 3 liters of water as it was summer which was fine.
      [Reply]
      • + 0
      Chrisellis322 (Jun 8, 2020 at 19:00)
      Trail is super dry, except some snow at the saddle/ trail intersection with icicle ridge. This isn't a trail you want to bomb dpwn, beware of rotors and derailuers.
      [Reply]
      • + 0
      bhelem (Sep 20, 2019 at 22:35)
      Half climbing half hike a bike. Gets you to the Icicle summit in 3-4hours. Beautiful views all the way up. 4th of July/Icicle Ridge is a must ride for anyone visiting Leavenworth. Unforgettable ride!!
      [Reply]
      • + 1
      petomas02 (May 20, 2016 at 21:33)
      New to the area and new to the land of mountains.
      The snow doesnt come off the mountain tops till mid to late summer.
      I was thinking I would do this trail as a part of a loop.
      going up the 4th of july and down the Icicle Ridge... I was in the wrong. it took way longer and alot tougher to get up. than if I just did an out and back on icicle ridge. do yourself a favor and do an out and back on icicle than doing this trail as part of a loop.

      plus tons of trees downed, but I left a trail report on that.
      [Reply]





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