Pot Peak Trail #1266

This ride has a physically tough ascent and really fun descent along a long ridge. It is a technically interesting ride. The ride uses some gravel fire roads, but most of the descent is single-track trail.

Trip Details:
Start by riding the access roads a half mile back to the "Y" described in the access information. At this Y, turn left onto FS Road 5900 and ride about 5.5 miles uphill to Grouse Mtn Campground.
Remain on FS Road 5900 for another 6.75 miles past Grouse Mtn Campground. Then, at a saddle, turn left onto Spur 114 leading toward Handy Springs Campground and which gives access to Trail 1448 in about .35 miles.
Follow Trail 1448, which leads to the Devils Backbone and which undulates up and over a number of peaks like East Peak and Angle Peaks. This is exciting and technical ridge riding with some dramatic (i.e., scary) exposure as well as about .75 miles of hike-a-bike up talus slopes. Some 6 miles along Trail 1448 on a 6,690-foot knoll, you'll intersect Trail 1266.
Turn left onto Trail 1266 and start a nine- to ten-mile descent that many riders consider to be the best descent in the state (yup, even better than such classics as Devils Gulch, Taneum Creek, and Twenty-Five Mile Creek).
The descent ends back at Ramona Campground where you started.
Making It Easier: You need to be a fit rider to do the route as described. Technically competent but less conditioned riders can make the ride easier by dropping a shuttle car at the Ramona Campground and then driving Road 5900 up to the Grouse Mountain area to actually start riding.

Best Season: Early summer to late fall. The ride is dry and can be hot, so bring lots of water.

Access Info

From the Wenatchee Valley, drive Highway 97A toward Chelan. Take the left onto Highway 971 (Navarre Coulee Road)and drive about 30 miles to the T in the road at Lake Chelan. Go left on South Lakeshore Drive and drive to Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park. On the other side of the state park, turn left onto the road leading to Shady Pass (FS Road 5900). Drive uphill about 2.6 miles and then at the "Y" go left and in a half mile park at the Ramona/Snowberry Bowl Campground (el 1,900 feet).