The Pacific Northwest, Washington, the Cascades, and Puget Sound. Home of the Douglas Firs, Orca whales, bald eagles, wild white-water rivers, strong coffee, and countless IPAs… Experience the best of the best Seattle mountain biking!
This exclusive 7‑day ride tells the tale of the Cascade Range. Lush rain forests and giant Douglas Firs characterize one side of the mountain range with beautiful subalpine terrain on the other. The riding here is not easily equaled, nor is the awesome, tight-knit mountain biking community. There is more world-class singletrack than you can shake a dropper post at.
We have also partnered with our favorite Hotel in downtown Seattle, The Thompson Hotel. In the words of the Thompson, “Located across from famed Pike Place Market and near the Puget Sound waterfront, our luxury boutique hotel reflects the intrinsic beauty of Seattle and elevates the refined edge of downtown. Condé Nast Traveler thinks so, too — naming us to its 2019 and 2020 Readers’ Choice Awards as number one hotel in the Pacific Northwest.”
Get ready to fill your lungs with pristine air, your bellies with amazing food and your camera with incredible memories. Plus, for those looking to fly in without the hassle of packing your bike, we’ve partnered with Giant Bicycles to offer you great trail bikes for the week (included in our price). It’s time for you to let loose in the PNW!
Is This Ride For You?
You love a variety of fast and flowy riding mixed in with rocky, janky, technical trails to keep you on your toes. You can handle long climbs and don’t mind hopping off the bike for the occasional push so you can see the best views and gain access to higher elevation trails that are more technical, challenging and fun. You like to play with your bike and look for the extra tech lines littered with roots. You’re up for some long climbs, but you really love the shuttle days so you can let loose and squeeze in some extra laps. You have strong bike handling skills and master cornering techniques, but you’re always looking to push your skills and grow as a rider. You love tacky dirt, loam, rocks. clay, sand and anything else you can get under your tires. After all, these mountains and terrain are a mountain biker’s paradise.
Itinerary
Day 1. Arrival: Duthie Mountain Bike Park & Grand Ridge, the Central Hub of Seattle Mountain Bike Trails
Welcome to Seattle! We’ll pick you up in the morning either at the airport or downtown Seattle (we are flexible) before heading to our shop to get you fitted on your Giant Trance (unless you opt to bring your own bike). Once bikes are tuned and ready to go, we will load up and head to Duthie Mountain Bike Park, our central hub for local trails created by Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, the largest mountain bike club in North America. This mountain bike park is the perfect spot to get started and warm up. We’ll explore the best combo of trails then connect to the adjacent trail network — Grand Ridge. We’ll enjoy a beautiful climb and descent into the valley floor of the Issaquah Alps for a well-deserved lunch.
After lunch, we’ll hop in the shuttle for a 10-minute ride to Raging River. This new mountain bike park is host to Washington’s most popular trail — Poppin’ Tops — a fast and flowy roller-coaster ride that always brings out the smiles. With over thirty jumps on the way down, you’ll want to get in a second lap. Back to the van for a mountain bike tradition to enjoy trailhead “soda pops”! After recapping a great first day, we’ll head to the impressive Thompson Hotel in the heart of downtown Seattle — where you’ll stay for the first three nights. Once everyone is settled in, we’ll head our for dinner, drinks and an in-depth look at the amazing week ahead!
Day 2. Tiger Mountain
After a hearty breakfast downtown, we’ll head to the mountain biking trial network of Tiger Mountain. Tiger has been host to legal mountain bike trails for over 30 years. As a test bed for different trail building styles, it’s the starting point for much of the access to build new trails throughout the region.
We’ll ascend a combination of trails and if the air is clear, we’ll be greeted to epic views of Mt Rainier, the city of Tacoma, South Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. You will, no doubt, have the obligatory Tiger summit conversation with other riders, “what’s your line down”? OTG! then?
From the first punch out of the gate on top, you will have Mt. Rainier in your scope but it will disappear almost immediately as you ride deep into the woods. Diagonal roots, perfectly built corners, flow when you want flow, kickers when you want to get off the ground. If you open up your riding, you can see what the trail builders had in mind and you start to trust there will be that backside when you need it.
But if you put your guard down, the Tiger will bite! Everything on the hill is challenging. The combination of routes is endless!
A full day on tiger will leave an impression. We’ll head back to Seattle to enjoy a dinner with a view and delicious local cuisine.
Day 3. Journey Back in Time
Enjoy breakfast at the hotel and get your fill of premium Seattle coffee.
Today we’ll head out to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River for a change of pace. The forest service road gives us access to a deep river valley with peaks towering thousands of feet above us. We’ll begin our ride on double track that will take us past waterfalls, crystal clear river pools, sheer granite cliffs, and towering old-growth trees.
We’ll climb to the very edge of the wilderness and have a picnic lunch in the subalpine before crossing a river and hitting singletrack all the way back down. The trail is remote and the vegetation is lush, the perfect landscape for an adventure. This trail will take us through a piece of forest that is home to some of the largest trees on earth — you’ll swear you’re in Jurassic Park.
Day 4. The Dry Side of the Cascades
Today will begin in the early morning. We’ll load up our bikes and luggage and head to what the locals call, “The Dry Side” of the state.
We’ll drive over Snoqualmie Pass and head for the Teanaway Valley. We’ll begin our ride in a subalpine transition forest and make our way through white pines, ponderosas pines and douglas firs. The dirt here is very different with more sand and quartz making for looser terrain. As we ride above the tree line, we’ll gain views to the north of Mt. Stuart. After a traverse around the backside, we’ll have a long descent all the way down to the greener forests near the Teanaway River.
After our ride, we’ll check into our accommodations at The Hotel Roslyn — a beautiful, new hotel in the heart of Roslyn — the setting of the TV series Northern Exposure.
For dinner, we’ll walk a block for dinner at Basecamp Books and Bites. This place is awesome!
Day 5. Northern Exposure
After another tasty breakfast, you’ll have options for how you’d like to spend the day. For some, sitting and relaxing by the lake will be the ticket. If you have more legs and would like to ride, there’s a local favorite called Rat Pac. Or perhaps you’d like a change of pace and decide to head to a beautiful local lake for a cold alpine swim. Other activities include going shopping, bourbon-tasting or checking out the historic town.
Roslyn has a wonderfully cozy, happy vibe to it. It’s too easy to fall in love with this small town. When it’s time to wind down you will have your pick of restaurants and see what Friday night in Roslyn looks like. You might be surprised by what the town with the oldest bar in the state can turn into. One word: fun!
Day 6. The Seattle Mountain Biking Experience That Few Have Tackled: Swauk Pass
Today’s ride is not one you will find in any guide book. This is a very special route that very few have tackled. We’ll start with a shuttle most of the way up Table Mountain. Once out of the shuttle, you will still have a hard climb to make it to the top of the ridge. The ride will take you through meadows of alpine flowers. The view will span to Mt. Rainier in the southwest, Glacier Mountain to the north, Stewart to the northwest and countless other peaks reaching hundreds of miles.
This incredible route has a lot of descending, however, it’s not all “free” as there are several double climbs throughout the ride. After traversing the exposed cliffs carved from Mission Creek, we’ll find some technical singletrack and turn up the speed. We’ll descend along a ridge and make our way to the east end of the original Blewett Pass road where we’ll find our shuttle van and enjoy a delicious lunch.
After lunch, we will hitch a ride back up most of the hill and setup for a second ridge run. While shorter than the morning ride, we still have a climb from the top of the road to the alpine region.
The wicked fast descent will take us back into the Teanaway River valley from two days before. Hop in the van, shuttle back to the lodge and get ready for another fun evening.
Day 7. Raging River
Enjoy breakfast at the lodge, pack up your bags and grab a coffee for the road. We are headed west back over the Cascade mountains for a final day of riding. We are headed for a full ride on Raging River.
We’ll climb to the top of the mountain and find the backside of the trail network to dig deep into the skill pack for a challenging descent. After a steep climb back to the ridge, it’s time to head down. We will start with a small part of the climbing trail we used to gain access to the ridge then test out a brand new downhill trail that will take us back to Poppin Tops. From here you can decide if you’d like to descend the awesome flow trail for a true test of skills.
Lunch will be a delicious BBQ in the park. When we’re done, it’s time for a big round of hugs and high-fives. We’ll shuttle you to your hotel of choice, or the airport. It’s been a slice!
The following data represents a typical itinerary, but adventure travel can be unpredictable and our Guides may need to make last-minute changes to ensure your enjoyment. Inclement weather, road closures, changes to the itinerary to accommodate requests, and other issues may affect the itinerary. The ride data represents an ‘average’ itinerary and may differ when you ride. Our guides make every effort to stick to the itinerary as posted, but your safety is our #1 priority.
Day | Hours of riding | Distance ridden | Elevation gained | Elevation lost | Highest elevation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | 12 | 1500 | 1500 | 1200 |
2 | 6 | 20 | 3000 | 3000 | 3000 |
3 | 4 | 15 | 2500 | 2500 | 2600 |
4 | 6 | 14 | 3500 | 3500 | 6000 |
5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
6 | 6 | 14 | 3500 | 3500 | 6300 |
7 | 4 | 14 | 2500 | 2500 | 3100 |
Totals | 30 HRS |
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