| Name: | A loop around Cliff Lake | 
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| Description: | A mountain bike ride that I did while staying at Wade Lake. I could not find any info on trails that one could take from the campground online, or anywhere else. This area seems to be still undiscovered by anyone who is not into just fishing or floating on the lake. After talking to people at Wade Lake Resort (a set of cabins run by the national forest), I learned that one can bike on any trail in the area, and, that most of the trails are rideable. I started at Wade Lake and pedalled to Cliff Lake. Then took Fault Canyon trail north to intersection with Highline trail. This one switchbacks up to Cliff Lake Bench. The forest changes to a large meadow. The trail got reasonably narrow and bumpier due to cow use. Poles here and there marked the trail. Near a fence and gate, the trail more less disappeared and I made first wrong turn. Then I crossed the fence and found the right doubletrack heading south. I stayed on that for a while as it grew larger, and, then came to T intersection. Thinking that I was less far than I was, I went right, about 2 miles to a dead end. Then came back and went the right way, soon afterwards turning left and south again on a fairly well used road. This road went on for a while and then ended at intersection with Meridian Creek trail. Here I went left (east) and dropped down for about 3 miles to Hidden Lake on a semi-steep but rideable singletrack. Here I headed further north around the lake on a good but sparsely used singletrack. To my surprise, and the north end of Hidden Lake was a primitive campground and 2wd access road. I took this road for several miles north to Elk Lake. Here I made major decision. The original plan was to ride to Red Lakes, then east to Red Lake Pass and on the divide to Reynolds pass and back to the camp. But, it was already 1pm, I was getting tired and I figured it'd take me 3-4 hours to get back this way. So, I turned around and decided to try singletrack from Hidden Lake to Cliff Lake and then to Horn Creek. This turned out to be a reasonable adventure, the trail was all good, but, little traveled and so the progress was fairly slow. I also stopped quite often for fotos because the scenery was just too intense. Ride down to Cliff Lake was OK, just a few ups and downs. Then the trail climbs with several switchbacks up a ridge, and down to Antelope Creek. This part was very little used, there probably was not more than some horses there in the last month or to. Crossing Antelope Creek was interesting, I climbed on wooden fence to get through with dry feet. Then followed another climb over another ridge and descent to Horn Creek. The 7 miles from Hidden Lake to Horn Creek took be about 1.5 hours. After this, it was just a quick 20 min / 6 miles ride on a dirt road back to the camp. Overall, a great adventure quite off the beaten path. The distance covered was not that great but I ended up being quite tired after that nevertheless, since the terrain was not too forgiving. Still, I would highly recommend the loop, which, without my detours is about 24 miles long and should take a reasonable rider under 5 hours to finish. | |
| URL: | TopoFusion Home Page | |
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| Total Distance: | 35.48 miles (57.10 km) |
| Total Trip Time: | 5:26:30 (4:57:04 moving time) |
| Total Climbing: | 4871 feet (1485 m) |
| Total Descending: | 4685 feet (1428 m) |
| Average Speed: | 7.17 mph (11.53 kph) |
