Whitefish Biking Advice?

[kootenayskier]

Heading to the Whitefish MT area in late August for a few days of riding. From what I can find online, we're thinking Napa Lookout - Alpine trail #7 - Wire, an out and back on Beardance, and Reid Divide - Boney Gulch might be worthy. Any feedback on these or suggestions for other long, technical, spectacular (at least two out of 3) trails to consider?

[toast2266]

Those are all great trails.

I'd probably skip Reid because its pretty brushy this year. You could ride Bill and Ashley instead. Bill starts at the same place as Reid but goes in the other direction, and Ashley is just to the south of that. Both trails are on trailforks.

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[toast2266]

Also maybe consider a ride up in Ten Lakes (outside of Eureka, north of Whitefish). Some awesome loops in there that may be closed to bikes next year. A good loop: Park at Stahl Creek and ride Stahl Creek -> Highline -> Wolverine Lakes Basin -> Lower Wolverine Basin -> Either Bluebird (more rideable) or Lower Theriault Lake (shorter, but less rideable) -> Highline back towards the car.

If you have a shuttle, Gibralter is also a cool ride with a nice, long descent.

[kootenayskier]

Also maybe consider a ride up in Ten Lakes (outside of Eureka, north of Whitefish). Some awesome loops in there that may be closed to bikes next year. A good loop: Park at Stahl Creek and ride Stahl Creek -> Highline -> Wolverine Lakes Basin -> Lower Wolverine Basin -> Either Bluebird (more rideable) or Lower Theriault Lake (shorter, but less rideable) -> Highline back towards the car.

If you have a shuttle, Gibralter is also a cool ride with a nice, long descent.

Thanks for the info. Looks perfect. Any idea of how long it might take to complete the loop, and if finishing the day with Gibraltar makes sense for a group of capable (but certainly not xc crusher) riders?

[mntlion]

also stop by and see Cricket and her staff at whitefish bike retreat (or go get ice cream and a beer)


Last year I rode up 6 mile hill, alpine#7, and down hall. Was a fun loop. Bit old school (I like that) but fun and great views

[toast2266]

Thanks for the info. Looks perfect. Any idea of how long it might take to complete the loop, and if finishing the day with Gibraltar makes sense for a group of capable (but certainly not xc crusher) riders?

Finishing the day with Gibraltar would definitely be doable, but it'd be a big day.

Last year I did the loop I described above, except we went down theriault pass, and then rode the road back to the junction with grave creek road where we'd set a shuttle. That ride was about 31 miles and 5000 feet elevation gain, and my moving time was just over 4 hours (so probably 5.5 or 6 hours total, with stops for lunch and scenery and that sort of thing).

If you did Gibraltar instead of theriault at the end of the loop, I think it'd probably add an hour of moving time, and probably around 1500 feet more vert. It's a sweet trail though, with a looong descent at the end.

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[Terrapin Ben]

I like to ride Beardance as a loop more than an out and back. Just climb up Phillips and the forest road. Also worth checking out the ridge trail from Foys to Blacktail - it's kinda all moondust right now, but still pretty fun.

[RootSkier]

Napa Lookout - Alpine trail #7 - Wire

toast and others: Is this the generally recommended first-timers Alpine Trail #7 ride? I have looked a fair bit on Trailforks and it's kind of bewildering to figure out the best route in terms of reasonable climbs...or at least as reasonable as 5000++ ft can be.

[toast2266]

toast and others: Is this the generally recommended first-timers Alpine Trail #7 ride? I have looked a fair bit on Trailforks and it's kind of bewildering to figure out the best route in terms of reasonable climbs...or at least as reasonable as 5000++ ft can be.

Yeah, Napa to Wire is the best route in that area, and Wire got brushed out last summer, so it should be riding nicely. You could also do Napa to Bond if you wanted a longer ride - the top bit of Bond is really brushy (down to Bond Lake), but it's good below that.

There's some decent rides in the northern sections of Alpine 7 (around Doris and Jimmy Ridge), but all of those trails get a lot more moto traffic so the climbs tend to be pretty rutted and more or less unrideable.

[RootSkier]

Cool, thanks.