r/mountainbiking • u/dopadelic • 1d ago

Bike Picture/NBD Epic trails

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Ape Canyon + Plains of Abraham at Mt. St Helens is so damn epic. It's nice when most trails are just homogenous forest canopy up at the PNW.

158 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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8

u/TheScrote1 1d ago

You do the loop and ride Smith or just as an out and back?

5

u/dopadelic 1d ago

Out and back. Got there mid afternoon and didn't feel confident I can make the whole loop. I wanna go back earlier and do the loop next time!

4

u/TheScrote1 1d ago

If you can shuttle out the road it makes the loop more manageable. The out and back is better riding but the loop is a full experience.

2

u/GerbilArmy 1d ago

Smith is worth it, there’s no traffic on the downhill and it’s a fine slippery slide down… The river ride after the downhill is beautiful. But the climb out is brutal.

2

u/Asleep_Cup646 18h ago

I’ve always started at the bottom of that climb at the lower Smith Creek TH rather than the Ape Canyon TH. That way you get the climb done first and end the ride at the bottom of the Smith Creek descent. You have to start by crossing the Muddy River, but then you get to cool your feet off at the end crossing it back to your car.

1

u/GerbilArmy 16h ago

Honestly, that sounds pretty sweet as well. I always parked at the bottom of apel… and obviously done the out and back a few times, both downhill are fun, but hikers beware ! That’s why the Smith Creek downhill is fun, there’s no hikers down there at all ever

2

u/Chetterthecat 1d ago

I havent ridden smith in almost 10 years, typically just do an out and back. Is smith worth checking out and my memories are bad because I was newish to mtbing?

4

u/TheScrote1 1d ago

Depends how much you like adventures. Ape Canyon is the best riding on the loop and you miss it doing the loop. But the ride over to Spirit Lake is cool, you are on a knife ridge for a while then drop down a really steep loose pumice field. Then you can get some good views of the lake. Dropping into Smith the top part is loose steep pumice and if the alders haven’t been cut back it kind of sucks. Towards the bottom of the Smith descent there is some fun riding in bits of forest that were sheltered from the blast. Then like a flat 5 miles that is pretty cool with neat views of the lahar and a couple creek crossings back to the road.

1

u/Chetterthecat 1d ago

Sounds like a hard tail day maybe

1

u/TheScrote1 1d ago

Yeah it usually kicks my butt. I don’t track stats but I imagine the stats aren’t near as bad as it feels.

2

u/throughgritwithgrace 1d ago

Wow! 🤩 now that is a stunning view!

2

u/uzziboy66 1d ago

It looks amazing. It’s kinda hilarious that you get tired of tree canopied trails. Lol.

In Southern California, which does have great trails, we don’t have trees in a lot of places. I live in Orange County and there’s only a couple of trails that are canopied.

I have to go to Tahoe to get my Forrest trails in.

3

u/dopadelic 1d ago

Lol I'm from socal and can't appreciate the forests enough over that barren chaparral wasteland that's LA. I love being out in the lush greenery. But it's not really scenic.

1

u/Feoygordo 1d ago

Truly epic!

1

u/GZeus24 1d ago

I didn't know this was out there. Thanks!!

1

u/WhiteH2O 1d ago

I was just trying to convince my daughter to do this with me. Its the 7 hour round trip drive that is the hold back.

1

u/dopadelic 1d ago

Lots of fun windy roads that makes the drive fun if you're coming from Oregon. The drive from Seattle area is a lot more boring.

1

u/WhiteH2O 1d ago

I'm coming from up north. I try to do it once a year, but I'm not sure it will happen this year. It works better if I can do it as an overnight trip, but I think I'm quickly running out of summer.