And it’s about dang time, right? We’ve been rearranging the puzzle pieces for the past 6 or so years, compiling all available options, or at least the ones our intrepid scouts were willing to bushwhack through. In 2024, we’re sharing 874 miles of the best sections that are ready for your tires and curiosity. This month, we’re publishing the Colemonti Crossing’s Loowit Tier in southern Washington. In subsequent months, we’ll see four sections throughout California, as well as an updated southbound version of the Oregon Timber Trail…

What does the Loowit Tier have in stock for you? While the crowds from Portland and Seattle flock to the Columbia River Gorge and the North Cascades all summer long, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest’s massive trail system in SW Washington remains largely vacant. Of course, this might be due to the especially steep and technical nature of the trails, the fact that many allow motorized use, and the occasional demoralizing pit of pumice sand in the Mount Saint Helens blast zone. But those who know where to look know that the Gifford holds some of the best riding and most majestic mountain forests in the Pacific Northwest.

If you’ve been following along, you know the Orogenesis Collective has spent the last three years restoring one of these gems outside of Packwood—the Klickitat Sisters #7 Trail. The Klickitat Sisters trail is an ancient indigenous trail at least 3,000 years old that was used as a trade route between the Cowlitz and Klickitat people, staying high above the valley floor on scenic ridgelines. Luckily, it has retained its primeval qualities and today is the longest non-wilderness trail in the Forest that is not bisected by a road.

Few have ridden the Klickitat Sisters Trail, but farther along the route you’ll pass over Strawberry Ridge, the Plains of Abraham, and down Ape Canyon—a couple of Mount Saint Helens’ more popular backcountry mountain bike rides. In June, we’re tackling the restoration of another long-abandoned trail farther south in Indian Heaven, the last few miles along the Loowit Tier that need to be opened up before the first riders (…you?) pass through in July.

These areas are extraordinarily rich in resources, and as a result, indigenous cultures as well. The abundant cold, clear streams have welcomed millions of salmon for 6 million years. The high hemlock forests and burn scars support expansive fields of crimson huckleberries and gigantic mushrooms hidden beneath the thick duff. With any luck you’ll encounter these, as well as the people who have cultivated their presence since time immemorial.

So what are you waiting for? (aside from the deep snowpack to melt out…) Head on over to pore over the map and read what to expect this summer on Orogenesis’ remarkable Loowit Tier.

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