Online registration ends on 9/29/24 at 5:00pm
Photo credit: Al Casile
Welcome to our 1st Annual Larch Fest!
Join Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and the Evergreen East chapter a weekend of epic riding and camping at Kettle Crest in Colville National Forest! If you can't join for the entire time, come for as long as works for you. Folks with kids, the campground is a great spot for the little ones to ride around.
Enjoy some of Washington’s best backcountry singletrack in a remote alpine setting, surrounded by larch trees in all their fall color glory! Most of the rides have a healthy dose of climbing, but there are lots of great ride options!
More details to follow, but we'll plan to do one full day of trail work on Saturday, swapping stories around the campfire over a cold beer and, of course, riding some epic alpine singletrack.
Please note there is no cell phone service at the campground or where we will be riding. Group rides will be leaving around 9 am - 10am each morning (this varies based on what folks are feeling). Note: the groups rides are not scheduled (9am is just the usual time people tend to start gearing up to go out and ride), the format is very casual.
Directions:
We'll be camping at the Jungle Hill Campground, which is between the towns of Republic and Kettle Falls. We have the whole campground reserved so feel free to use any empty site when you arrive. Depending on how many folks show up we may have to squeeze a couple folks into the larger sites.
What to bring:
- A willingness to get dirty!
- Camping Equipment (or van/camper) -
- Tent, pad, sleeping bag, light, chair, warm clothing, and water filter
- Water, food, snacks and a pack to haul it in.
- There is no potable water at the campsite so bring all you will need or a water filter for the creek if you'd like (warning: steep hill/trail to and from camp to creek)
- Work boots or tough hiking boots (sturdy footwear)
- Rain gear, layers, work attire aka: clothes that look superb when dirty!
- Safety glasses and work gloves if you have them
- A warm change of clothes after a fun filled day
Evergreen will provide:
- All the tools
- Work gloves if you would like them
Photo credit: Al Casile
Ride options
While our ride schedule is usually made ad-hoc, here's a few ride options!
Jungle Hill
- Easy Option: 10 miles, 1300 ft. climbing, 2500 ft. descending
- Medium Option: 14 miles, 2300 ft. climbing, 3300 ft. descending
- Hard Option: 18 miles, 3600 ft. climbing/descending
For the easy and medium options, we shuttle up to the top of Sherman Pass and start up the Kettle Crest trail. The hard option starts from the campground with about 1300ft of climbing to get up to Sherman Pass. After climbing on the Kettle Crest there is an optional detour to Columbia Mountain which has an awesome 360-degree view. For the easy option, riders can turn around after Columbia Mountain and descend all the way back to the campground. Otherwise, riders will continue climbing and descending along the Kettle Crest until the top of Jungle Hill where the payoff awaits….
Old Stage to Midnight Ridge to Kettle Crest to Jungle Hill
- Easy Option: Old Stage/Midnight Ridge loop, 10 miles, ~2,850 ft. climbing/descending
- Medium Option: Old Stage/Midnight Ridge loop + Kettle Crest to Jungle Hill, 17 miles, ~5,000 ft. climbing/descending
- Hard Option: Pedal from Jungle Hill Campground to Old Stage/Midnight Ridge loop + Kettle Crest to Jungle Hill, ~30 miles, ~7,000 ft. climbing
Up West Side of Old Stage and descend the scenic Midnight Ridge trail. Up and over Copper Butte (elev. ~7100') around Scar Mountain and then up to Wapaloosie and a fun descent to Jungle Hill and the Jungle Hill Campground. Views go for miles when up on the Crest.
Upper/Lower Taylor Ridge
Those intersted in making the drive out to Taylor Ridge (about 1 hour) can go out to do that. Taylor Ridge is a 18 mile ride with 2,600ft of climbing and 5,600ft of descending. Those that want to stay nearer to camp can do another varieation of the rides listed above.
More details on the way soon!
If you have any questions or concerns about Larch Fest, please reach out to Mic McLane at
Hope to see you out there!