Buck Mountain
Info
This fantastic ride is just a few miles north of Winthrop. The trail crosses a diversity of forest and open sagebrush meadows with expansive views of the Methow Valley and more distant Mountains.
The trail is generally snow-free between early May and late November. Most of the year the trail is firm, smooth and dry. Early season there are localized muddy spots. This trail crosses rangeland, so expect cattle and their leavings!
Buck Lake & Buck Mtn Tour option:
This is a beautiful 18-mile ride through mostly open sagebrush meadows. There are excellent views of the Chewuch River Valley, the Methow Valley, as well as nearby and distant mountain ranges. The ride starts at Buck Lake and connects to the Buck Mountain Trails via a 3 mile spur. The Buck Mountain Trail can be ridden in either direction, but clockwise makes the best use of downhill single track. An alternative starting point is the Buck Mountain parking area, with the Buck Lake Trail added on to the final section of the Buck Mountain ride.
Most of this ride is on land managed by the Okanogan National Forest.
Ride Reports
There was free-ranging livestock that degraded the trails making then dusty and covered with cow pies. We were getting cow crap on our bikes and on our bodies. It's too bad that they allow cattle crazing on such a great trail.
My wife and I wrote this for the first time yesterday. It's a fairly easy loop with first little technical terrain. The main obstacle to watch for is cows and their fragrant pies on the decent there are free roaming cows. It is dry and many of wildflowers are done blooming up high but the v...
The Buck Mountain Loop will be partially closed due to logging operations Thursday June 2nd and Friday June 3rd (and likely Monday June 6th - Friday June 10th). The loop will still be accessible and rideable from the Buck Lake side.
Conditions are near perfect on Buck Mtn. Balsam root is about 2 weeks past its prime, but still nice. Weather was a bit cool with very light rain. What a great ride!
The loop is in great shape with just a couple muddy patches. The balsam root is hanging on, prime in some spots done in others. Cow free until the beginning of June. Time to ride it!
Had a great loop on Buck. Trail's dry, except for a couple lingering springs just passed the Deer Country sign. The last final steep descent on singletrack is getting a little dusty and blown out from sliding tires, but super fun still.
The trail is well-signed and easy to follow. There were some cows in spots along the climb but they didn't impact the trail. The ride reaches a highpoint after a double-track climb and is followed by a series of short climbs and descents before the real payoff begins. The main descent is fast, fl...