Hansen Ridge
Key Info
(technical difficulty)
(physical difficulty)Stats
General
Hansen Ridge is the first segment in the new South Fork Snoqualmie riding area, a project Evergreen has been working on this project for 15 years. Currently there are 18 miles of singletrack and doubletrack of great riding, forming an inverted lollipop as you ride from the trailhead to Harris Lake and back. Evergreen, in partnership with the US Forest Service and Mountains to Sound Greenway, secured grants to remove the first series of roads from the system and convert some of them into singletrack. Additional sections of trail will be converted as funds become available, eventually resulting in a 30-mile trail system.
Phase 1 of the Hansen Ridge trail is just over 4 miles each way. The climb is nice up the trail, and most will choose to do this ride as an 8 mile out-and-back, resulting in a total accumulated climb of about 1300 ft. The trail flows nice, and is a bit loose in places. The character of the trail will improve as Evergreen does trail finishing and maintenance. The trail is comprised of two converted roads that connect with a trail about half way. The converted road/trails were made to simulate a trail out of a straight section of road and wind around from left to right with some small rollers and sections of rock and trees. The views from along the trail are spectacular, particularly on the upper segment.
The trail head used to be a popular shooting pit but as of Nov 7, 2011 notices have been posted prohibiting target shooting there. Forest Service regulations prohibit discharging a firearm withing 150 yards of the trailhead. Expect to see people shooting in smaller pits along the road before you reach the trailhead.
Rocky, sandy - usually dry and very little possibility for muddy areas after the rains. The trail head is at 3370 ft, and the highest point is at 4100 feet. It will freeze up quicker than the lower elevation stuff, which makes the shale a little more "sticky".
Ride Reports
Went to ride the Hansen Ridge Trail but to my dismay road 5510 was closed to all public use and gated 1/4 mile from Tinkham Rd due to current logging operations.
Hansen Ridge is in perfect condition, go ride it!
It was very overgrown, but I camped there Friday night and spent a bunch of time cutting it back so the trail is now clear and rideable 100% of the way. Still needs more brushing, but it's comfortably rideable.
I attempted to do the lollipop route but was turned back by a big sign after about 2 miles that said "Watershed Boundary - No trespassing" after starting clockwise along the road. I backtracked and did the singletrack section (counter clockwise). First part was fine until the j...
We HIKED this on the 11th. The road is fine until about 0.5 miles from the Harris lake (shooting range) trailhead. We high centered a sedan on snow and parked there. We passed one (dissapointed looking ) rider coming down from the trailhead. The trail has intermittent snow for the first...
Just an update to what others have reported. This is a lovely, moderate trail that needs a bunch of work to become the gem that we all wish it could be. The good news is that although it is overgrown in a lot of places, there are no carniverous blackberry vines to strip your flesh fro...
Like other posts have decried, this trail is really over grown and that is no exaggeration ! The last mile and a half mile was impassable. It’s sad that this trail has been neglected for several years.
It is super beautiful and is an awesome short adventure ride, not a bike park ride like...
Did the short ride today, out and around to the logging road for the finish back to the parking spot. Trail very rough, many rocks on trail, some of them too large to ride over. Portions of the trail were very overgrow, difficult to determine the location of the trial at times. ...
Attempted to take my 11 year old up for the first time on the loop out of the parking lot (logging road to trail at watershed). Got about 3/4 up FS 5510 and reached impassible (12"+) snow on the road. We got through a few patches but they got longer and less traveled. Didn't want to get the truck...
I rode out to the lake and back and really had a hard time enjoying the ride even on a perfect weather day. I did this three years ago and had more fun. It starts off with the completely depressing shooting pit parking lot...
The trail is becoming harder to enjoy as there are too many sections where the danger of being thrown off the bike by branches sticking out or rocks hidden in bushes invading the trail slows one down to a fraction of the speed at which the trail could be enjoyed just a year ago. Maybe the trail i...
Rode a week ago wtih an early start and managed to make it to the lake taking the upper route out and the lower on the return. As in the previous report, the last mile to the lake is really overgrown but still do-able. Other than that, the trail seems to be in good shape.
Headed up to Hansen with the intention of riding out to the lake and back. The section of the ride described as Phase 3 road/double track was VERY overgrown with underbrush. I ended up with scratches everywhere and something that caused an itchy rash that still hasn't gone away over two weeks lat...
Rode out to the lake Sunday starting and ending at the upper trailhead. There is very little snow left and the little patches that were there are probably gone by now. Overall the trail is in good condition and needed only minor cleanup. There are a few overgrown patches as you get closer to the...
It was a beautiful day to hit the trail and myself and 2 others rode up the fire road to the top gate entrance. We were able to climb the first slightly steeper section and then we hit snow. There was just WAY too much snow. We toughed it out and hiked to the Harris Lake turn an...
My son and I rode this trail yesterday. Great weather and great trail conditions made for a long yet fun ride. We rode Upper Hansen Ridge and then all the way to Harris lake. On the way back we took the lower Hansen Ridge trail all the way down to the parking lot.
A few places where we di...
Rode all the way to the lake, no snow (a couple of spots where it's still there, but plenty of room to ride around it, not covering the whole trail.)
Maybe 5 (?) trees down on the whole ride... nothing you can't carry your bike over, but too big for my handsaw.
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I took my hand saw along on my ride. I was able to clear about half dozen trees. I did not have much spare time, so in some instances I just made the trees passable. There were two large trees that I did not try to do anything with. Those would best be cleared with a chainsaw. Trail could use som...
First time up on this trail for me. Solod a quick evening ride on Phase 1 of this trail. Did the ~4 mile loop up the loggin road, up the single track to the T, and then back down the single track. Hit multiple patches of snow near the top of the ridge line. Two downed trees on the loop, had to di...
Rode all the way to Harris Lake. The snow's almost completely gone; there were 2 patches that were too soft to ride but they should be gone in a few days. That leaves about 10 trees in the trail that you'll have to get off your bike for.
If you're riding this, please consider bringing a s...
Wonderful day for a ride on the ridge! Concerns about snow at elevation basically evaporated once we hit the trail. Although we did hit some (mostly around .75 - 1 mile in) it was easily navigable and rode most of it on the way down. Fair amount of animal evidence and extremely low evidence of pe...
The trail itself is covered in 3-4 feet of snow. Snow line is about a mile an a half down the road from the trailhead, and the snow on the road is pretty deep as well. Totally unrideable, even if you had a fat bike.
I love Hansen Ridge, and watching the seasons change from up there. The trail has a fresh coat of snow, and some ice in patches, with more snow expected tomorrow. Soon, it will be time for fat bikes and ice tires. Hope to see you there.
Strava Link: Hansen Ridge Strava Ride
Conditions: Beautiful fall day around 45 degrees to start, sun and clouds all day. The trails were in perfect shape, only one mildly mu...
Rode Hanson Ridge for the first time yesterday starting around 10am.
The dirt is in great condition, even moist in places under tree cover. Dusty in exposed places but no more than usual on a rocky trail. It was really fun to ride.
Awesome scenerey for pretty much the entire trai...
Early morning ride out to the lake and back. Rode the CW loop (out on the "upper" trail, back on the "lower"). Rocky in the usual places. Sand was generally firm. The dirt was in great shape, with just a bit of moisture from the recent rains. Plenty of bear scat, but no bears to be seen. No shoot...
Rode Hansen Ridge solo today. Pretty exposed but nice cool breeze kept it comfortable. Rode out clockwise onto lollipop and then into phase 2 until a bear told me to go back (near beginning of the double track, where single track goes back into forest, near carter creek; I told the bear to go bac...
Did the ride out to the lake, starting in a clockwise direction (so up the road to Seattle water gate and onto single track from there) on what turned out to be a very hot day. I'd say it was a good thing the lake was there and it was the perfect termperature to jump in and get ready for th...
Rode here today with my 11 year old. The views are fantastic for much of the ride. Perfect for taking your time with a trail snack. Our route was to climb the road to the next gate and then head onto the trail. We rode the trail up to the intersection, took a left and rode...
It wasn’t the best day for sightseeing on Hansen Ridge but the cool damp weather was perfect for a twenty mile out to the lake and back ride. Because of the fog, I didn’t add the extra spur along the high point, or ride up to Mt Gardner. That’s a ride for another time.
The trail has a lot...
First ride of the year and first time on this trail. Probably bit off more than I should have for a first ride but had a great time. Only encountered one patch of snow that was no more than 3' across. Quite a bit of mud on the last 100' of singletrack before it turns back to dou...
We took advantage of a small break in the weather and got in a nice dry ride. Parking area at the trailhead (3300ft) was snow free, and we didnt encounter snow until we hit around 3800ft. At the peak (4100) there was maybe 2" of wet snow, but nothing you couldnt ride thru for the most part. The d...
Rode to the fire road and back. Trails were 95% rideable. Some old compact snow in spots < 6" deep. Light dusting that should be melted by the end of the weekend. Other than that great shape!
Yesterday rode the gravel road uphill to the newer, upper trail segment, then rode back down around the lower trail, returning to the parking area at the old target shooting pit. the road gave me a chance to warm up properly before hitting the trailhead. I was surprised at how l...
Rode Hansen Ridge today. We rode the lower section on the way up and rode out the upper section on the way back. In the future I would ride the lower section up and then hit the Phase 2 areas and come back on the lower section. There are some fun rocks and rolling jumps that riders would be ready...
This was my first time up Hansen Ridge and what an amazing job Evergreen MTB has done to carve out this trail. Rode from the shooting pit to the Lake and back. Got a flat about 1 mile before reaching the lake and stupidly didn't have a pump. Thankfully there was one other rider out there and he l...
We did the "Shuttle" option! Did the usual route to the lake but mixed it up on the way back.
Here is a quick map of the route we took from the lake to exit 42. It is a very straight forward ride with no real chance to get lost. From the T (orange line) where you normally go r...
Wow, Evergreen really created a gem - it's still a little rough around the edges (literally ;-) but all-in-all a nice mix of single track and double track with some forest road mixed in for a good measure. This was my first time riding the phase 3 portion and the switchbacks up/down the steep par...