Monte Cristo
Key Info
(technical difficulty)
(physical difficulty)Stats
General
Monte Cristo is a historic mining town that has been a favorite family hike and step back in time. It is located at Barlow Pass on the Mountain Loop Highway with a reclamation road built a couple years ago for a soil mitigation project. The addition of the road makes for a nice 10 mile loop. Forest Service Pass required at Barlow Pass.
Typical rocky soils and fire road grade. Some sections of trail have creek erosion and require quick walk over (when dry) or around (when wet).
http://mc-pa.org/
Verlot Ranger Station back in Verlot(19 miles), and various other businesses in Granite Falls (31 miles) or Darrington (23 miles).
From Granite Falls, follow the Mountain Loop Highway North (30 miles) up to Barlow Pass and park. From Darrington, follow the Mountain Loop Highway south to Barlow Pass (23 miles).
Leave Barlow pass on a well graded fire road and it ocassionally turns into single track when necessary to navigate the terrain. The is one historic tree over the river to cross if you go the traditional trail. You can avoid this tree bridge by using the reclamation road which starts about 3/4 mile north of Barlow Pass.
Ride Reports
I got a message from Snohomish County Roads saying that the Mountain Loop Highway was going to open to vehicle traffic on Friday so I made it a priority to hit the Monte Cristo trail and town before the 2024 hiking season got fully underway. I parked at the Deer Creek gate and...
The Mountain Loop Highway closed for the winter yesterday evening so before there was too much snow I was hoping to make one more ride on the gravel bike to Barlow Pass. Snow was falling after the Robe Valley and snow began collecting on the road around Verlot. I parked at the Deer Creek gate (~1...
Rode to Monte Cristo on a sunny Saturday. Arrived to a packed TH at Barlow Pass at 8:30am. Parked about 1/4 mile from the parking lot along the road. We chose to ride in on the main trail, but if I were to do it again, I would ride the alternate route both ways. More about...
After my last report at North Mountain, I am stuck with non-technical gravel riding until my bicep is repaired. Today I took a friend to the Deer Creek gate on the Mountain Loop Highway and we rode up to Barlow Pass with a stop at Big Four and then continued towards Monte Cristo until the snow dr...
Had a great, early, morning, riding the gravel bike from the Deer Creek gate up to Barlow Pass and on to the road to Monte Cristo. There is minimal snow now and just trees to clear occasionally. The highway is being regraded on the Darrington side of Barlow so the closure of the highway is still...
After seeing the snowline at Olallie was 2600' I figure I could try to take the gravel bike over Barlow Pass on the Mountain Loop Highway. I parked at the Deer Creek gate and began the 7-8 mile ride to Barlow Pass. The snow line on the Mountain Loop Highway is about 1700' and less than 2 miles fr...
Added this historic place to the website and enjoyed exploring the different locations and also returned using the reclamation road which makes for a nice loop. It was a little dusty on the Mountain Loop Highway but a nice ride. There was a lot of smoke from fires in BC but the ride was enjoyable...