It has been a little over three years since I’ve taken the bike up, and then across the Blue Mountain Ridge just north of Sultan (Spoiler, this ride is all double-track). Today, I wanted to remap the route since they decommissioned roads used previously while climbing the West side of the ridge. 

     I started at the DNR gate just east of the Bronson Lake Community and after the first mile, you take the right fork to follow the road along the water system pipeline. This fork goes about another mile and has a steep climb before you go left to proceed to the west side climb. After the left, you descend for a mile and start your climb to the ridge.

       The climb is fairly strenuous so be ready for that. On the way up, there are views of the valley along with Rainier once, and the Olympics and cities. Along the ridge you’ll go up and down a couple times and see a microwave relay station for PUD and a radio repeater for the timber companies or DNR.

       After the two radio station sites, you begin your descent down to Sultan Basin Road again and that is quite exhilarating. The descent ends with navigating another gate and then you can return on Sultan Basin Road back to your car, or do what I did this time, I went left to Spada Lake and the Culmback Dam site. 

        At the Culmback Dam, you have two options. First, you can take your bike on the double track to the Sultan River Canyon trail and hike it, or you can cross the Dam and explore the North shore. I explored both today but decided not to hike down into the canyon. Both options are beautiful but mainly for explorers. The descents you get on each are fun at speed. My Levo speedometer turned into a fun meter since there are no vehicles on those gated roads. But be careful of dogs and folks. 

      Along the North shore, there is an old historical campground with moss covered pavement. It was probably used for PUD parties or Timber project housing a long time ago. The north shore road, FS-110 on Trailforks, needs an edit since there is a decommissioned debris pile at my photo location. Any further and you will need way more than a machete to clear a path for any exploring.

      After I climbed out of the Dam area back to Olney Pass, I began the return trip to the car and another exhilarating descent down the dirt, and then paved, Sultan Basin Road.

It was such a fulfilling day and the weather was cool but clear. It was wonderful.

     The Trailforks Activity Log for the ride today is here.