Overnight on Mt Persis from April 18-19th 2026
ROAD: The lower gate was closed, so we parked in the ample clearing just below it, right off Hwy 2. The road was fine for a regular car.
BIKE: Just under 6 miles of forest road gets you to the start of the Persis trail. My friend and I are terrible uphill bikers (especially with winter overnight packs on), so we mostly just walked our mountain bikes up the whole way, with a few short sections where we did ride.
We filtered water at a small stream near a road junction at 2,500', praying that it wasn't contaminated by anything weird from the logging operations.
There was a little teepee structure at the end of the road, and we locked our bikes to the poles there before backtracking a bit to the start of the trail.
PERSIS TRAIL: This thing was steep! It launched us straight uphill, with root belays right off the bat. There was a couple of inches of snow on our way up and I put on microspikes, although it was pretty slushy and balled up if you didn't pay attention.
We were able to follow the steep trail through the lower forest for the most part, although having gpx tracks downloaded came in helpful. There was lots of brush to get in our faces, and a good number of downed trees to get over or under.
We reached a questionably-snow-covered boulder field at around 3,930' and popped on the snowshoes here to reduce risk of punching through the boulders. Some shenanigans and awkward maneuvering in snowshoes got us through. Snow past here was consistent, and we kept snowshoes on to the summit.
After 4,400' or so there was a pain-in-the butt section of unconsolidated snow around smaller/younger trees, but after working our way through the tree well danger zone, we finally got into some more open forest and the grade mellowed out.
The going was slow as we traversed the ridge, breaking trail in the heavy, wet, sloppy spring snow. The trees rained melting snow down upon us, and we got pretty soggy.
After much plodding, the views started to open, the trees thinned, and eventually we were heading past the snow-covered tarns and up to the open summit of Persis!
We set up camp on the broad summit with great views of Mt Index, Baring, Gunn etc immediately near us. The night was warmish, with thankfully fairly light winds, and we woke up to a lovely sunrise.
We had initially wanted to have a go at the Persindex traverse, but with how sloppy the snow was and how slow we had been, we decided it was best to just pack up and head home.
The way down went a lot faster, although the snow was slippery and we definitely busted our butts a few times sliding down the steep parts. We used snowshoes as there had not been a good refreeze overnight, and switched back to spikes after the boulder field. A lot of the lower snow had actually melted out already.
BIKE OUT: As a non-biker who is really scared of falling or going any kind of fast, the top two miles definitely had my full attention with the loose rocks, gravel, and bumps, and it felt pretty steep! I actually walked a few sections just because my hands hurt from yarding on the brakes so much and I needed a break. 😆
Anyway, the middle-lower part of the road was much better, and we were able to cruise out. I think it was worth hauling the bikes!
WANT MORE PHOTOS?
Follow along on Instagram @thenomadicartist
Comments
The bike out is a part of the adventure indeed! Thanks for the lovely photos as always
Posted by:
Joseph Gonzalez on Apr 22, 2026 10:13 AM
Definitely an adventure! I'm such a scared biker 😂. And you are most welcome!
Posted by:
thenomadicartist on Apr 22, 2026 10:40 AM