Gold Creek, Marmot Pass via Upper Dungeness River Trail & Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe — Friday, Jan. 24, 2003

Olympic Peninsula > Northern Coast

We rode the Lower Dungeness/ Gold Creek loop on 1/25/2003. The forest service road leading to the trails is washed out 3 miles from the Gold Creek Trail Head. This makes the total loop approximately 23 miles with 4200 feet of elevation gain. Our total time for the loop was 5 and a half hours, much longer than expected but there is alot more climbing than the 2000 feet stated in most of the mountain biking guidebooks. If your in great riding condition you could probably do it in 3.5 hours, maybe faster. The trails were in excellent condition and mostly dry. There is one large landslide about one mile up the Lower Dungeness Trail that is passable by climbing up to the road then dropping back through the forest to the trail, or by following the survey tape through the slide. There was no snow on either trail and the snow level in the immediate vicinity appeared to be around 4500 feet which is pretty amazing considering the time of year. We cleared 10 blowdowns from the two trails with only one large one remaining that is easily passable early on the Lower Dungeness Trail. All of the streams were easily forded by slippery logs. As a mountain bike loop, I highly recommend this almost year round and it rates as one of the best in the state, just be prepared to work for it. Also the first 3 miles of the lower dungeness were described as hike-a-bike by John Zilly in his Mountain Bike Southwest Washington guidebook, but in reality a strong (very strong) rider could ride the entire trail. It would be painful but techincally doable.