# Mount Saint Helens Windy Ridge



## SwiftSolo

For those who are not familiar with the Mount St. Helens area, it offers the best of single lane paved road riding in the state. If you've only done the Tour De Blast route you are clearly missing some of the finest riding in the Northwest.

One of several of the great rides is the Windy Ridge ride. It starts in Randle and soon becomes the FS 25 road, heading South to the Cispus River bridge. Immediately after crossing the bridge a single lane road starts upward (the FS26 road) Be prepared because you will likely run in to few other humans on this climb. This is my favorite climb in the State (better than Steven Canyon, Paradise, or Sunrise) because the pitch, the scenery, and the direction of travel are constantly changing. You climb for about 17 miles on this single lane before joining the FS99.

The FS99 road is the main Windy Ridge road that takes you out past Spirit Lake to a viewpoint at its' far end. You'll have to turn around at that point and head back past the junction with the 26 road (about 6 miles as I recall) and continue on to the summit of the 99 rd at Bear Meadows. At that point you begin about 22 miles of downhill. The first 6 miles or so are about as much fun as you can have as it winds down to the 25 road. The 25 road takes you on down and back to Randle.

There is a shortened version that simply starts at the 26 road and omits the tail that takes you out past Spirit Lake. This version will take the loop down to 42 miles and about 4400 vertical. 

Here are a few pictures:
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SOME OF THE TYPICAL STREAMS YOU CROSS IN THE FIRST 11 MILES OF THE CLIMB IN MOSTLY WOODED AREAS

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HERE YOU ENTER THE BLAST ZONE FROM THE 1980 ERUPTION. ALL OF THE DOWNED TREES POINT TOWARD THE MOUNTAIN

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THESE LAST TWO PICTURES SHOW THE TYPICAL ROAD AS IT PASSES THROUGH THE BLAST ZONE

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META LAKE NEAR THE JUNCTION OF THE FS26 AND FS99 ROADS

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THIS WHITE STUFF IS ALL PUMICE THAT HAS FLOATED DOWN TO THIS STILL SPOT IN THE STREAM 

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SOME OF THE TREE THAT WITHSTOOD THE BLAST BUT WERE FRIED BY THE HOT GAS

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A LOOK AT WHAT'S LEFT. TWO TONS OF PARTICULATE WAS BLASTED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE FOR EVERY MAN, WOMEN, AND CHILD ON THE PLANET.

WHEN I DID THIS RIDE 4 WEEKS AGO THERE WAS 7 FEET OF SNOW ON THE ROAD JUST UP THE HILL FROM THIS PHOTO. THE SNOW AUGERS HAD PLOWED A SINGLE LANE TRENCH THROUGH IT SO WE WERE ABLE TO COMPLETE THE LOOP. IT WAS STILL CLOSED TO AUTOS AT THAT TIME.


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## Nimitz

WHY ARE YOU YELLING?

Chad


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## bahueh

and why are your bib shorts over your jersey? 

its a nice area....I've climbed St. Helens a number of times and backpacked the loop around the base.


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## SwiftSolo

bahueh said:


> and why are your bib shorts over your jersey?
> 
> its a nice area....I've climbed St. Helens a number of times and backpacked the loop around the base.


That's a friend of mine who get's great satisfaction out of being a Fred who's fast!


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## rcnute

SwiftSolo said:


> That's a friend of mine who get's great satisfaction out of being a Fred who's fast!


What great photos! I'm considering doing the SIR 3 Volcanoes brevet but haven't looked at the route yet--I wonder if it includes some of this.


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## bismo37

Great post. Incredible views. I love biking around Mt St Helens. Do you have a GPS map online for this ride? I'd like to do this this summer.


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## Nic_K.

jeebus said:


> Great post. Incredible views. I love biking around Mt St Helens. Do you have a GPS map online for this ride? I'd like to do this this summer.



Ditto, you should use map my ride so I can upload the route.


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## mcsqueak

Yes, I'd love to see the elevation profile of this ride... it looks nice!


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## SwiftSolo

Nic_K. said:


> Ditto, you should use map my ride so I can upload the route.


I'll post something soon. I owe mapmyride some input since it was of great help on my trips to Solvang this winter.

We have 3 loops and 2 out and backs in the area that are all spectacular and virtually without traffic (we do a 5 day tour each year on these rides). These are mostly single lane paved road rides and we'd love to see more cyclists. I've never been in an area that was a close second to this one.


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## RRRoubaix

Beautiful- thanks for sharing.
I skipped Tour de Blast this year because of the weather and was wondering what other options might be available- this looks perfect!


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## MisterAngular

Can't wait to see your route posted up on MapMyRide. :thumbsup: 

A couple of my coworkers and I would like to do this ride (or some variant of it) on a weekday some time soon... within the next couple of weeks.

Bradley


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## johnlh

SwiftSolo said:


> That's a friend of mine who get's great satisfaction out of being a Fred who's fast!


The nice thing about Freds is that they tend to carry cameras and gps devices, so that they may share their rides with us. Thanks for posting!


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## acapulcogold

Sweet...I also want to check out the mapmyride


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## MisterAngular

OK, I gave it a whirl on MapMyRide and created this route. Did I get it right? 

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/wa/randle/538128026787625262

Edit: Two of my coworkers and I are looking at doing this ride next Tuesday or Wednesday (August 3rd or 4th).


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## SwiftSolo

MisterAngular said:


> OK, I gave it a whirl on MapMyRide and created this route. Did I get it right?
> 
> http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/wa/randle/538128026787625262
> 
> Edit: Two of my coworkers and I are looking at doing this ride next Tuesday or Wednesday (August 3rd or 4th).


You got this right. If you want to shorten you can cut off the ride from Randle to the 26 road. What will remain is 52 miles and 5800 vertical.


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## MisterAngular

Cool, thanks. The 71 mile route out of Randle is fine. We've decided on Tuesday, August 3rd. I will probably meet one of my coworkers in Tacoma, I'm guessing around 7 AM, and meet up with the other one who lives in Tumwater somewhere along the way. If anyone's intersted in joining us, shoot me a private message! I expect the pace to be 20-22 on the flats, and 8-10 on the long climbs. But we'll see.


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## SwiftSolo

MisterAngular said:


> Cool, thanks. The 71 mile route out of Randle is fine. We've decided on Tuesday, August 3rd. I will probably meet one of my coworkers in Tacoma, I'm guessing around 7 AM, and meet up with the other one who lives in Tumwater somewhere along the way. If anyone's intersted in joining us, shoot me a private message! I expect the pace to be 20-22 on the flats, and 8-10 on the long climbs. But we'll see.


Have a great ride. 

We have a group ride of 5 days down there and Windy ridge will be on the 5th of August (the second day). I'll try to post pictures from all five rides. Each of the rides spend the majority of time on single lane paved roads--mostly 3500 to 5500 vertical. All have some great scenery and views.


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## MisterAngular

Thanks. We're gonna hit it in the morning. Thankfully there's food, water, toilets, and even a gift shop at the Cascade Peaks area at about 27.2 miles into the ride and again at about 40.6 as we double back. Things like that don't show up on Google maps or MapMyRide. Good to know for planning purposes!


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## SwiftSolo

MisterAngular said:


> Thanks. We're gonna hit it in the morning. Thankfully there's food, water, toilets, and even a gift shop at the Cascade Peaks area at about 27.2 miles into the ride and again at about 40.6 as we double back. Things like that don't show up on Google maps or MapMyRide. Good to know for planning purposes!


It's marginal but better than nothing!


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## MisterAngular

Survived! The road was a little sketchy in places but truly an epic ride. I have a few pics I may post tomorrow but they really don't do justice to the beauty and splendor on display up there. Great vantage point to see Rainier, Adams, Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens... virtually all at the same time. Spectacular.


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## MisterAngular

Some pictures from the ride.

Just started climbing up FS26 and stopped to take a picture of what is probably Mt. Rainier to the North:










On the long climb up FS26.










The road was a bit sketchy in places, patches of gravel in some places, and dusted with pumices in others.










First view of Mount St. Helens:










Cascade Peaks facility. NO RUNNING WATER. "Food service" meant Clif Bars and beef jerky. But we were grateful for the cold 24 ounce bottles of water at a $1 each.










My bike... the only evidence I was there:










Spirit Lake:










One of my coworkers/riding buddies:










South end of Spirit Lake where the landslide 30 years ago is quite evident:










Pesky clouds hanging around the volcano, as seen from the Windy Ridge viewpoint:


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## T-shirt

Awesome ride report. I'm a Midwesterner who just wandered into this part of the forums, and am glad I did. 

Thanks,
Tshirt


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## Gnarly 928

*Adjacent but south and east of there...*

The riding is also pretty special. To the east and south of the Windy Ridge area are plenty of connecting paved forest roads...the 23 road goes Randal through to Trout Lake. The F.S. road 90 connects that 23 with the Lewis River and Cougar. 
There are some state road loops, too. I ride a loop (in fact I am off to do that this morning) up SR 142 along the Klickitat River around to Trout Lake and back down the White Salmon river (SR 141) to the Columbia R. and back home...100 miles even with great pavement and little traffic. 
A couple of pics I posted on a ride report last fall...


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