From the intersection of Main and French Streets, go east on French and look for the
Columbia Lode Trail marker post on the left side of French Street. Climb
Columbia Lode to Gold Flake Terrace, a paved road. Following pavement markings go left and look for a post for the
Corkscrew Trail in a driveway on the left.
Follow
Corkscrew, bear right at the first intersection, then descend left after 1/4 mile across
Corkscrew Drive to
French Creek trail, a crusher fines path. Bear right into an asphalt parking lot, following the striped bike lane around to the right back to the crusher fines path. Follow
French Creek Trail until it crosses a ped/bike bridge. Bear left at the next intersection with
Vista Point and ride north to French Gulch Road. Cross French Gulch and begin up
Betty's Trail on the north side of the road.
Betty's Trail switches back a few times before traversing east, up valley. Ride Betty's until it descends, and parallels French Gulch Road near the Wellington Neighborhood. Betty's ends at
Gold Run Road. Take the singletrack on the left just before the road, and left again after a short distance. This singletrack switches back and reconnects with
Gold Run Road after a short distance. Go left on
Gold Run Road, and take the first right on
Prospect Trail. Climb all the way to
Side Door, passing a house and garage enroute.
Go right onto
Side Door, and left onto Backdoor just west of a tailings overlook. Climb to the top of Backdoor. Turn right onto
Prospect Hill Road. Descend, passing right at the first road intersection with
Golden Gate Loop (GH 39) to
Lincoln Park Road (GH 66) in Lincoln Meadow. In the meadow pass
Rich Gulch (GH 62) on the right just before
Lincoln Park Road (GH 66).
Climb 1/4 mile and turn left onto
Rock Island Road (GH87). Rock Island has a couple of boggy spots in the deep forest before beginning a ripping descent. Be cautious of the large drainage dips at high speed. 1.8 miles into
Rock Island Road descent there is a three-way junction with a timber barricade marking the beginning of
Rock Island Trail. Go east through the barricade onto
Rock Island Trail.
The trail is very steep and loose to
Galena Ditch Trail. The junction with
Galena Ditch Trail is near the bottom of
Rock Island Trail at a post marker. Turn left onto
Galena Ditch Trail and ride west crossing several roads. Galena is pretty easy to follow.
At the end of the trail, take a left onto
Summit Gulch Road and climb steeply 1/3 mile to
ZL Trail which begins at a timber chicane on the left side of the road. The singletrack
ZL Trail climbs steadily to a high point above a house, descends back to Galena Gulch passing through a set of timber barriers, climbs a final time crossing gravel Rac-Jac Way enroute. After crossing the road and contouring below a power line in a clear-cut,
ZL Trail descends through a series of features back to a ditch trail. Follow the ditch southwest across a paved road then descend to
Discovery Ridge trail.
Go left and descend
Discovery Ridge to a gravel road,
The Ledge Trail. Go right and then left at a post marker, descending to paved
Gold Run Road. Go left on the pavement and follow this around to
Tom's Baby trail at the end of the road on the right. Climb
Tom's Baby to the
Middle Flume Trail. Go left on
Middle Flume Trail and climb to the
Upper Flume Trail. Go right on
Upper Flume Trail, passing
Slalom on the left and continue all the way to the
Lower Flume Trail. Go left and descend to SCR 450, Huron Road. The GPS description ends here. Go right back to town.
Alternatively, from the bottom of
Discovery Ridge, turn left onto
The Ledge, climb to
Gold Run Road, then climb to
Upper Flume Trail,
Little Corporal, or
Slalom.
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