Tern Lake Out-and-Back

Dogs Off-leash

E-Bikes Unknown

Six miles of puddles! Good uphills and fast downhills. Plan on being soaked!

Beware of bears.

We were out to bike Crescent Lake, but it was closed due to bear activity. If you start at the Crescent Trailhead, this route uses the Old Sterling Hwy doubletrack. A sign about "Narrow Road" is your indicator.

You start off downhill and encounter your first puddles. Don't even try to stay dry - these are the first of many. I cannot remember how many there are but for every downhill, there is an uphill. Each one is different - some last a while, some are short, some are steep and some are gradual.

You'll cross over or through a few streams. A few run nice and clear and deep (over my chain) making for a good place to cool off. The puddles are such that if you don't want to get wet, you'll need boots and rain gear. Near the end, there is a nice evergreen forest - nice and dark and shady.

At the very end is Tern Lake. Here, you'll find outhouses and a good place to watch salmon if they have made it that far. Tern Lake is where the road meets up with the new highway. If you start at Tern Lake, as you drive in, the drive makes a loop around the outhouses - instead - go straight. It's pretty obvious now.

General trail notes: This is not a singletrack, but about the same difficulty/challenge as Russian Lakes Trail, just shorter (approx. six miles one-way). You'll more than likely not see a four-wheeler or a car. It's good for families and kids, in that it's easy to stay close without being directly behind, for most of the trail. Consider that this is 2018. As time passes, this route will become more grown over and more washed out.

This is the Old Sterling Hwy. It isn't maintained and a few years ago they ran fiberoptic cable via this route. In the process, they sured up some of the bad washouts, but they are slowly returning.