Trail Overview
Windy Ridge is a 15 mile long single track in the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho. It starts off of FS 250 at the Fourth of July Trailhead by crossing a huge wooden suspension bridge over the North Fork of the Clearwater River, already providing a really unique experience. The trail goes through a really lush and jungle-like dense forest, really socked in with leafy bushes that might whack your face. Watch out for hidden rocks and stumps in the full bushes; you don't want to hit your foot on them. It has a few tight but easier switchbacks right away, and several little streams running across the trail. It continues as a very narrow trail, side-hilling across the mountain-sides, gradually climbing up 4,000 feet over the first 12 miles until you reach Cook Mountain. The last couple miles gradually descend back down a bit to the intersection with Windy Bill. It has some more exposed spots as you get higher up the mountain, and it opens up from the dense forest as you get closer to the top of the ridge, with epic views of the mountains. It gets up onto a grassy meadow on top of the mountain and flattens out on the ridge, before going back into more sections of trees. The trail itself is really smooth, and not rocky for most of it. This is a pretty remote area of Idaho that may not see many riders, so there is potential for big downed logs if it's not cut yet for the season. This trail is open 8/1 - 11/15.
Difficulty
Other than extremely narrow sections with exposure on the hillsides, this trail doesn't really have any difficult obstacles, other than potentially having downed logs. The overgrowth can make the visibility worse, and constantly getting hit with branches. It only has a couple tighter switchbacks in the beginning, but most of the climbs are gradual. This is one of the easier trails in the area.
