Mountain biking could be getting its answer to the Pacific Crest Trail, and its first leg to be announced is in Washington.
The organizers of Orogenesis, a proposed 5,000-mile trail spanning from British Columbia to Baja California, unveiled the project’s first section, Loowit Tier, on April 23.
The trail, which runs through central and southern Washington, is designed for “bikepacking,” a cross between mountain biking and backpacking where riders complete a trail with supplies to camp overnight on their backs.
“The Loowit Tier really takes in what makes the Gifford Pinchot [National Forest] so special. It’s got some of my favorite forests in the Pacific Northwest,” Gabriel Tiller, Orogenesis’s executive director, told McClatchy in a phone interview.
WA mountain biking trail opens
The 197-mile Loowit Tier spans from Packwood, just south of Mount Rainier, to White Salmon, on the Washington-Oregon border.
The trail, which needs the last bit of remaining snow to melt before opening, weaves through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and towards Mount Saint Helens, before turning south. The second half of the trail takes riders past the Lewis River and before wrapping up at the Columbia River.
“There’s just no comparison for riding through the blast zone of Mount Saint Helens,” Tiller said.
Riders will gain over 33,000 feet of elevation over the course of the trail, with the highest point at just over a mile above sea level. It’s a strenuous trail – the project’s organizers rate it an eight out of ten in physical difficulty and a six out of ten in technical difficulty – and it’s recommended for more experienced mountain bikers.
A biker rides Loowit Tier by Mount Saint Helens. Courtesy of the Gabriel Tiller
Navigating Loowit Tier mountain biking trail
You can get to the trailhead in Packwood by taking Highway 12, or a Lewis County bus from Centralia or Chehalis. The end of the trail in White Salmon is located right off of State Route 14 and State Route 141. Columbia Area Transit operates bus routes in the area as well.
The trail includes some unmarked portions and stretches without cellular reception, so the project’s organizers recommend downloading the Ride With GPS app to help you navigate. Camping spots are widely available along the trail, according to the project’s website.
While freshwater is available along much of the trail and there are some supply stations along the way, organizers say that a water filter or purifier is a must if you plan to complete the trek.
A map displays all of the options for completing Loowit Tier. Courtesy of Gabriel Tiller
Orogenesis trail
Loowit Tier is the first section of Orogenesis to be unveiled, marking a major milestone for the project, which has been in the works since 2017, according to Tiller.
“I was involved in the Oregon Timber Trail and its creation… and we published that in 2017. At the same time, this other route, the Baja Divide, was published by some other bikepackers, and that goes down the whole length of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico,” Tiller said. “And it was really obvious seeing them both on the map that we were going to have to try to connect the two.”
The group plans to unveil four more sections of the trail over the course of 2025. When the entire trail is complete, it’s expected to consist of 24 tiers over 5,000 miles and 470,000 feet of elevation gain.
“We did the Washington release and then we’ll do four more sections in California in the coming months,” Tiller said.
Tiller said the group doesn’t have an estimate for when the entire trail will be unveiled due to a handful of stretches that have proven difficult to navigate, but plans to unveil the main portions in the coming years before filling in the remaining gaps.
“We’re trying to figure out solutions to those gaps. It’s really unknown how long building those sections of new trail will take,” Tiller said. “But we do plan on releasing new sections of the trail every year going forward until we slowly build it out.”
When complete, Tiller said, Orogenesis will be mountain biking’s answer to the popular backpacking route the Pacific Crest Trail.
“Mountain bikes aren’t allowed on the PCT, so mountain bikers have wanted something similar to the PCT for decades now, and thought that this could become that,” Tiller said.
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
Daniel Schrager is the service journalism reporter at the Bellingham Herald. He joined the Herald in February of 2024 after graduating from Rice University in 2023.Support my work with a digital subscription
