Swanys Ridge and Swanys West

[4white]

Looking for a bit of people's experience here.

I have ridden Swanys Ridge five or six times and really enjoyed the ride, but never ridden Swanys West. Is Swany's West similar? Can they both be linked in a day? Any outrageous section, I've heard you need ropes for some sections or is this just "folk lore"? Looking for a large ride and thought it would be fun to link both sections.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

Rich

[cedric]

The southern half is easy, the northern half has a climb that can be tough. I've never gone down it (always came up), but imagine it could be a bit spooky going down.

[dirtyboy]

Yes it is very steep, and loose last time I was on it. If you have any riders that are not of a higher skill level, I would avoid this trail. We don't rate the trails here but it would be a black diamond if we did.

[4white]

Thanks for the feedback guys, so just to clarify that the tough section is on the Ridge trail not on the Swanys West section. We have ridden the Ridge trail quite a few times and really like it. Rough idea on how long the west loop takes?

[350scott]

The hill they are talking about is on Swany's West. It's the hill that goes down the west side of the ridge. The top of this hill now has a major rut in it likely due to people spinning their way up it. This should be considered a downhill. If you need to come up, please take the quad/truck trail to the south end of the ridge trail. What was a fun challenging downhill has essentially been ruined until people get out there with shovels to fix the rut.

[malcolmzilla]

Can we get approval to cut a bypass in the east side in the trees? Should be more sustainable if we watch the grade?
Its a nice scenic loop to go over headed south.

[trailguy]

Like Scott said, please use this trail as a downhill until we can do some trail work on it. When I put this trail on the designated singletrack trail map it was intended for expert trail riders only. I knew we would have to do something with that grassy slope - however without it 90% of the riders heading south on Swany's ridge would not be able to make the climb up to the Quad trail. We have two options 1) We take the Trailblazer in & make climbing turns all the way up the grassy slope. 2) We move the trail to the North into the trees, making gradual climbing turns. I can't see any issues getting approval for this.

[4white]

Thanks for all the info guys, the ride was incredible! Pretty stout climb at the end of the ride. Great meeting you Porchev!!

Rich!

[BradC]

I'd like to make a suggestion:

I suggest that the trail be left as it is. Expert riders can climb up to the quad trail, and everyone on bikes can ride down. Beginners can bulldog through the ledges.

The reason I suggest this, is because that quad trail ends right at the trail head, and the other day when I was on my way up (south), two novice quad riders were stuck about 30 feet past the start of the trees, trying to figure out how to keep going north.

IF there were any signs posted prohibiting quads, they have been torn down.

As far as I'm concerned that series of hammered out ledges STOPS the quads. Cutting an easier trail around it will turn that trail into another dual track Cloud Nine.

Furthermore, there's nothing wrong with leaving some trails as "expert only".

Needless to say, I chewed them out and told them it was a motorcycle only trail, and even if they did get their quads past where they were, there was no way out for them.

...just my 2 cents for what it's worth.

Cheers
Brad

[350scott]

Brad, I may be wrong, but I don't think anyone is talking about fixing that hill at the moment. What we are talking about is just below that where the Swany's West trail starts by dropping off the ridge heading west.

[trailguy]

Brad, Scott is correct, you have the wrong trail. No plans of changing that as its a great endo..... I mean choke point for the Quads. And yes it would turn into Cloud Nine if we made that slope easy. I did have a "No Quad" sign up their. Its difficult keeping up with all the signs being removed.

[BradC]

Ahh... Ok... I know what you're talking about now.

The reason I thought everyone was referring to the "end" of the trail, is because it looks like there has been some traffic in the grassy section to the west of the "quad stopper" ledges. I thought that was the grassy section being referred to.

Excellent. I'm glad the south end is being left as is.

I'll shut up now!

Brad

[trailguy]

Today I installed a new Motorcycle & No Quad sign @ the south end of Swany's ridge where the Quad trail ends & the single track starts down the ledges. A short ways down the ledges I installed a 2nd No Quad sign. If they try & proceed after that things are going to get very ugly, very quickly for most Quad riders.