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Cultus Lake Loop Trail
Trail Snapshot:
Trail Description
E-bikes NOT allowed on Cultus Lake Loop
Like most of the Cascade Lakes area trails, the Cultus Lake Loop trail has a “high-country” feeling with thickly forested single-track and amazing views of Cultus, Deer, and Little Cultus Lakes.
With only a few short climbs and no real technical sections, this is a great trail for novice riders. Early fall and late summer are the best times to ride the loop since winter brings lots of deadfall, and early summer often means hoards of mosquitos.
It’s commonly ridden from the Cultus Lake Resort counter clockwise and there is one ‘boring’ road segment (NF-4630) to complete the loop — or, you can make a u-turn at Little Cultus Lake and ride it as a longer out-and-back.
Cultus is also a popular jumping off point to ride the Charlton Lake Trail which connects to Clover Meadow and Waldo Lake.
Keep an eye out for hikers and horses on the Cultus Lake Loop — it’s popular with both.
We just cleared the remaining trees near Little Cultus.
Still a lot of down trees on the trail. I counted 16 today. The dirt is good in the shade but sandy & loose in the sun. The mosquitoes were only bad in the areas where there was water.
Still a fair number of trees down. Mosquitoes weren’t too bad, but I didn’t stop much to count…
Mosquitos are out in full force.
Trail cleared of trees by usfs crew. Thanks Joe Welke.
Cleared 4 trees today. Would’ve only been 2 if I hadn’t missed my turn. Getting a little over grown on the Little Cultus side.
Cleared 3 legitimate blow downs and about 10 logs that some idiot thought belonged in the middle of the trail.
Lots of thick dust for most of the ride, some nice dirt down by Little Cultus and Deer Lake. Mosquitoes were a non issue yesterday!
Somewhat dusty and a few sandy spots. Only noticed mosquitoes near Deer Lake.
Cleared the Cultus Lake loop of blowdown with the Oregon Timber Trail Alliance on 6/8/2018.
Not bad by Little Cultus but lots of snow around Cultus itself, up to 4″. All barely rideable CW but almost certainly not CCW. A few trees down as well.
Rode 8/8/17, conditions were good. Did an out and back from Deer Lake TH to Cultus Capmgrond. A few trees down on Many Lakes (MW). Good warm-up ride before Waldo the next day!
No down trees blocking the trail although I some how missed the Deer Lake part. Some sandy spots. The first part is beat up from horse hooves and there was a ton of horse dung on the trail.
As of October 9th this loop is riding great. Sand is all compact and riding fast. The recent precip helped a bunch. One blowdown just at the trail start near Little Cultus and another blowdown on the northwest corner of Cultus. Fun ride with more descending than climbing (thats how it feels!). The 4 miles of rode at the start goes pretty quick.
Did an out and back on this from Deer Lake TH. Only a couple fresh down trees. Planned on riding Charlon/Lemish loop…but ended up that not cleared too far yet. This trail is fun and seemed to have little use the day i rode it. Dusty in sections….but a great option from Little Cultus!
Rode this trail over the weekend – really fun! I’m a novice rider from the Valley and all my trails have massive roots, divots, twists, turns, and poison oak! :p It was a treat to jam on this seemingly flat and smooth trail.
I got lost in the boat camp area around mile 5 and ended up taking a forest road back to Little Cultus which meant I missed the amazing section of MetWin and the Deer Lake Trail. Instead I rode a hot, rocky road which my dog did not care for. It also made the washboard gravel road (3 miles) and pavement (1 mile) a misery fest.
However, redemption occured the next day when I rode it backwards from Little Cultus to where I went off trail. Now I know the way to go :) In the future I would U-Turn from Little Cultus. The gravel/road section was really rough and hot, and busy with cars. Since I ride with my dog it made it a bit stressful!
Anyway, fast and fun, only 1 tree I had to get off for about 1 mile from the Deer Lake TH. A really great beginner’s ride and just what I was looking for.
Trail is generally clear of deadfall but dusty in areas.
At least 70 trees down around the loop. 30-40 need a large chainsaw.