Trail Facts

The Trail

Skill Level: Difficult

Trail Type: Cross Country

Length: 12 miles

Elevation Gain: 1400 meters

Elevation Loss: 3000 meters

Location

Trail Name: Sage Hills

City(s): Wenatchee

State: WA

County: Chelan

Description

Road trips are great, but there's something to be said for having a great local network of trails easily accessible to town. It's even better when those trails traverse the foothills of the Eastern Cascades providing an epic view of the mighty Columbia River.

As mountain biking towns go Wenatchee is off the radar. People generally know nothing about it unless they've lived there. But it's worth a close look because this town of 39,000 is absolutely at the heart of some amazing mountain bike terrain. The local epic Devils Gulch is just a 15-mile drive out of town. Leavenworth and its Freund Canyon Trail is another 15 minute west, Chelan's Devil's Backbone lies to the north and the Columbia River Gorge is south. But if you don't feel like driving to ride, you can always hit up Sage Hills.

As it name suggests the hills overlooking Wenatchee are covered in sagebrush as well as wild sunflowers that bloom every spring. These hills remain at low enough altitude that they can be ridden most of the winter so long as town hasn't received a big snow dump. The terrain at Sage Hills is fairly forgiving too. It's steep, like the rest of the Cascades, but with few rocks and no trees you can slide around a bunch up there and rarely get into too much trouble. And the trails themselves are 100% singletrack.

Despite Washington's reputation for its rain forests, the east side of the Cascades is an arid environment. As such Wenatchee gets HOT in the summer time. Triple digit temps are not unusual from July-September. During this time it's usually best to ride higher altitude trails than Sage or save Sage rides for the late evenings. And do keep an eye out for rattlesnakes; they are very common.

Parking for Sage has come under fire from time to time. It was common to park in the Sage Hills Dr. cul-de-sac and jump right on the singletrack. But as the popularity of this riding area increased, local residents lost their patience with the dozens of cars that would line this tiny street and asked riders to park at the top of 5th street. This tail end of the singletrack is on private property so please heed the signage, whatever it says, and help keep the land owner happy about providing access. Alan Davis

Location

Driving Directions