Mountain Biking in the Lakes Basin…Graeagle to Elwell and Back

Last Sunday, I finally completed a ride in the Lakes Basin that I had been wanting to do all year.  I ended up going solo, which was cool.  Generally, I prefer partners in the mountains, but sometimes being alone is nice.  4 hours of quiet can be hard to come by these days. 

I started the ride at the market in Graeagle and rode up the Gold Lake Highway about 6 miles to the Bear Lake trail head.  From there I rode along Bear Lake and above the south shore and east shores of Long Lake towards Mt. Elwell.  Eventually, I went over the top of Elwell and descended north back towards Graeagle on the Mt. Elwell Trail and Smith Creak Trail. 

This was an amazing ride.  The decent from Elwell to town is about 3500 vertical feet and the riding is generally very good – some steep and rocky terrain, but lots of fun, smooth single track too.  All in all, this was one of my best rides of the year.

For a map of the trails in the Lakes Basin, click this link. http://www.sierratrails.org/web/pages/events.html