We rode this in the middle of November 2017. Centered around a road called Fischer Hill, just above Lyle in Washington the objective was to create a high reward mellow route. A little bit familiar with the area, I wanted to connect this upward winding gravel to some other amazing roads in the area and also finish on a killer descent. That’s the way I like to finish rides. This route delivered.
Mileage: 36 Miles
Elevation Gain 4,800ft
Elevation profile – well paced climbs with a sweet descent finish.
Terrain: 35% road 65% Gravel
Ride Route: here Ridewithgps
Services: None
Bicycle: Roadie with at least 28’s, Cyclocross, Gravel 34c + or Hardtail MTB
Notes:
The milage is low, but the elevation and roads are fairly challenging. Our ride time was 3hr 30min with a little exploring. (4hr 40 with stopping and rolling under barbed wire etc)
There is a hidden overlook view of the Klickitat river, pretty amazing, but you have to roll under or climb over some barbwire fence and walk about 40ft. Well worth it. (see pano photo below and look on the ridewithgps map for location)
Crossing the Klickitat low down before Fischer Hill climb
Fischer hill climb is sweet, it’s 5miles long and about 1500ft, so pretty mellow. You can see what we just climbed in the background.
The very top of Fisher hill can get a bit muddy due to new construction. We were sort of tossing around exploring, the modified route doesn’t quite go this far, but you can if you like. 🙂
The secret viewpoint, well actually you ride past it, you just need to stop and get to the viewpoint (hint: look at the ride with gps map)
Johnson Road is beautiful, but strange signs on the trees, with charming artistic character let you know that everyone is a little property scared out here. LOL.
After some sweet gravel, there is a short section of road up, it’s not that bad but it feels horrible at this point but it is well worth it for the descent that is about to come. Horrible up starts at mile 22.4 for just over 2 miles- see not that bad.
Awesome road descent back down to the starting point, makes a nice way to end the ride.
That’s a nice loop. I love those signs on Johnson Rd. A nice variation is to stay on Fisher Hill all the way to Shippy Cut Off (Shady is brutal, especially after climbing Fisher Hill). Right on Canyon. Left on Sleepy Hollow. Right on Snowden to Bill Moore to the top of Fisher Hill. Right on Appleton Hwy. Left on Canyon and down the hill.
Another good ride in that area is to go up 142 to Wackiachus Heights Road and conntect that to Fisher Hill (but last time we did that they were getting ready to pave most of Wackiachus). Requires one sketchy barbwire fence crossing but it gets you waaaay into the middle of nowhere.
We once saw a bear just past Shippy Cut Off on Fisher Hill that was so big I went home and Goggled “grizzly bear range”. It was big.
JF thanks for the feedback, I love that area. I will check out your suggestions. I did ride completely to the top of Fischer but then I double backed to Johnson as I wanted to explore. There are some amazing views down to the river off Fischer rd just past Johnson, going up on the right. Top notch stuff.