Leavenworth is a hidden gem located in the Cascade Mountains in Central Washington, about 3 hours from us. Everyone loves Leavenworth for its Bavarian themed restaurants and shops but mountain bike enthusiasts could spend all day exploring the trails in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. We spent this past weekend in Leavenworth exploring both sides of this beloved town.
Saturday
We set out on a route starting at the Freund Canyon Trailhead. The ride began with an Access Road climb which eventually turned into the Freund singletrack climbing trail. We followed this to the top of Rosy Boa, a highly rated black diamond downhill trail and the main reason for our trip to Leavenworth. Rosy Boa offered absolutely beautiful views of the cascade mountains and the town of Leavenworth below us, however it was a little over hyped in our opinion. The trail wasn’t very technical or steep, but riding on the ridge so close to the edge was slightly unsettling at times. At the bottom of Rosy Boa we connected to the Leavenworth Ski Hill where another climb awaited us. The Leavenworth Ski Hill Climb was initially step but eventually mellowed out and brought us to nearly the top of another downhill trail: Freund. If we had followed the true Rosy Eight Route, the entire Freund Downhill would have been included but we “chose our own adventure” and did things out of order, leaving us not quite at the top of the Freund Downhill. Ryan chose to hike his bike up to the top of Freund but I waited where the trails connected to avoid any additional climbing for the day. This trail was flowy and fun and definitely our favorite. This trail dumped us back onto the Access road which we took back down to our car. We were prepared to get rained on throughout our ride, but were pleasantly surprised to have amazing fall weather all day!
Ride Summary
· Miles: 14.86 (Healey), 16.07 (Ryan)
· Elevation gain: 2,986 ft (Healey), 3,491 (Ryan)
· Trails explored: 2 climbing trails, 2 downhill trails
· Times Healey stopped to catch her breath on a climb: 1,000
After a quick shower at the hotel, we hit the town. Since we burned probably 3,000 calories on our ride we made sure to grab some dinner ASAP. We had a great dinner at Sulla Vita, a Mediterranean restaurant right on Front Street. While it was still light outside, we walked around town to admire all of the Bavarian themed architecture and stop into some of the shops. As it got dark, we stopped into Stein Beer Hall and Leavenworth Cider house to check out some locally brewed drinks before heading back to our hotel.
Sunday
It was a cold and rainy morning so we slept in a bit before heading into town for breakfast. We went to Sandy’s Waffle and Dinner Haus, which had amazing waffles. We spent some time browsing around at some of the fruit stands off Hwy 2 before heading back to the hotel to pack up and check out.
It was only a short trip to Leavenworth this weekend but we hope to come back soon! It made for a great weekend filled with fun, bikes, and a little bit of relaxation!