Suncadia Resort Mountain Biking and ATV Riding

The Suncadia Resort, located 80 miles east of Seattle between the little town of Roslyn and slightly bigger Cle Elum, is quite the swank place. Top notch lodge & inn, friendly service wherever you want it, tasty restaurants, winery, and many amenities, all spread across 6400 acres in various zones and uses.

Among the fun things available there (either onsite or with associated vendors) is golf, swimming, bike/canoe/kayak rentals, horseback riding, spa, and ATV riding. The mountain biking and ATV riding beckoned me.

Mountain biking was fun: we first went “road biking with our mountain bikes”, travelling the manicured paved bike paths immediately around the main facilities and beyond to the historical cemetery of Roslyn. The cemetery was divided into about 27 different sections, each associated with a particular nationality or ethnic group. From there, we coasted downhill into the old mining town of Roslyn and had a drink at the local bar The Brick (established 1889). Our guide from Suncadia knew the crew at The Brick, and we were given a private tour of their dirty, cobweb-laden basement.  Why?  It has an old movie set of jail cells, seats and projector from an old movie theater, lots of very dusty antiques, and underground passages that were used during Prohibition to move booze and to also move men from the bar to a neighboring brothel and back.

We then asked if there was any singletrack, and there was some available.  By going down into the valley below the Lodge at Suncadia, where the Cle Elum River cuts through, there were gravel roads that connected into forested singletrack trails.  Fairly gentle throughout, with the occasional down tree limb to jump or section of baby head rocks to scramble through.  And the views ending up at the Cle Elum River were pleasant rest spots on several occasions.

The next day, the Suncadia shuttle bus took us away from Suncadia about a half hour drive into an outlying area around the town of Cle Elum.  We met up with Guy from Adventure Motorsports and his waiting lineup of 4 wheel ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles).  He unlocked the gate to a long series of roads on public land which required a permit to ride on, and we were out for a few hours of tire sliding and getting air over whoop de doos. The trail was very dry and dusty, and sometimes visibility was obscured from the dust kicked up by ATVs in front, but fortunately the wind was blowing and that helped move it out away from the trail.  Views included the Stuart Range and surrounding foothills, with most of the trails through pine forest.  One of our group dropped his ATV 40 feet down an embankment, but Guy was able to get it out by going lower and driving it back up through a forest elsewhere.  Otherwise just revvin’ fun.