Beacon Ride
Terrain Distance (approx): 10 miles
Climbing Distance: 2,560 feet
Highest Altitude: 5,788 feet
Trip Time: 2 hours
Average Grade: 12
Difficulty: Dirt road climb andsome steep downhill singletack.
Links: Map | Photos | TNR Site | TNR Desc
Also known as the "Beacon Trail", This ride begins at the Pattee Canyon Trailhead and uses the trail system to traverse over to the logging road that drops dopwn to deer creek. Upon leaving the Pattee Canyon Area (just off the gass line trail), the rider takes the dirt road right and climbs the access trail that leads to the beacon. Once on top of University Mountain the ride down is off the ridge to the West. The ridge drops down to the saddle between University and Sentinel Mountains. From there take the trail system back down to the parking lot. I give this ride five stars!
May 17th, 2007 Ride Report
The turnout for tonights ride was around 11 riders. This ride is not only one of Missoula's top ten rides but also a Thursday Night Ride favorite as well. The weather was very nice but the trademark of the ride was the wild flowers. I highly recommend riding this trail at this time of the year (May). The ride took us around an hour and a half to complete (riding time). The road up is loose but I think it has always been that way. the single track coming back off the mountain and down the ridge is great except it is starting to get washed out in areas. This may be a future trail project site. There are two areas that need cleaned up and an new less steep rout down the headwall at the end. Overall the ride is still a fantastic ride.
We ended the ride with a ice cream session at Dairy Queen on Higgins ave. If anyone has anything else to add please feel free to do so.