Pattee Canyon Zepher Trail
Larry Dent
Starting
Location: Pattee Canyon Sam
Braxton Trailhead
Distance:
13.73 miles
Cumulative
Elevation Gain: 2785 feet
Moving
Time: 1:52 hours
Type:
Loop, mostly singletrack, some dirt
roads
Climb Difficulty (range
1 to 6): 4.1
We first did the Sam Braxton trail in a counter-clockwise direction. Instead of the last part of this trail, we took the logging road to the upper Deer Creek Road. We went up this road about a mile and a half, passing the gated road on the left. About 300 yards past this gated road, we took an overgrown single-track back down to the gated road. We followed this gated road, which is mostly fairly flat, about 3 miles crossing 2 branches of the Middle Fork of Deer Creek. At a road junction, we followed an old overgrown road back to the Middle Fork of Deer Creek, and then continued down the Middle Fork on the old road. Keeping to the right, this eventually comes out on the main Deer Creek road where the Middle Fork and the East Fork join. Then we rode back up the upper Deer Creek Road and took the logging road back into the Pattee Canyon drainage. We took a logging road to the west, and did a steep singletrack back to the upper Sam Braxton trail, and back to the trailhead.
The middle section of this ride, including down the Middle Fork of Deer Creek, is what we call the Zepher trail. It was discovered by Bill Martin and Zephanie Blasi, and was named the Zepher by Bill (in honor of Zephanie). Bill's description and map
