[uww]

Never been and always wanted to explore glacier basin. I’ve heard it’s great to bike, I’ve heard it used to be great to bike but awful now, etc. so trying to get recent and decent info. Looks like the bypass/wagon road is a no go with blowdowns. The other wrinkle is one in our party has a city hybrid bike with fairly skinny tires. We would not mind walking if the bikes were just going to be a burden. Log crossing with bikes does not scare me, but not sure how the others will react. Planning a full day so was thinking of either pushing into the basin further or hitting Silver Lake on the way out.

[Cyclopath]

I did a round trip in and out on 28mm tires.

[thuja]

I biked to MC last summer on a lightwight road/mtb cross. The water level was low and the river had moved back under the bridge, so that part was easy. Hard part was the sections with lots of rocks. I had to push the bike for some sections but was able to ride it most of the way. Definitely saves time and allows for explorations into GB, Twin Lakes, etc.

[Bronco]

Me and a buddy rode with overnight packs last July. I was on an old hardtail MTB bike and it wasn't real fun but was faster than walking, especially the last mile out to the trailhead. Bike rack is located near the river on the north side of the old MC townsite.

[uww]

Thanks all. Here's my take having rode it yesterday- I have never done a hike and bike so have no frame of reference on the relative difficulty: I had 35mm tires on a gravel bike, and one in our group has 32mm. Not ideal but doable. "Doable" means without a mountain bike and some considerable skill, there are a bunch of sections you will have to dismount and push- some of them quick rocky sections, some lengthy, particularly in the first mile or so. A couple 'hikey' sections you will have to pick up the bike to get over obstacles. On the way there the 32mm person threatened to leave the bike behind and just walk several times. Two crossings where you will have to put your bike on your shoulder, one of them is a small log, the other a good 200 feet or so on a couple larger logs. I had to carry bikes for others which slowed us down. Mush of the trail is in very good shape though- as good as many standard 'rail to trail' types. We were casually riding when we could, so did not really save much time on the way in, but went much faster on the way out. Confidence and experience gained on the way in may have played a part, as well as the gradual slope. A bridge that continues the railroad grade is out where the log crossings and hikey section is- there may be a way around it but we did not check as we had heard the to the bypass/wagon/CERCLA route has a ton of blowdowns making it worse than the standard shorter route. If that gets cleared this should avoid a lot of the worst sections, but not all the dismount points.