Jul 07, 2024 1:37 pm
Upper Taylor Ridge is logged and brushed! Now is the time to ride it. A nice loop is to park at Boulder-Deer Creek trailhead of Kettle Crest Trail (KCT). Ride up the access road to Taylor trailhead and continue up the freshly shorn trail all the way to the top of Taylor Ridge where the Taylor lookout once stood. Come back the same way, but cut into KCT about 3 miles in and enjoy the classic back country XC single track that is KCT. Taylor Ridge was named for Norman Taylor who was a ranger in Republic around 1923. He died in 1925 of “shell shock from the World War.” His brother, Jasper, who was Ranger in Orient from 1911 - 1917, cut some of the road in 1911 for a fire at the head of Boulder Creek. For a time the Big Lick trail terminated at a spot in the Taylor Ridge as part of the now-gone Summit Trail. No doubt there previously existed trails from the Indigenous people along some or all of this trail. According to Native Land Territories, Taylor Ridge exists in Syilx tmixʷ (Okanagan) and sngaytskstx tum-xula7xw (Sinixt) territory. @cyclingspokane
