Green River Gorge Exploratory Ride

Well Michelle, Merlin, and I headed off on quite an adventure. Not exactly what I had planned. I decided to bypass the regular trails and get out to the outlying new trails and the Gorge Rim trail to the east towards Kanasket. We started down past Hanging Gardens with a steep little climb up to a new section of trail that I just recently mapped out. Part rideable and part hike-a-bike until I can get in to clear it out. Once it is done it is going to be a great little climb and descent. We hopped over that section and then connected into an old road / trail that goes out to the Green River Gorge Resort. I wasn't sure if there was an alternate connection to the Gorge Rim trail so we entered through the resort. Michelle went ahead to recon for dogs. 8 dogs greeted her so she came back up the hill. We asked a girl that came out of a trailer. She walked out with pink and black hair lit a smoke and called for some unseen dog. I asked her if the trail off to the left connected into the rim trail. She said it led to a road and she thought it did. So we headed out that trail. Great little track through the woods that gently climbs up to the Jellum road. May have even seen a Cougar off in the distance down the road but by the time we got there whatever it was disappeared into the woods.

I still wasn't sure if we were on the right track but we headed left off the trail towards Kanasket. We road for about a mile before we entered the deep woods of the Jellum State Park site. From there we dropped down to the river for a quick break and a drink for Merlin. Its a beautiful rocky section of river on a large peninsula of land. The only bummer was the nw house on the hillside across the river. More evidence that our conservation timeline is running out.

After we road back up the road and turned right onto an old road that leads to the Rim trail. We found the rim trail but also found that it is not really being maintained. It was fun riding but brushy in places with a few downed trees. Definitely need a work party. Then it got fun. We couldn't drop down into the resort because of the 8 dogs that would surely go after Merlin so we ended up bushwacking on a barely sketched out game trail. Hike-a-bike all the way. I was wishing I had brought my lighter bike about then. Luckily Merlin was a great scout and helped us find our way back to the original trail we had started in at the resort. We popped back out on to the road and caught the trail back towards our cars. Then instead of heading back to the cars we took a trail across a clear-cut and entered Deep Lake Estates. Future home of 50 estate homes with potential basements of collapsed mine shafts. We wound through forest trails out to the powerlines and then out to Fish Lake for another quick swim break for Merlin.

From there we headed out to the Enumclaw / Franklin rd, crossed over to the Icy Creek area and connected in to the Rim trail that goes from Icy Creek to Hanging Gardens. Definitely the best single track of the day. Its about 2 miles of trail that winds through deep forest and pops out at the trail down to Hanging Gardens State Park site. Then .2 miles down the road and back to our cars. A great bushwack workout today. The weather was incredible. What a great autumn day for riding.

No riding on the Gorge Resort rim trail until we can get it cleared and get an alternate route in that doesn't go through the resort. Too many dogs.

Most of the photos are of Michelle or Merlin. My trail partners for the day.

Jellum	Gorge Connector Trail	River At Jellum
Merlin Taking a Break - 1	Merlin Taking a Break - 2	River at Jellum
Merlin Exploring	Jellum	Michelle on Road to Jellum
Trail at Jellum	On the Gorge Rim Trail	Forest Along Rim Trail - 1
Forest Along Rim Trail - 2	Merlin, The Trail Dog	Michelle Navigating an Overgrown Trail - 1
Michelle Navigating an Overgrown Trail - 2	Fish Lake Break - 1	Fish Lake Break - 2
Fish Lake Break - 3	Hanging Gardens Rim Trail Connection - 1	Hanging Gardens Rim Trail Connection - 2
Hanging Gardens Rim Trail Connection - 3	Hanging Gardens Rim Trail Connection - 4