13 miles
Check back for PDF map of the trails we rode today.
Another great ride along the Green River Gorge. 11 riders showed up on an absolutely beautiful day. As Robert said "Its such a beautiful day it would be almost impossible not to have a great ride. We started off with a tight technical trail through young forest. The trail goes up and over a small hill and then drops down into a bowl before a short ascent down to a forested bog. From there we turned right and followed the edge of the bog to a road / trail that goes along a powerline route. Its a hard turn off the trail on to a loose rocky ascent that is used by the motos in the area. Some rode, some walked.
From there we headed east, then turned left following another rode with some trails that branched off for small outer loops. The road leads to the main paved roadway. We crossed the road and started the first section of the Icy Creek loop trail. Its through and old clear-cut that starts out as a trail on an old road but soon narrows and twists down a short hillside to another old road. From there we rode back up to the road where we rode a short ways to another gated gravel road through deep forest that hasn't been clear-cut yet. That is quite a novelty out here in the land of clear-cuts and mines. As the road turned to the left we turned to the right for our first section of the Icy Creek rim trail. Its a very narrow trail that winds through the forest this way and that to another old road. Then we rode out to the Icy Creek Rim overlook. It was an amazing day. The view looked down on the hwy 169 bridge that crosses the Green River Gorge. Far off in the distance we could actually see the Olympics.
The next section of trail is in tight dark forest. It drops down and in one place you have to rock your handle bars one direction and then the next to make it through the tight space between two small trees. At the same time the trail crops 10 inches down over a rock, then there is a tight turn to the right. Light green moss and old tree trunks line the trail. It then winds up and crosses another old road. This kind of a connect the dots type trail. We've managed to connect various trails together to make one longer trail along the edge of the gorge. The plan for the future is that State Parks is going to create a soft surface, multiple use trail that goes from Kanasket State park to the east along the rim of the 12 mile long Green River gorge. It will go all the way to Flaming Geyser State park in the Green River Valley to the west. The trail will probably end up being about 20+ miles in length one way when its finished.
Anyway, the next section is technical. Roots, lofting over tree trunks, dropping over roots and decaying trees with a little caution as you don't want to dismount to the left because you'll take a tumble through the brush down a steep hillside. The trail passes near old growth Douglas fir lining the edge of Icy Creek before veering back into a Nome forest with bright green beds of moss. Here there is tight tire width navigation through a couple of rocks and between a tree and an old stump.
Then the trail drops down to Icy Creek. Icy creek literally comes out of the ground about 200 ft upstream. Its an underground spring that emerges at the rim of the gorge and then plummets 300ft to the Green River below. We stopped to take a look at an incredible amount of water on its way down the steep gorge hillside.
From there we rode out of the Icy creek drainage and up to the gravel road that drops down to the gorge. This was the workout part of our ride. Its a fast 300ft descent down to a very scenic area along the gorge where Icy creek flows in to the river. There is a wall along the back side of the area that is full of springs cascading out of the ground along the edge of the gorge and falling in small waterfalls along its edge. Icy creek boils down from the top in a series of waterfalls and drop pools to where it passes by the fish hatchery and then enters the river. I've often see Osprey, eagle, Kingfishers, and other critters trying to catch some of those tasty hatchery fish in the pond. We had a great time standing out along the Green river as it makes its turn northwest onward towards the Green River Gorge bridge a few miles down stream.
Now was the long steep climb back out of the gorge. Yes, we have to go out the way we came in. This hill is my training hill. A whole lot of work for a short section of climbing. So up we went. Steady spin up the steeper slope of the road, rest on the easier slope. We all made it up to the top and took a short break to dry the sweat on our faces. As a northwest native it felt muggy today which I know doesn't even come close to east coast muggy, but it was muggy none-the-less.
So this is where I asked a favor of everyone. I had a great trail but I hadn't had time to brush it out. With 11 of us we could get a start on pushing back the brush that wanted to reclaim the trail. They all said they were up for it. So off we went down another logging road and then suddenly turned left and disappeared into thick leaves, fiddle head ferns, and other plants that bent over the trail and challenged me to make out the faint track to follow. We made it through the first section to a ridable section through more open forest with low brush that cooperated with our tires rolling over it. We had just turned into a good section that was relatively clear when Wendy called up and said that Dave's derailleur might be toast. Sure enough the brush won as it pulled on his derailleur. A quick revision turned his bike into a single speed and we kept going through more thin trail that winded through the forest. Then the trail goes into large stands of trees with almost no underbrush before it curves down to exit at Hanging Gardens trail. The last 15 feet were unmaintained to keep the trail hidden from ATVS which have a habit of ruining a perfectly good section of single track.
We went back up to the paved road. The ride was now dubbed a roving trailwork party by some. At the road a few that had to get back early went back to their cars on the road. The ride, although, not long just takes longer because of the technical nature of many of the trails. The rest of us headed on a direct route out to Deep Lake for a much needed swim. A direct route includes gravel logging road, riding down paved streets of a future estate housing development situated on a historic mine site called the Samual Hyde mine. The original development was called Deep Lake Estates which locals renamed "Deep Shaft" estates because chances are you could end up with a big old mine shaft in you living-room or back yard one day. Anyway, Its fun to ride on wide paved road with no cars on them. From there we followed a trail out to the lake. It was hot and it didn't take me long to jump in and start swimming. Next was Rob, then Germain, Jean-Pierre, Robert, and Wendy. What a treat to go swimming for the first time this year. The water is a mix of warm surface water with currents of cold spring water and it felt great. It was refreshing especially after the last few miles on the pavement and gravel which were out in the open. We relaxed for a bit and then headed back towards our cars.
the ride back followed the power line until we made a detour down a road to the right to catch a great section of trail that dropped down a steep hillside down to the forest bog from earlier. We followed that trail to the first right. This branch is mostly downhill and drops down toward the paved road. Its technical with roots, rocks, and logs but not unrideable. It finally dumps us back out right at our cars.
Well everyone said they really liked the ride as I talked to everyone before spinning off on my bike towards home. Only one section of trail needs to get brushed out and once is it will be an awesome ride.
Thanks everyone who showed up and spent a beautiful day riding in an unknown part of King County.
View from Icy Creek Rim Trail |
View of Olympics in Distance |
Scott |
Dave |
Robert |
Crash Hill |
Fisherman in Unknown Fishing location |
BBTCers Enjoying Green River Gorge |
Robert On Cambodia Style Trail |
P7080011.JPG |
P7080012.JPG |
End of Bushwack Trail |
P7080014.JPG |
There is a Trail Somewhere |
Swim Break at Deep Lake |
Wendy |
Fisherman at Lake |
Robert at End of Day |