West Seattle Gnar Trails?
- Thread starter pnj
- Start date
I've been out here for six years. Only thing that was around, but is no more, is the W. Marginal dh. That got tore up a little over a year ago. I miss it. Aside from that, there's Lincoln Park (woo-hoo) and you can poach some hiking paths. If there IS anything else, I'm pretty pissed at my neighbors for not enlightening me about it.
There sure seems to be some potential in the hillsides, though...at least terrain-wise. I'm sure most property owners aren't down with our kind. I hope to find one of the minority in that group some day...
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As of right now, any side street is pretty shralpable!!!
There sure seems to be some potential in the hillsides, though...at least terrain-wise. I'm sure most property owners aren't down with our kind. I hope to find one of the minority in that group some day...
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As of right now, any side street is pretty shralpable!!!
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The roads look pretty gnar in west seattle right now... that would be gnar on a bike.
My wife snowboarded down Yestler today.
My wife snowboarded down Yestler today.
i plan on ice skating to work should be pretty sick
you guys are crazy! The temp will be up in the 70's and sunny!... Oh wait.... What?
West Seattle trails? not sure... Schralpable roads on snow bikes... already been done!!! Hell yeah brother!!
West Seattle trails? not sure... Schralpable roads on snow bikes... already been done!!! Hell yeah brother!!
Do you mean 'trails' in the BMX sense of the word? As a previous poster mentioned, there used to be some trails called circle 8. But as far as I know, they're long-gone.
Your next new thread: 'Who wants to dig in West Seattle?'
I'd come dig.
Your next new thread: 'Who wants to dig in West Seattle?'
I'd come dig.
Not sure about Circle 8 - is that the dj loop that was near the Junction? If so, they're gone as of about a year ago.
Pretty rad, the local "kids" were out shuttling/towing each other with the snowboards and a 4x4 last night.
Pretty rad, the local "kids" were out shuttling/towing each other with the snowboards and a 4x4 last night.
circle 8 was south of alki on the hillside. i believe Donut built them. i was able to ride there twice.
remember Bonair. was it like 2-4 jumps.
these are all early 90's BMX spots
remember Bonair. was it like 2-4 jumps.
these are all early 90's BMX spots
...gnar....
I've lived in west seattle my whole life and have searched over the years for anything that has building potential. Circle 8 was a block away from my old elementary school and that has been torn down for about a year now. As of that, lincon park has no downhill but maybe some potential for some xc here and there. One spot that has A LOT of dh potential is smitz park down by alki. Ive hiked up in there with my dh rig and saw endless lines that would be perfect for dh. If someone would organize a work party or something up there im sure we could build some nice trails. Ive heard word that some dudes from the local shops have build a couple freeride hits up there but i didnt find them.
that may have been a couple buddies and I. We were up at charleston hill last night riding our quads and snowboards/skis
Alki Bike had some stuff in the same area as the W. Marginal dh, but didn't know of any other trails. Too bad it's essentially decommissioned. It could be time to re-start a relationship w/ the nature conservationists and/or parks dept. to see if there's anything we can work with along that area. The worse that could happen is they say "no" - it's not like they can take our bikes from us.
schralp
theres a QFC and town homes being built over that property. If anyone has connections with the parks department we might be able to build some trails in smitz park
Really? That lot (circle 8) was tiny and on the side of one hell of a hill with houses all around. That would be some serious engineering to build on that hill.
I would say that Smitz park would be the least likely place to build since it is designated as a nature preserve and UW students do intercity forest habitat study in that area.
Out of all of that, the only area worth approaching would be the area just SE of the North Delridge marker. The big area in the middle is mostly golf course and a community/rec. center...not much potential around there otherwise.
Seeing how the bulk of W. Seattle is hills, there has to be SOMEWHERE to have a legit riding spot...no?
i think ideally that is where you would want to do work. W Marginal is a nice greenspace but it's littered with deciduous trees. The thing is you're going to work from the ground up on this stuff.
Seattle Parks has yet to come to a liability/maintenance agreement with Evergreen at Colonnade. And trail construction ended 3 months ago. Stuff takes time, but at least they've been cool enough to get this far into the process.
Anyways Seattle wanted to give Evergreen more land to play with on Beacon, in the "jungle" area. But Evergreen declined which is understandable since mt. bikers shouldn't be strictly in the business of building trails where bums hang out. Also the clayish soil and again more deciduous tree's are not ideal.
What and where are you talking about when you say, "Beacon"? as in Beacon Hill? Is there a trail system there?
Skook, it sounds like EvergreenMTB (bbtc?) already has the "talking with the city about tails in various areas" in motion. How can those of us that are interested in helping get on board?
Skook, it sounds like EvergreenMTB (bbtc?) already has the "talking with the city about tails in various areas" in motion. How can those of us that are interested in helping get on board?
Yah from what i understand there was just initial talk, in the form of suggestion. But it never got off the ground.
Probably for the better, Colonnade worked out alright, but yah, no Colonnade II "Jungle of Bum Piss filled Hypodermic Needles".
Yah they changed their name to Evergreen because they ordered a bunch of car air fresheners for a promotion. Turns out you could smoke them and get really high, so the shipment was stolen. i think it was the board, they come up with some pretty whacky ideas...
Well if you want the easy path to get involved, you just pick and choose what projects show up. Me personally i would like to be involved in Ollalie and there is talk of a new skills park in Kent moving forward that i'm keeping on the radar. But if you're speaking specifically in West Seattle, you're going to have to alot of legwork. Find a spot, is it feasible, if it is you're going to pitch it to the land managers, has to go through the whole public arena, then petition to see if Evergreen will put resources into it if needed.
That's what Simon Lawton did with Colonnade, found the spot, knew the city didn't know what to do with it, shook some hands, kissed some babies...
But eventually the city wanted the project, so that's when BBTC (EvergreenNewCarSmellFresh) moved in to do the work.
Anyways if you want something permanent, those are the basic hoops you jump through. Will it all be so much as pissing up a rope? i don't know, no crystal ball...
Y'know i should probably mention that there are alot of rumblings from city and park builders about more action in and outside of Colonnade. (under freeway south of Advanced area)
Don't think much will happen next year, which is appropriate. Time will be an indicator on how the park will evolve with maintenance issues, who is stepping up, who wants to devote more time/effort blah blah blah....
Don't think much will happen next year, which is appropriate. Time will be an indicator on how the park will evolve with maintenance issues, who is stepping up, who wants to devote more time/effort blah blah blah....
We've still got a week before we're D-O-N-E w/ Pip's line. Otherwise, you are correct.
C'mon you're never going to be completely D-O-N-E with Pips Lips haha... Reminds me i got bored the other night and edited the Colonnade page on Wikipedia to highlight some trail names and features. Tell Pip he's worldwide now...We've still got a week before we're D-O-N-E w/ Pip's line. Otherwise, you are correct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-5_Colonnade
If i get my signs on the columns i'll be officially done with my trail before you. Better hurry up, they're in Ballard being made right now...
i'll have plenty of tinkering on the Tqalu to do in the coming years, but i'm pretty happy with 98% of what we did. The only big job i have coming someday is re-doing the re-do on the bases of the teeter totters. All other tweaks and enhancements should be gravy....
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Ride the Colonnade and keep the bums out!...
Heheheheheheheh...................you said bums! Uh-huhuhuhuhuh!
We will be done this week as far as carving the line out. We'll always tweak and twist things up here and there to keep it from getting stale, I'm sure.
Very true. When we were working on our trail, we had an overwhelming uphill battle to simply get to the dirt (gotta love black berry bushes!). The dirt was also very sandy and we had to do a TON of rock work just to keep certain areas sustainable. Despite having an agreement with the Natural Con group, and the "we have no idea what's going on" approach from parks/rec, once the dirt bikes pissed off a few people back there, all bets were off when it came to 2 wheeled play toys. We were banned, our work ripped out, and the bums were moving back in.
At least over the course of the time we were in there, we managed to clean out a few bum camps, plant some trees, remove black berry bushes, and create a path for hikers to enjoy (lots of dog walkers and hikers were on a first name basis with us and even helped move some rocks!). I think we rode the trail once before it was nuked :huh:
IF there is ever going to be a push for some kind of park in the West Seattle, the testimony of you and others, could prove very valuable. You guys put in alot of work, then got the boot, and that's unfair. But maybe it can be for something, if it can be used for leverage somewhere else?
Ya never know...
Which trail? I know our trail (the one that started below the ball fields) is still very much there, but without the large ravine bridge, or a massive gap, there is no way to ride it.
If someone else is willing to dive in and have a go at it, be my guest. You can have the trail. The city was NOT pleased to have to tear down our work and it was a waste of city resources/time. It's a shame that an agreement could not be reached but the signs said it all...
What I was most impressed with was this effort!
Before:
After:
It was as if the bridge never existed!
I did as the crews if they could leave our lumber behind and that request was not very welcomed
Tools were left though, which was nice.
If someone else is willing to dive in and have a go at it, be my guest. You can have the trail. The city was NOT pleased to have to tear down our work and it was a waste of city resources/time. It's a shame that an agreement could not be reached but the signs said it all...
What I was most impressed with was this effort!
Before:
After:
It was as if the bridge never existed!
I did as the crews if they could leave our lumber behind and that request was not very welcomed
Tools were left though, which was nice.
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Yeah that trail was fun but a bummer it had to go. The bridge is gone but your nice rock work is still there. The other line that had the wood berm is the one I'm referring to. The wood is gone but if someone were to go in there and do just a little bit of work it could be rideable. The only things that I had notice that was gone was the berm, the weird uphill ladder and the bridge that crosses the road on the lower section. When we stomper around looking for the tools we came across nada. I like how they want to make it look good by throwing all the wood down into the gully
i can see why they tore out that bridge, i wouldn't have bought off on it if it was my ass on the line. Parks are going to want a more sturdy build for that kind of span.
4x4 by spec can only span 4' max. 4x6 you can get away with 8'. If those supports are 4X4 too (can't tell by picture), it's just too thin of wood and not enough bracing/blocking,even if they were indeed 4X6. You should have beefier supports with big fatty bolts. Cross braced, and like your diagonal brace to the right you should have them running out from your supports. With the diagonal braces blocked. Stringer AT LEAST 4x6, and you should have "tried to find a lower crossing where you're not so high.
The thing about the Shore is they're using raw lumber from the source. They're using nice raw logs... W Marginal is sparse on Doug or Cedar, so if you're going to use finished lumber with Parks, they're going to enforce stricter codes on structures... as well they should.
Seems like what that sign is talking about is primarily about structures. With work i imagine you could attempt to get something going again. But they're going to want to see some alot burlier than that for that particular span, guaranteed. And they probably would want it built professionally, not by volunteers.
Anyways too much goopy leaves and sticker bushes and red tape for me thanks...
irate2:
4x4 by spec can only span 4' max. 4x6 you can get away with 8'. If those supports are 4X4 too (can't tell by picture), it's just too thin of wood and not enough bracing/blocking,even if they were indeed 4X6. You should have beefier supports with big fatty bolts. Cross braced, and like your diagonal brace to the right you should have them running out from your supports. With the diagonal braces blocked. Stringer AT LEAST 4x6, and you should have "tried to find a lower crossing where you're not so high.
The thing about the Shore is they're using raw lumber from the source. They're using nice raw logs... W Marginal is sparse on Doug or Cedar, so if you're going to use finished lumber with Parks, they're going to enforce stricter codes on structures... as well they should.
Seems like what that sign is talking about is primarily about structures. With work i imagine you could attempt to get something going again. But they're going to want to see some alot burlier than that for that particular span, guaranteed. And they probably would want it built professionally, not by volunteers.
Anyways too much goopy leaves and sticker bushes and red tape for me thanks...
irate2:
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They tore all our wood out; did not matter what it was purposed for (that included simple low/wide mud crossings).
Funny thing about the bridge in question; a parks guy came in from the ball fields and was bouncing up and down on the bridge commenting on its stability. Frank, one of my partners in crime, started to chuckle and told him that it was lazer level too.
We showed him our anchor points and concerns and he suggested a few quick alterations to make it even more sturdy.
We used massive bolts. The operation to construct that bridge was quite amusing. I had the full intention of finding another spot to cross but that was the issue, there really was no other spot to cross that wouldn't have us making it sketchier or forcing an uphill ride. When we spotted that crossing Frank's eyes lit up. So when build day came, he brought out all his carpentry toys, massive lag bolts, some adhesive for the bolt tips, bracers for connecting the right angles, etc.
We discussed running with larger wood but opted for what we did. As far as cross supports, we did install them, but never snapped a pic. The above pic was a "work in progress" shot (as it were).
Oh wells
The thing about the shore...they nail into live trees, tend to not always use cedar (or doug) so their structures are slicker than snot and are usually falling apart (here's looking at you FROMME)...oh and build wood for the sake of it, not for the purpose of spanning a section of trail that is not able to be ridden...that's just silly!
Oh the shore...
I spoke with the tear-down crew about that and I was told any bicycle activity (there is another sign posted at the tippy top trailhead) will result in a fine.
That area is not worth the risk.
And sand...don't forget sand!!!Anyways too much goopy leaves and sticker bushes and red tape for me thanks...
Gotcha.... Up to speed.
Only rode the Shore once for a couple runs, the first run was making sure i wasn't going to die, the next run was alot more fun. But i gotta say i was very impressed with the build techniques employed on many of the structures and i was impressed with their rock tread work.The thing about the shore...they nail into live trees, tend to not always use cedar (or doug) so their structures are slicker than snot and are usually falling apart (here's looking at you FROMME)...oh and build wood for the sake of it, not for the purpose of spanning a section of trail that is not able to be ridden...that's just silly!
But you're right bringing up the Shore is not really appropriate when talking about standards...
Gotcha, probably could be moved to re-gain access the official way, but again, is there enough steam, and is it worth the effort....
Well doesn't sound as bad as dust, hypodermic needles, bum piss, and dog crap. Speaking of which again there might be effort for Phase 3 of Colonnade down the road, but can you tell i'm not really enthused by the notion at this point of my life.And sand...don't forget sand!!!