Those are definately worthy of checkin out. The Mt. Rainier trails will probably still have plenty of snow in May, but check back around the time you're in town and i'll give you a tour of one of the local trails or at least give you directions to set you up for a good ride.
You mean Renton. Its located behind Phillip Arnold Park, just off 405 up on the hill above downtown. Any map of Seattle shows it.
to ride it with. Might make finding it a bit easier. Same with the other trails mentioned.
Sequim eh?? Big fun there. I grew up there and theres some decent riding there. Theres a DH course in PA and in Joyce. Goto Sound bikes in Port Angeles and ask how to get there. Not too much NS type stuff in that area though.
Whistler has something for everyone, especially if you want to get into freeriding. It's a great place to learn, plus it's really fun in general, and it's only about 1 1/2 hours north of the North Shore. Warning: If you visit Whistler, you might end up moving there
. As for the North Shore, I don't know much about it, but I pretty sure that it would be overwhelming for an intermediate XC rider. However, I think you would love Tapeworm and the other trails in Philip Arnold Park. They're very technical, but very fun. I've never been to South Seatac, but you might want to check that out. South Seatac is near Seatac Airport, a little bit south of Renton.
Yah it'll be on Sunday.
Suntop??Originally posted by Skookum
Yah it'll be on Sunday.
It's about as steep as you can get in some parts but you don't need a downhill bike, in fact it's a slower trail because of the turns, switchbacks, and exposure. It's technical in a classic downhill sense, not a free-ride sense. It's not in any books or online.
It's around 8 miles 2900 ft climb up fire roads, which are groomed nice and have multiple stop points for lookouts because they clearcut some areas. Bout 6 miles or so of Ridge trail, up and down old double track thru clearcut to the trailhead. Alpine trail is super skinny easy with awesome views. Then it drops down for the decent on skinny steep varying terrain singletrack. It's a challenge but don't worry, you won't die, you'll have a blast, just make sure your brakes are in good working order.
There's like two trail rides further up the road which i like "a little bit" better but all those are gonna have snow still. This ride is just a little bit further down the road and i'm taking a knowledgable bet we'll be safe from troggin thru too much snow.
Here's the main view rest spot on the ridge, this day was cloudy to obscure Mt. Rainier (which would fill up the right upper half of the picture).
No it's not Sunnytop, to tell you the truth i've never done Suntop, but i do ride up the Buck Creek road to do the all descent section, which is called Fawn Ridge. That might be ready soon too. I ride the Noble Nob trails, a pal of mine told me it's not really worth it to ride Sunnytop if you're right there to ride the Noble Nob trails, so i never have...
It's a different world here, soil and trails are quite resistant to damage, along with the forest tree canopy and trail maintenance to divert standing water it's all good.
But Whistler is supposed to start raining Monday. My best bet if I wanted to ride up there is to go up there this weekend, right? Or will stuff up there stay dry enough or the rain is stactered enough ? Thanks! 
