Evergreen Chapter News Roundup
What's Happening On The Trails?
We asked each Evergreen Chapter President to share some insight into what's new in their region.
Chris Conley, East
"On June 6th, National Trails Day, we officially opened Silicate Slide at Mica Peak, a one way, downhill, mountain bike only flow trail. It’s been really popular and has seen a lot of use this summer! Over at Mount Spokane we are now officially looking to add some paid builders to get work done on Trail #290, the new upper 2.9 mile planned portion of trail that goes from the snowmobile parking area to the summit. This new section will start up in the meadow, it’s open rocky and technical, and then it gets back into the trees with more roots but also some really good flow.
It’s been super busy in Spokane this summer. We’re experiencing a lot of new users, tons of first time bikers and hikers hitting the trails. Hopefully we can translate some of these new riders into new Evergreen members. We’ve done lots of trailside education and we’re really trying to capture the new riders who will stick with it and become part of the riding community here.
With so much trail use, we’re at that point where we’re really looking forward to some rains so we can get started on more serious maintenance. Until then, we’re focusing on brushing back trails and clearing sight lines."
Tyler Forman, Cowlitz-Naches
"The Naches Ranger District will be working to onboard Soup Creek next summer! We have a great dialogue going with them to find new trail opportunities and we're currently looking at the Soup Creek/Wildcat/Bethel Ridge area in closer detail to see if a larger network could be a possibility. The terrain offers tons of potential but there are lots of other factors to navigate. Livestock grazing contracts, future prescribed burning, road closures/maintenance, etc all have to be carefully considered before we know what the options are. I can tell you that regardless of how that all plays out, Naches is all about developing mountain biking in the district and good things are coming. Soup Creek is getting loved to death so we'll need to do a lot of maintenance this spring– and this fall too if we get enough rain to get started before winter hits. Contact us about getting involved!
I have to say, it’s been extremely disappointing to see how trashed the forest is with people littering and not properly “using the bathroom” and leaving toilet paper everywhere. I’m encouraged and uplifted, though, to see that mountain bikers are not a part of that– they seem to understand how to clean up after themselves. We’ve seen it all over the state this summer with people just not respecting their public lands and it’s going to take time to recover from that. But we’re ready to help here at the chapter any way we can.
The Gifford Pinchot is riding well and we’re definitely seeing a higher mountain biker presence after Trans Cascadia. The word is out! Of course, this also means we’re going to have more maintenance needs, and it’s been tough without being able to host organized work parties. Things don't always move as fast as we'd like but we understand that USFS has a lot on their hands and these are extra challenging times. We’re doing what we can to stay engaged with them and they know we're ready to go when things get moving again!
We’re also continuing to expand communication and outreach with other user groups in the Cowlitz area. We’re all talking on a fairly regular basis and that’s been really positive. Getting groups like the WTA, Backcountry Horsemen, and Evergreen together to collaborate with land managers in the area will be huge going forward."
Travis Hornby, Central
"Overall, we were able to get a lot done during COVID.
The new Eastmont Pump Track has been a huge success. It’s an anthill of kids and has been great for getting kids outside and not just staring at a screen.
We were also able to really stretch some dollars and opened new trails up No. 2 Canyon, including Sofa Kingdom, which connects the bowl from one side to the other. We have more advanced downhill trails in the works there so stay tuned for more information. We also had the opening of Ribbed this summer– so really a lot of milestones, even in a year with so many challenges. Some of these trail development projects have taken 14 years, so it feels like a lot of hard work we’ve done with recreation development is really starting to come to fruition.
We’ve been really excited to see how many people are out on the trails, it’s probably four or five times higher than normal. We have a trail maintenance backlog and I wish we could organize some larger work parties but, for now, those will have to wait and we’ll need to tackle maintenance this fall in smaller groups.
We had to cancel our annual Bike and Brews Festival this year and that's a big fundraiser for us. To recoup some of that loss, we're hoping to raise $15k before August 31st.
Jon Phelps, West Sound
"Summer has been a challenge for us– we had to cancel three of our biggest annual events. It’s been tough to connect with our membership because we’re so used to hosting these community building events and seeing folks in person.
We’re on the cusp of being able to break ground on the new Port Gamble Ride Park. The Kitsap DCD (Department of Community Development) is doing their final review and we should be getting the green light very soon. The local ride community is super excited!
Beyond that, I’m also really excited about the West Sound chapter laying the groundwork for some potential future projects in the Gig Harbor region. More to come on that soon.
The uptick in riders out on the trail has been amazing to see. I get out and ride fairly regularly, and I always notice the parking lots and take a quick count of cars. On a recent weekday, I counted over 30 cars in one of the Port Gamble lots, and over two thirds had bike racks. I’m continually amazed at the distances people travel to come ride at Port Gamble. The word is getting out about how great of a place to ride this is!"
Joe Brown, Methow
"Taking on the fundraising for the new Liberty Bell High School trails project and pulling it off has been a big highlight for us this summer. It’s the first time we’ve worked collaboratively with the school district and the youth mountain bike team together to take on a project like that. With COVID happening we weren’t quite sure on how fundraising would be received but it was a big success and we broke ground on the trails just a few days ago.
Another piece of our work this summer has just been broader support for trails in our community. We’re seeing membership numbers continue to grow, even in the midst of people watching their dollars more carefully. That’s definitely exceeded my expectations.
We’re also working within the chapter in the council to really improve, and be more strategic, with our messaging. That means getting info out to our members and the public about what we have going on in the chapter. With so many things going on online, we feel like, going forward, it will be really important to have a consistent voice. We started the Methow chapter in 2012, and our first goal was that we wanted to get projects off the ground. And now, as we’ve matured as an organization, I think we’re in the phase where being transparent and focusing on strong communication is key.
This summer has been incredibly busy, we’ve seen exponential growth in the number of trail users here. Part of that is certainly COVID, but I think it’s also just growth within the sport. We’ve had trail ambassadors out and we’ve seen weekends with over 250 groups at the Chickadee Trailhead. With this level of use, the need for maintenance is really going to be high going forward. We have a plan, but we might need to revisit that and make sure we can keep up with the demand. I also need to reiterate– we really need folks to stay off trails that are under construction. We've had some instances of people riding closed trails lately and it sets our builders back because of trail wear but it also violates COVID guidelines set forth by our land managers.
Going into the fall, we’re set to finish up the Buck Mountain project. And we’re also slated to finish the school project by the time snow flies. Work continues at Chickadee, a 3 year project that we’re also wrapping up this fall. Then we have two larger planning projects going on too involving Loup Loup and Virginian Ridge. We have our hands full!"
Jesse Cunningham, Kittitas
"Like everywhere else, we had a slow start to the year. We were really hoping to make a lot more progress on the Naneum, but that project was delayed with COVID. These days Evergreen builder Brian Tustison is out working on the new green loop. Jose Diaz, a volunteer, has also been doing just a ton of work out there too. He’s been a superstar this year. He’s been spending a lot of time tuning up some of the previous work done by fire crews and WCC crews.
Looking forward into the fall, our goal is to finish the green loop and start pushing up higher and start working on some of the downhill lines at Naneum. There have been challenges– rocky terrain and dry conditions, but overall we’re excited about progress on the project.
The other big project we have in the county is continuing work on Towns to Teanaway, which is one of the projects that community GiveBig donations are funding. We’re working on a connector trail from Brass Monkey to the top of Rat Pac– a really awesome addition that opens up even more possibilities for future trail options. The views are gorgeous on that side of the ridge too.
This spring we had all these plans for events and education, but when COVID happened, we really just pivoted to focusing on trail building. In a sense, it’s been a little bit of a relief to just totally focus on one thing. We just thought, "this is a good year to get as much done on the trails as possible."
Eric Albers, Southwest
"In Southwest, we’ve been waiting for the greenlight to get back in the woods. We’re going to start Trail 7 very shortly and Evergreen builder Bryan Connolly will be coming down to help us with that which we’re really excited for. The trail will connect to Thrillium, and there will be some light machine building. With this one, we’re looking to thread that needle between natural and sustainable. The trail features will be mostly natural, with nothing too built up.
We’re also working on planning our new climbing trail, which will cut out the 1070 road climb– which is really just a monster. This new trail will make it so much easier for folks to get up the hill, especially kids and newer riders. We’ll be flagging this year and planning, with construction starting in early 2021.
This summer has been bonkers! There are so many people in the parking lots. We’ve had a lot of riders from Portland coming up. I’ve been seeing so many new riders and introducing myself and talking to folks about Evergreen.
We just cancelled our shuttle ride that was going to be held at the end of September, so that was a bummer. Now we’re just waiting to see how things pan out and hoping to be able to get back into the swing of things with our Halloween ride in October. Overall, building and trail planning will keep us plenty busy into the winter though!"
Wes Meyer, Cascades to Sound
"I think for us, the new trails that just opened are super cool and have put a positive note on this season.
The fact that we’ve been able to get education programs back up and running is unbelievable. And the Crank Sisters are also moving closer to reengaging with their community and getting some programs rolling again too. We’re really excited about that because it gives folks a point of normalcy during an otherwise weird summer.
Opening CCDH at Raging was huge– I mean some days I think about it and it’s amazing to open such a good quality trail in the midst of COVID. We’re psyched to have so much riding here locally now. For us at the chapter, it’s even been a point of reflection– you know, just ten years ago there wasn’t anywhere near as much riding in King County. But now you can ride here and not really even have to travel, something that has proven to be especially important this year. I lived in Tacoma when I first moved out here and there really wasn’t a trail worth riding up in King County besides Tiger. To ride we would usually go to Olympia or out Highway 410. Now, even with a really critical lens, the truth is this sport is more accessible to more people in the Seattle metropolitan area than it ever has been before.
We’ve also started our Trail Ambassadors program which took some bouncing around to get going because, well, how can you do it well while also practicing safe social distancing? But it’s been successful because the volunteers can be mobile on their bikes and be a lot more flexible than, say, tabling at a big trailhead. So many new people are out experiencing the trails here this summer and having the ambassadors out to help with simple basics like navigation and downloading Trailforks has been awesome.
Overall, the Cascades to Sound chapter has so much to be happy about. We have new trails coming, a really strong education program, and a great community."