The History and Evolution of Mountain Biking at Raging River State Forest: 2009 to Today

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The History and Evolution of Mountain Biking at Raging River State Forest: 2009 to Today

07 | Oct | '26

Vivika Stamolis

As we get closer to celebrating the grand opening of the final phase of new trails at Raging River State Forest, we look back on an incredible journey over a decade in the making. What began as a vision for conserved land and connected singletrack has blossomed into an incredible mountain biking destination—built through deep partnerships, countless volunteer hours, and a dedicated community.

Land Acquisition (2009)

The Acquisition: Washington DNR partnered with King County and the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to purchase approximately 7,000 acres of commercial timberland (which expanded to the ~11,200-acre Raging River State Forest). The Seller: Private timberland owner Fruit Growers Supply Company.
The Motivation: The purchase was intended to protect critical Chinook salmon habitat in the Raging River watershed, prevent suburban residential development, and close a major gap in protected public land along the I-90 corridor. King County secured a conservation easement on 4,000 acres of the property to restrict future development.

Trail Network Creation (2012-2018): Phase 1

Recreation Planning (2012): After acquiring the property, DNR launched the Snoqualmie Corridor Recreation Plan to evaluate public access and multi-use recreation opportunities.
Groundbreaking & Construction (2015–2018): DNR partnered directly with the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance to design and construct a singletrack network. Flagging and construction began in 2015.

Phase 1 trail construction was completed by the fall of 2017. Phase 1 officially opened in May 2018 with Raging Ridge, Invictus, No Service, Poppin’ Tops, Flow State, and Upward Mobility.

Development rights were formally purchased and extinguished on a large portion of the land as part of the 2009 transaction.

King County's Purchase: King County spent approximately $3.6 million—funded through Conservation Futures and open space programs—to acquire the development rights on 4,000 acres at the headwaters of the Raging River.
Conservation Easement: Severing these development rights placed a permanent conservation easement on the property. This legally prevents the land from ever being subdivided for suburban housing or commercial real estate development.
Dual-Layer Protection: While King County purchased and held the development rights/conservation easement to preserve habitat and water quality, the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) purchased the underlying fee-simple land title. This allowed DNR to manage the acreage as a public working state forest and non-motorized recreational area.

Canyon Creek Downhill, 2020

Continuing Construction (2018-2021): Phase 2

The construction of Phase 2 trails began in 2018. The Phase 2 trails officially opened in 2021 with Canyon Creek Downhill, Physical Therapy, Raging Tiger, and Dash Connector.

Building Executive Decision, 2023-2024

Final Phase of Construction (2023-2024): Phase 3

The 3rd and final phase of Raging River trail construction was split into two parts. The first part began in 2023, and thanks to a huge community effort, several new trails were completed and opened in June 2024, debuting at the Evergreen Mountain Bike Festival: Executive Decision, Ferdinand, Reverence, and PCT.

The second part of the final phase of construction began in 2024, and now brings us to today. The final two trails in the Raging River trail system are Over & Out and Wild Waves, opening in October 2026. This marks the completion of the Raging River trail network construction project in partnership with DNR.

Thank You!

Thank you to DNR for partnering with us, and to all the incredible volunteers who helped us build the Raging River trail network over the last decade! Your time, energy, and hard work made this whole project possible, and we couldn't have done it without you.