I-5 Colonnade

Key Info

(technical difficulty)

(physical difficulty)

X-Country, Freeride

NW Washington

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Stats

1 miles total

50' elevation gain

100% single track

47.634902 lat.

-122.323279 long.

General

Overview:

I-5 Colonnade is the first ever urban mountain bike skills park. It's part of a City of Seattle park, but was funded and constructed by the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance (formerly Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club). The park features a novice area - the Tqalu Trail; an intermediate and advanced area - Limestone Loop; a dirt jumping section; pump track; trials area and more.

The Tqalu Trail

The Tqalu TTFs are in the range of 1 to 2 stars for technical difficulty.

Features:

Ladder bridge
Rock chute
Log rolls and skinnies

Limestone Loop

Offers a 1/2-mile tight'n'twisty Cross Country loop with several intermediate to advanced options. It's a great place to work on key skills by sessioning:

Tight switchbacks
Ladder bridges, log rides and skinnies
Steep rock chutes and technical rock rolls
Suspension bridge
Rock step-ups
A long ladder bridge roller coaster ride (be careful to keep your speed waaaay down... she bucks!)

The Limestone Loop TTFs are in the range of 2 to 4 stars for technical difficulty.

Advanced Area

Features:

More flowy advanced trails
Jumps, berms and wall rides
Long, narrow, elevated skinnies
Progressive and elevated drops
Steep rock chutes
Pump track
Trials area

The TTFs in the advanced area are just that - advanced. Prepare accordingly!

Typical Conditions:

Because Colonnade is primarily under the elevated spans of I-5, the surface of the main riding areas are mostly dusty and dry. However, there are several areas exposed to rain and a few trails under some new freeway leaks. When water hits the local moondust, things can get pretty slimy... so be careful after a heavy rain. Check things out first!

Skills classes are occasionally held at Colonnade; check the evergreen calendar for any upcoming events.

Note that Colonnade can eat up bikes and be quite challenging - it would be nuts to ride here without a helmet, and full face helmet and/or body armor is advised for the tricky areas.

Advocacy Info

2015 Colonnade Improvement Planning Project

More info:

Comments welcome. or

Navigation

How to Find It:

Colonnade is located between the Capitol Hill and Eastlake neighborhoods, under the I-5 freeway, more or less below St Mark's Cathedral. It's where Lakeview Blvd turns underneath the freeway and turns into Boylston Ave. There are multiple entrances, but the best for parking is on the east side of the park off of Lakeview Blvd E.

East-side / Lakeview-side Entrance: 1800 Lakeview Blvd E, Seattle, WA 98102 (Google/Yahoo maps will get you there). Parking is available on Lakeview Blvd.

Map for Lakeview Blvd entrance.

West-side / Eastlake-side Entrance: 1800 Franklin Ave E, Seattle, WA 98102 -- at the intersection of Franklin Ave E & E Blaine St. (Google/Yahoo maps will get you there). Limited parking is available on Franklin Ave and on some of the side-streets.

Map forFranklin Ave entrance.

If you're headed north on I-5, take exit 168A for Lakeview Blvd. Take a left onto Lakeview and immediately park on your left. The bike trails are on the west side of Lakeview.

If you're headed south on I-5, take exit 168A for Boylston Ave / Roanoke St. Merge onto Boylston and go straight at the light. Follow Boylston south, paralelling I-5, veer left under the freeway, and then park on your right.

Trailhead Map:

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Maps:

PDF Files:
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Recommendations for 2015 Colonnade Improvements

Ride Reports

shame

08 | 19 | '18

so i took my fam today to the bike park i had not bben there in many years but thought it was a good place to take my family no not the case needles all over the place and trash it was horable for me thought it would be cool to ride again was more worried bout my kids getting poked with a u...

Submitted by alywha on 08/20/18

Trashed again

07 | 09 | '18

The area is trashed again. About three tent campers in the trails, trash piles, busted glass, who knows what else lurking under sticks and leafs. Was so sketchy we decided it's not worth the risk.

Submitted by hydrokool on 07/15/18

Sketchy

04 | 13 | '17

Really sketchy. Couldn't trust any of the landing areas or blind corners because many were broken, overgrown, or washed out. Most of the park is just in disrepair and unrideable. Sad. Looks like it was really cool at some point. It's obvious that a lot of work was put into it.&n...

Submitted by gilbert0707 on 04/13/17

Not in good shape

01 | 09 | '17

In need of some maintenance and clean up for sure. I wouldn't call it "Sketchy" if you are used to the city, but it just wasn't really fun - broken down, lots of garbage. Seems like it's seen better days.

Submitted by LC on 01/09/17

Sketchy

02 | 24 | '16

I am certain that at some point this was cool - but now - it is straight sketchy and long out of shape. It now belongs to the homeless. People walking thru the area were shocked to see me there - like they have never seen anyone ride there. Come around a corner - watch out for t...

Submitted by Jensers on 03/01/16