I-5 Colonnade
Key Info
(technical difficulty)
(physical difficulty)Stats
General
Excessive trash on site continues to be a problem with the I-5 Colonnade skills park. Evergreen is currently working with the City of Seattle and REI to determine a course of action for future maintenance in 2020.
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 Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. 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.
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.
2015 Colonnade Improvement Planning Project
More info:
Comments welcome. mwestra@evergreenmtb.org or info@eastlakeseattle.org
Navigation
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.
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!
Ride Reports
I slept in today and parking has been an issue in Cap Hill with all the construction, so I figured a trip down memory lane would be nice. The poor park is still in really bad shape and some sections seem like they have been totally condemned. LOTS OF GLASS. Maybe one day there could be a wo...
Came here for the first time after hearing that it's been cleaned up some. I'm pretty busy and don't have much time for driving. Rode Limestone Loop, which was perfect after clearing some brush from the dirt section. This place has so much potential! Not only that, but it's really the only...
I'm fairly new to Seattle, and wasn't around when I-5 Collonade park was built. It's clear that the park has seen better days, but the bones of a really incredible bicycle skills park are still there. Most of the beginner features are rideable, though berms and rollers are pretty washed out. Beca...
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...
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.
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...
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.
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...
The majority of the trails are rideable and in decent condition. That being said, there are some defencies to note:
- Several obstacles by the lake view entrance are overgrown
- The first berm on Sidewinder has fallen down the hill - be careful
- Acid drop is shaky an...