Grand Ridge Trail(s)

I originally planned on riding this past Saturday.  The weather did not cooperate so I ended up at REI in Seattle - imagine that.   Several hundred dollars later I walked out with a new bike rack, headlamp, and a guide book for the Washington parts of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Sunday I was picked up by a co-worker, we rendezvoused with another dude, and made our way to Issaquah to meet some more dudes, and then to ride the Grand Ridge trails.  We left the parking area promptly at noon.

We left Central Park (not THAT Central Park) via a paved trail.  After about 400 hundred yards it turned to gravel.  In about that much more distance we were on the singletrack.  The Grand Ridge trail(s) are nice and wide.  I'd estimate about thirty-six inches in most places.  In some lower lying areas there was some nifty board walk.

If you've not caught on by now, click a picture for a larger view.

Unfortunately, the dudes we were riding with pressed the pace.  I was not able to take many pictures of the Grand Ridge trails.  But, when we were at the end of the Grand Ridge trail, we were very conveniently at an entrance to Duthie Hill.

Duthie Hill is a wonderful mountain bike park.  It's got bermed trails, log skinnies, jump lines galore, wood structures big and small, and pump tracks.  Our group spent quite a bit of time trying all we'd dare.

When we'd had enough playing at Duthie, we took the remaining section of Boot Camp trail back to the Grand Ridge trail and backtracked to the vehicles.  A nice three hour adventure exploring some more nice Pacific Northwest trails.

The one  downside to the Grand Ridge trail, it's two way traffic.  Though the fact it's wide saves some head-on encounters, there are some places where visibility is not so good and bumping helmets it possible.  Oh well, looks like a great opportunity for MORE trails to turn it into a loop!