What better way to spend a day but on one of our state's fine rail trails. Easy to find trailhead in Cedro Wooley. Glad our car needed a wash because the parking lot is gravel. Great location right off Highway 20 at Fruitdale road. We unloaded our bikes and that sense of anticipation pulsed thru my body as I took my first pedal rotations. The sun was out and the trail starts out with a nice gravel foundation. Soon you are are on a tunnel like (with vegetation) path. The trail parallels highway 20 for a short distance but soon you are surrounded by farmland with a backdrop of towering foothills. There are many blackberry vines lining the trail but they are a non issue. We crossed many small bridges and stopped for numerous photo ops (100 pics +). Stopped along the high banks of the Skagit river for a pb + j and of course photo ops. The river is beautiful and this is where we saw three of the 10 people along the trail and these three were racing along in a river boat but gave a us both a hardy wave as they sped by. We did a quick tour of sleepy Lyman, WA and then jumped back on trail. We had a late start so we only rode 13 miles east on the well maintained trail before turning back. We will definitely return soon to ride the entire trail. There was a washed out bridge but all you had to do was get on Lyman Hamilton Hwy (small country road really) for about 30 yards or so and then back on the trail. We highly recommend this trail to all levels of riders and will return soon. Happy trails!

Into the Hike-a-Bike Wetland and beyond.

08/26/2009

This section of the Cascade Trail was different. It’s a nice ride with a wetland in the middle of it.
In the other two sections we have had various washouts of the trail bed and a pair of bridges. Here we seem to have a wash-on of flood gravels onto a portion of the trail bed. That or Skagit County, which cannot afford to remove the blackberries crossing the trail, dumped a foot of gravel down hundreds of feet of the trail bed. Rather doubt that. Gravel costs $$$.

Aside from that 0.2 mile stretch, it was a nice ride on a hard-packed one lane gravel road. I could almost imagine being back down south again with the trees overarching the trail. All that was lacking was the Spanish Moss. Try it when the leaves turn. It should be great. Try it when the rains come and the swamp floods. It should be interesting. Tell us about it.

The ride started at the Fruitdale Trailhead in Sedro-Woolley (SR 20 x Fruitdale Rd.) and headed east to the Lyman City Park. (“City” is a bit much for Lyman. Doubt there are 500 people in the hamlet.) It was an Out N Back ride. Next time, I will stage at Lyman. The park there is far more pleasant than the Fruitdale Trailhead and offers water, modern flushies and a picnic shelter.

There are a few bridges on this section of the trail. Coming back, I was marking waypoints in the GPS at every bridge and making verbal notes in a digital voice recorder. Stop, mark, record, ride. It worked well. I sat down at the trail head, downloaded the digital notes into the field log and counted them up. From Lyman City Park to Fruitdale, I counted eleven bridges and one section of puncheon.

@@@ THE HIKE-A-BIKE WETLAND…
.
It is clear sailing from either Fruitdale or Lyman to the wetland west of Minkler Lake and east of Hoehn Rd. at GPS: N48 31.357 W122 07.864. This appears to be the drainage of the Powell or Wiseman Creek. Both names appear on the Garmin map. Previous reviews have noted the rough going on this section of trail, so I was curious to see what was going on. Check out the photos. Looks like the creek flooded. But when? Last big flood here was 2003. The folks that live on the river got to live in the river.

Coming from Fruitdale you encounter flood gravels east of Hoehn Rd, then a curious bridge which appears to be built on a truck trailer bed. The bridge leads to a very poorly constructed bypass trace. Serious “hack” work. Stumps are sticking up out of it and the far end is choked with blackberry vines. You need a brush cutter to make it through. Eschew this option. Use the trail bed.

The bypass runs for about 500’, and then dumps you back onto the rail road bed. I did this in August in the dry season and it was dry thick brush. If you are here in the spring, when the creeks are high, you are probably in trouble. It may well be impassable. There is a highway sign posted there – Water Over Roadway. They know something. If there was a creek bed, it is now filled with gravel. Be warned.

I mounted up and tried to ride. Good for a few yards, then the front tire sank into a patch of soft gravel and stoped. The rest of the bike, ToolBear attached, wanted to continue forward. Yes, the classic Endo In Progress. However, it was at low speed and Der Bear was off that bike in a flash, so no Endo. Push the bike a bit, then try again. Same thing, again. Duh!

Der Bear got da picture. Hike-a-Bike time. He hiked the bike down the trail to a length of puncheon. From there the trail bed resumes and the ride goes well up to the Lyman City Park. This Hike-a-Bike section extends for about 0.2 miles east of that curious bridge to the puncheon portion.

The dry season solution to this section of trail is to dismount at the bridge or puncheon and hike your bike down the trail bed until you encounter firm riding, then mount up and carry on. I did this coming back and it went well. Do stay out of that vile bypass, if possible.

In the Wet, if the wetland is impassable, head up Hoehn Rd. to SR 20 and pedal east until you encounter the Lyman-Hamilton Rd. Take it east until you hit Robinson Rd. Turn right and take Robinson south to hit the trail east of Minkler Lake. Lyman City Park is 1.1 miles east of you. If desired, you can do a loop trip with one leg on SR 20, which has 4’ shoulders and good riding.

Once past the wetland, the next feature is Minkler Lake. Lake? Not hardly. Don’t expect to see happy water skiers. Swamp is more like it. This is really an old slough that is mostly a bog now and well on the way to becoming a meadow. The Minkler Lake Bridge – the longest one on the trail – crosses a lead of water that is well choked with water plants.

Aside from the wetland section – which adds the element of adventure – this was a nice ride. All those bridges added interest. If you want a loop of about 22 miles, take the trail from Fruitdale to SR 20 Xing and then ride SR 20 back to Fruitdale.

@@@ DO IT AGAIN???
Sure. It was a pleasant and interesting ride. I will miss the fall foliage ride and the winter or spring swamp crossing, because I will be down working in California during the Wet. However, check it out and file a review and pictures with Trail Link. How impassable is that swamp in spring? Float-a-bike?

@@@ STATS…
Fruitdale Trailhead to Lyman City Park
Total miles – 7.05, Max speed – 14.3, Moving average – 8.7, Total ascent – 66’, Max elevation – 84’

@@@ TRAIL SCORE…
On the ToolBear Triple Trail Rating Scale: C +, B,

C + = Facilities. Fruitdale has a gravel parking lot, a portaloo and a bench. The next trailhead east, Helmick Rd., just has parking on gravel. Lyman City Park, which is not part of the trail, has parking, flushies, shelters, tables and horseshoe rings. Give it an A.

B = Trailbed. Not bad riding. Mostly hardpacked gravel. The swamp crossing and some bits of blowout repair get Ds. The bridges are in good shape. The blackberry vines are a real maintenance issue. The whole trail needs a brushing with chain flails.

B = Scenery. Above average. The bridges are the main element of interest here. There were eleven of them between Fruitdale and Lyman.

Ride on!
ToolBear

CASCADE TRAIL, SKAGIT COUNTY, WA

The Seven Bridges Road Sector – Minkler Lake…Lyman…Hamilton… SR 20

“On the seven bridges road I go.”

8/22/09


This is probably the most interesting sector of the Cascade Trail.

Check it out on Google Earth (Search: “Lyman, WA”). What you see there are the old meanders and ox bows of the Skagit River’s former channels wandering across the flood plain. Some are still sloughs. Some are fields, but you can see the swirls on the earth.

From Minkler Lake – really a vegged-up slough – to the trail crossing at State Route 20, about 6.6 miles east, the trail crosses creeks and sloughs on seven bridges. Much of the trail runs in shade beneath over-arching hardwoods. In fall, when the leaves turn, this should be a very colorful ride.
The trail bed here is basically a single lane gravel road, mostly well compacted and good riding.

There are spots where blowouts from the floods have been repaired with large rock. Here you have short rock gardens to traverse. Numerous horse apple landmines add an element of adventure and encourage picking a good line to avoid flying poop. (There is a reason ToolBear has fenders on his mountain bike. He needs one on his water bottle.)

Since there are no trailheads on this sector, I staged out of the Lyman City Park (GPS: N48 31.616 W122 04.113) on the Lyman-Hamilton Rd. just east of the elementary school and across from the cemetery on the bend. Good choice. This is a nice little park about five hundred feet from the trail. It has parking, water, a picnic shelter, a BBQ shelter and a pair of modern unisex flush toilets. If the small gravel parking lot is filled, pull in along the edges of the park, as the locals do.

Today was a horse shoe tournament of some sort. When I arrived there were two men tossing horse shoes. When I returned there was a caterer at the BBQ shelter, cars and trucks pulled in all around the park and people everywhere having a good time.

Once on the trail, I headed west to Minkler Lake (2.06 miles) to see the trail along the Skagit. There are good views of the river and some blowout repairs. The trail is on the wrong (cutting) side of the river, so expect this portion to vanish sooner rather than later. The river is right there.

Once at Minkler Lake, reset the GPS log and head east to SR 20 down the “Seven Bridges Road.” It’s a fun ride back through Lyman, over Jones Creek, Manser Creek, Red Cabin Creek, Davis Slough and Nameless Creek to the washed out trestle detour east of Petit St. (GPS: N48 31.514 W121 59.197). (Yes, that’s five bridges – plus a pair toward Minkler Lake.)

The trestle over this slough went in the 2003 floods. Pity. It was a long one. The Google Earth pix (2006 ?) showed a row of naked pilings across the slough and an intact bridge deck upstream or upslough half on the bank. If it washed the deck off those pilings, one suspects that all the streets below the road toward the river were well under water. If I lived in those bottoms, I’d live on a houseboat moored to pilings in the yard.

I thought I was going to get some great shots of the wreckage. Dream on. Got there and the slough was bare. Someone or thing has removed all the pilings and the bridge deck. You can pedal out to the fences at either end, then backtrack 170’ or so and look for the gravel path taking you out to the Lyman – Hamilton Rd. for a 600’ detour.

Did the detour, got back on the trail and headed for SR 20, about 0.9 miles away. From SR 20 it’s about 3.6 miles across the fields to the next trailhead up at Baker Lake Rd. and it doesn’t look that interesting. Certainly not as interesting as the Seven Bridges Road sector of the Cascade Trail.

@@@ DO IT AGAIN???
Certainly. This was an interesting ride. (ToolBear loves bridges, tunnels and trestles.) A fall autumn color ride should be worthwhile. A ride from Lyman City Park to the Fruitdale Trailhead and back would be nice.

@@@ STATS…
Minkler Lake Slough to SR 20
Total miles – 8.89, Max speed – 13, Moving average – 7.3, Total ascent – 84’, Max elevation – 121’

@@@ TRAIL SCORE…
On the ToolBear Triple Trail Rating Scale: C -/B/B

C - = Facilities. What facilities? There are no designated trailheads or restrooms in this sector.

B = Trailbed. Not bad riding. Mostly hardpacked gravel. Some bits of blowout repair get a D. The bridges are in good shape. The blackberry vines are a real maintenance issue. The whole trail needs a brushing with chain flails.

B = Scenery. Above average. The bridges are the main element of interest here.

Ride on!
ToolBear