Late Summer 2018

TrailBear was not exactly “silent, upon a peak in Darien” when he parked at the twin bridges site (Rt. 530 & RR bridges) on the Whitehorse Trail (48°15'58.29"N x 122° 0'44.53"W).

“OMG, blacktop!” A few yards over, the trail surface was gleaming blacktop. Blacktop! Bear loves blacktop on his trails. Smooth riding. No ruts. Yes! We can do this! The trike came out and TB went spinning over the bridge and down the newly surfaced trail bed.

Smooth, fresh blacktop and dried leaves crunching under the tires. Looking closer, he wondered if he was one of the first riders on this stretch. There were only three tire tracks behind him. All evenly spaced. Might be him.

Was there some association with the construction crew he passed a few miles east where the trail crosses Rt 530 again… They were laying down more blacktop, heading east towards Darrington. Got a ways to go. Encourage them. They expected to be done with the trail project back in 2016. Perhaps 2020 might be the year. A bear can dream.

Regardless, the twin bridges is a lovely spot on the trail. You have a nice railroad bridge, a river with a long view, a beach for the kids and views. Locals are found recreating themselves here all summer.

Go west down the blacktop a bit and there is the Rt. 530 trail crossing – under construction. Wonder how they will do this. The Snohomish Centennial has a ped-controlled stop light at one crossing. This crossing is on a curve to make it sporting.

He managed to pedal across – but he waited and waited for a lull. Those fully loaded logging trucks doing 60 mph suggested caution. No sign of paving continuing west towards Trafton Trailhead. Back in 2016 when he checked out the Trafton Trailhead, he noticed they had laid a serious compacted gravel base heading east from Trafton, so there might be hope that was going to be a blacktop base.

@@@ MAP CHECK … The Whitehorse Trail project map – check it out

Here is the county project map. Currently, it is the best that you can easily put your hands on.

https://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/3693/Whitehorse-Regional-Trail

TB really hopes that the map note with a date of 2106 was a typo. You can see that they are doing this and that here and there. They have Phases. Must be a challenge to find all the funding for all the projects that add up to a completed trail.

The finished trail, combined with the excellent Snohomish Centennial Trail that runs from the Snohomish River north through Arlington to the Skagit County border will make this an even more attractive destination for riders.

The old right of way extends north along Rt. 9 in Skagit County and south into King County where it is the Burke-Gilman Trail. There are said to be plans to join the Snohomish to the B-G. Come that day, you can start at the Golden Gardens on Puget Sound and ride up to the Skagit line or cut over to Darrington.

@@@ FORTSON MILL TRAILHEAD … Welcome Wagon not in evidence (48°16'25.43"N 121°43'53.57"W)

TrailBear had such high hopes that morning. He would park at the Fortson Mill Trailhead and take a round trip east to Darrington and back. After all, the official map said this was the only open portion.

His hopes faded when he drove in … to the gate, hefty and well-locked. An official and rather annoyed sign proclaimed that “This Gate is Locked due to illegal dumping.” (Guys, if you are going to do caps, do caps for every word. More stylish.) Among the prohibited items were Alcoholic Beverages and Motor Vehicles. Not the place to party on a Friday night. At least the county hopes so. The gate says so.

Reading that ‘Foot traffic is allowed into the park” he hoofed it down the road to find a vast, empty parking lot in the woods. Great place to dump that old washer or have a kegger on Friday night. No signage.

More wandering about turned up the Fortson mill – now concrete walls with artistic graffiti, a dam and empty log pond and not much more. The trail is due north about 93 yards from the non-parking lot, over the slope and down.

@@@ DARRINGTON TRAIL HEAD … End of the trail (48°15'32.10"N 121°36'16.33"W)

Well, try the official open portion from the other end. Off to Darrington and the trail end on Railroad Ave. Pedal off down the trail and past the Three Rivers Mill. The trail here is gravel, and TrailBear was soon bored. Scrubby, cut over woods, no views, bumping over roots. Boring!

Stop, about face, pedal back. The reality is that from Fortson to Darrington, the Whitehorse is a woods ride. No bridges, no river, no views. TB has ridden the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes and other scenic trails, so he is spoiled rotten and feels Entitled.

He wants scenic trails with endless unfolding vistas – an endless Instagram Heaven – not a bunch of scrubby woods. (And, while you’re at it – a rest room every five miles.)

He loaded up and headed back west to his happy discovery of real, fresh blacktop, a bridge and vistas at the twin bridges: “OMG, blacktop!” One happy TrailBear.

This is a beautiful trail. I had a free afternoon on a business trip to Seattle. Terrible traffic to get out of Seattle, but worth it to add this trail to my list. I wish I’d had more time. Had to cut my mileage short because I kept stopping for photos.

This is a lovely paved trail that hugs the shoreline along Guemes Channel where large ferries regularly ply the waters between Anacortes and the San Juan Islands. The views are outstanding and the trail is accessible year round. Make a right turn off Highway 20 directly through the San Juan Passage housing development downhill to reach trailhead parking area along the water. The trail goes east about 1.2 miles toward the city of Anacortes with plans for eventual completion all the way to city center. This same parking area also serves the Ship Harbor Trail which runs westward toward the WA State ferry terminal. If you get the yen to go to Guemes Island there is a small Skagit County ferry that makes regular 5-minute crossings from downtown Anacortes.

3/12/2018

Starting at the western end of Whitehorse, branching off the Centennial Trail, I rode about a mile before hitting a landslide blocking the trail. Looking at the tangle of large trees and mud in front of me, I decided I'd rather not try to get past it and risk having the whole mass continue into the river, with me on top of it. So ended my first Whitehorse Trial trip.

The trail in this section has not yet been resurfaced, so it still has the old railroad ballast. It was a little tiring to slog through, but the short section of the trail I did get to ride was quite enjoyable. This looks like it will be a beautiful ride, once they complete the trail.

As of Sept 4, 2017 the landslide blocking the trail west of Concrete had still not been cleared. Try as we might we were unable to find a trailhead with a portapotty in the vicinity of Challenger Crossing. There's supposed to be one there.

The trail is quite flat and the scenery is lovely, so for those two key elements it is an excellent trail. But the surface condition is so bad that it detracts from the enjoyment. It would take very little effort to correct most of these problems. Maintenance on this county trail seems to entail throwing down piles of loose gravel. Even the widest tires will sink into loose pea gravel with no stone dust, so you have to be constantly alert to these wide areas. It doesn't help that these areas occur more frequently at road crossings. Also, the barricades at road crossings are unneccessarily enormous and positioned in a way that you cannot easily get around them. riding around the outside can be done at alot of them, but it's not consistent. The barricades could be unlocked and opened just a little more so a cyclist could ride through, while still blocking road traffic. As it is, there are too many crossings to have to stop and walk through 2 of these at every side street. The area at mile 4.8, near Minker Creek, is abominable. The ladt straw for us was how rough the trail got as we approached Hamilton. We finally gave up and turned around before we got to town. We typically ride 12 to 14 mph on good stone trails, but we were reduced to 8 mph for this trail.

talked with a Skagit Parks employee last week, and he said that the landslide blocking the trail west of Concrete is due to be removed in the next week or two

I really enjoyed this bike trail; It has a breathtaking view and my bike ride was refreshing! The trail was short but I biked it twice. I can't wait to go again!

I think without this map it would have been hard to follow this trail when it is on the surface streets. While the trail is in the green belt it is a nice afternoon walk.