Galbraith Mountain Biking, Bellingham Washington

Trails	From the North - Birch Street Side - Park in the Whatcom Falls Parking lot and ride up Birch Street to the end. Cross the cable and continue to Miranda Trail. Driving: Exit 246 East off I-5 onto Lakeway Drive. Pass Bayview Cemetery and Make a left onto Electric Avenue where the road forks. Turn left into Whatcom Falls parking lot (by the tennis courts). Also check out this fine map of Galbraith as a result of Matt Groce's WWU EGEO 450 class, nice work. Here's a link to his project page.
Miranda	Open - Miranda is the approved access trail from Birch Street built to bypass a development project, riders need not ride up the paved road to a point where the road has a small hard to see trail that connects to the Ridge Trail.
Ridge Trail	Access from Miranda - The Ridge Trail is just under 2 miles uphill and is a semi-technical climb. Ride up through the woods to a clearing, then choose either the gravel road or the single track to ride up. Most riders ride up the gravel road and leave the single track to downhill riders. Near the top of the gravel road cross over a few feet onto the Ridge Trail and continue up on the single track. Enjoy the view of Bellingham Bay. The Ridge Trail also makes a fun, fast trail to ride down. Stay on the single track and catch a few short drops.
Top of the Ridge	There is a clearing at the top of the Ridge Trail which is an intersection of the Ridge Trail, 1st on right - Bob's Trail, farthest on left - Cedar Dust, and a trail to the left called Family Fun Center which makes a loop back to the road a bit back. The Family Fun Center connects to the Lower Intestine at it's base.
Cedar Dust / Ridge Extender	Entrance is to the left up a short hill of a few feet after riding up the Ridge (like an 'extension' of the ridge trail). It's a fairly level trail that parallels the road for a bit, goes up and over a rock, then crosses over another old road and continues through the woods to a cool rock drop then out to another gravel road. Check out the new work that's making the Ridge Extender better! There's a nice low level ladder with a skinny at the end, and further on some excellent raised log rides! Their all great for training and well built, with easy bypass trails.
Death Climb	Go left after exiting Cedar Dust and then the next right. You will begin going uphill right away and soon figure out why it's called the Death Climb (Darrell's Death Climb or The Wall to some). Go all the way to the top and on to another gravel road. The Death Climb saves about 15 minutes if you are in a hurry instead of riding "miles around on cross country trails." Picture: stay to the right here to go up the Death Climb.
Top of Death Climb	Kung Fu and Kung Fu 2 both meet at this intersection of the Death Climb and the Road. Choose to go Down the Road to 911 and Blue Rock Junction, Up the road to Purple Heart, El Pollo Elastico, and many more trials. Note that if you go down the road and take trails that ride down (911, Shawn's Aneurism) then you will need to climb back up on Arron's Knuckle (right on the road as you exit the trails) to the base of the Death Climb to return to Whatcom Falls.
Purple Heart (Toilet Bowl)	Go left and up the road a ways to a trail with a small pile of rocks at the entrance that you can ride over. Sometimes referred to as Kung Fu 2, Sticks, I've even heard Toilet Bowl.
Fire Circle	Opens off Purple Heart near the south end and runs Westerly to a clearing with a, you guessed it, fire circle. Try out the log ride with the drop off the end, then continue on down the trail. Part way down to the left is Grasshopper that has some drops and connects back with the Death Climb. Follow Fire Circle until you cross a road and you enter El Pollo Elastico.
El Pollo Elastico	"The Rubber Chicken" - is a downward technical trail that is allot of fun. You'll see a ladder bridge and log ride that was a few feet higher before it was cut down for your safety. Then ride a bit further to a fork in the road. If you choose the right you'll have a short ride to a connector trail to a road, and if you choose the left you'll have a longer loamy ride to the road.
Intestine	Across the road from the El Pollo connector, and up the road to the right if you came down the longer El Pollo trail. Curves back and forth and winds around and then has a solid bridge over a small stream and connects with the Family Fun Center
Family Fun Center	Take a left from Intestine and ride uphill back to the Top of the Ridge Trail. Connect to either Bobs Trail for a more advanced ride down, or the Ridge Trail for a fun and fast descent.
Bob's Trail	For a fun ride down with Drops, Jumps, and Speed take Bob's Trail to an old road, then after going left a bit take Lower Bob's on the right. It has more great stuff to ride and then comes out on the Pipeline Road.
Pipeline Road	Ride the Pipeline Road down and North. Take a right into the woods and follow Karma trail through the woods until it connects with a road. Take a left and your back on Pipeline. Go right and onto Kenoyer Drive. Take your first right, through a gap where the road ends, and you are on Roland Street. Follow it down to Lakeway Blvd. and then left on Birch Street back to the Parking Lot at Whatcom Falls.
Karma	Karma trail is a fun trail that makes a great end to a day's ride... It's fairly level and fun to go fast with good berms and a few roots, with a couple of natural hits along the way. Please be careful of pedestrians that might be out for a walk in the woods.
	More Options coming soon
	From the Top of Ridge Trail: Candy, Arsenio, Kaiser Picture: Looking at "Arsenio" from The Top of the Ridge Trail.
	From The Top of Death Climb: Candy, Arsenio, Kaiser

Trails	From the South - Galbraith Lane Side - Park in the South Lake Paden Parking lot across the street from Galbraith Lane. Ride up Galbraith Lane and take the first paved left (looks like the end of the road). Ride up to and around the gate at the bottom of the gravel logging road. Driving: Exit 246 off Northbound I-5 to the West on Samish Way. Drive about a mile and park on the left just past and across the street from Galbraith Lane.
Top of the Towers	Easy directions: Ride up the gravel road and keep taking the uphill turns to the top. Long directions: Ride up the road from the gate and don't veer off until you come to a painted blue rock at a fork in the road. Take a right and then a left at the Yellow Rock with a Superman Symbol. At the top of the hill the road goes into a stand of trees and you'll take the next left and follow it to the Towers. If you take the right you can ride down Woopsie Woodle.
Blue Rock Junction	The junction of two gravel roads that tie both sides of Galbraith together. As you come up from Galbraith Lane you take a right to the Top of the Towers, or you take a left to Shawn's Aneurism, 911, Top of Death Climb, and all the trails to the North.
Woopsie Woodle	Instead of taking the last left to the Towers, continue on to the right and you'll come to the entrance of Woopsie Woodle. Rebuilt in 2003 as an Intermediate cross country trail. It starts out in the woods, then after a bit comes out into clear cut. It's a great cross-country trail and if you make a circle from Galbraith Lane, up the road, and down Woopsie Woodle you get a good work out in about an hour for an average rider.
12 Monkeys	Access from Scorpion. After you enter Scorpion as you ride up the hill and cut to the right on a new trail. It goes into the clear cutting and then down with a couple of drops and log rides. It comes out on a gravel road. Ride down slowly while looking for the entrance to the new trail (Naughty Nelly) by WHIMPS that is on the right through the lower clear cut section.
Naughty Nelly	Naughty Nelly connects the New Trail to the road. Find it as you ride down the road. It is hard to spot as it's entrance parallels the road. Naughty Nelly is a cross country trail that meanders across the hills. It comes out on the road and directly across an intersection leads you to Dirty Sox.
Dirty Sox & Keystone	Access from the gravel road down from the New Trail. After you exit the new WHIMPS trail, take a right on the road and find the entrance. It starts in clear cut, then skirts the edge of the forest (many fallen trees) and goes into the old Keystone trail. Keystone exits onto another logging road.. ride down and take the sharp right uphill toward the forest. You'll enter Kaiser.
Wonderland and Sandstone	If you take the rebuilt "Wonderland" trail you'll come to the Sandstone Rock... there's a fun chute and a drop, as well as a step-up to ride. It's a great view as attested to by Jeff, Eric, and Matt. Afterwards you can follow the new Wonderland or head back up the road and trail to the top of Scorpion. Wonderland is now considered to include Naughty Nelly, Dirty Sox, and Keystone.
Shawn's Aneurism (Shawn's Trail) (Cheech and Chongs Wild Ride)	A cool freeride trail with drops and jumps that you enter between Blue Rock and 911. There's a nice diving board at the entrance and it's filled with log rides, small drops, a steep rock ride hidden to the right, and more. It comes out on the same road as 911. Take a short left, then right into the next part of Shawn's Extension. You'll exit the extension and come out on a road... Turn left to go back to the Tower Road, or take a right to go to Last Chance built by Jordan. Follow through the creek, then just up the hill and immediately to the left you'll find the entrance. Last Chance starts with a stump ride, and then there's a great drop. Go through the stream and log rides, then down and over a narrow log bridge over another creek. Follow the trail and you enjoy the last log ride on this side of the mountain. (keep to the left of the wheel guide midway on the log ride and you'll do fine). At the end the trail empties onto Pipeline Road so head left back to Galbraith Lane.
911	A nice flowing with a couple of classic log rides down through the trees, some sharp corners, a hidden log ride, and some faster jumps on the way out... with a pile of rocks to bang over. Comes out on a road. Go right up hill and take Aarons Knuckle back to the base of Death Climb, or go left downhill and find Chutes and Ladders. "Chicks on Sticks" Check out the longest log ride on Galbraith! it's a fairly low penalty log that goes straight to the trees, winds around and gains just a bit of height. It's pretty easy to dismount with a quick hop anywhere, but if you follow it to the end you have a nice steep trail to a drop (with a route around) and then a log pile that can be a jump if you go fast enough.
Scorpion	Scorpion is the second trail entrance to the left after you pass the Towers. It has some log rides and a very steep decent as you exit onto a double track. Take a left and then a right to continue on lower Scorpion with more fun log rides and then exit onto the gravel road you road up on the way to the Towers. Picture: Log on Lower Scorpion
Evolution Newest and coolest!	Enter Scorpion (second trail entrance to the left after you pass the Towers) and enjoy the new drop and double... then continue around until your beside a downward pointing log. (don't go strait onto Wonderland but rather uphill.) You'll see a drop ahead. Ride the drop with decent speed, and flow around the sweet new berms downhill. you'll swing around back up to the large log ride. Ride the log. At the end of the log you cna clear the "Stinger" or ride over it, or you may continue along Scorpion to the left, or take the new trail the the log points to. There's a smooth drop down a hill, a sharp right bank, and don't loose your speed going slightly up-hill. If you have enough speed, you'll make a small double (you can ride around if too slow) and continue to a drop, then a downhill left. You'll flow down the berms and over a great natural log drop (with a steep ladder down if you want to roll it at slow speed). At the bottom take a left to go uphill and past the Scorpion exit and enter lower Scorpion on the right, or take a right check out another fun way back to the tower road. Evolution re-envisions Polaski and other older trails that had been rutted out and fallen into disuse. Thanks to those who did it! Note: A cougar was surprised by Dan on Evolution July 4, 2008. NEW: On Wednesday, Dec. 21 Hawk and crew busted out some sweet work on Evolution. Matt and Dean worked on a 70' skinny log ride which should be done with one more work session, and Bill, Colin, Doug, and Koji opened up a new line right after the berm section on upper Evo. The way it used to be was that you would come around that last berm and there was a goofy little hip hit on the right that you go jump off, continue down the trail, around a couple of soggy berms, and then pedal back up the hill with a hard turn onto the stinger. Now you come ripping around that final berm, look for a new hit that sends you straight into the new line, catch a tranny, flow a new contour line up, down, and up again until you ride up onto the log above the stinger. The approach up onto the log is really smooth - armored with rock and decked with cedar, then it gets a little skinny up top, but it has a nice wide - but steep - exit that puts you right in line to get onto the stinger. Ride it soon. Next up we'll be decking the middle sections of the stinger (think fast speed and big air) and working on the ravine section right after. Thanks again to Matt, Dean, Doug, Koji, and Colin for helping out. Thanks to Darren and Whimps for loaning us the key and being cool about us building freeride trails and features. If anyone else wants to get in on the trail building action, keep an eye on your email if you are on the list, or look on galbraithmt.com for posts about when we'll be up there working. See you on the trails. L8 - Hawk
Dan's Trail	Take a left after you exit Scorpion and in a few yards take a right over a cement culvert into Dan's Trail. Another fun trail with a few technical choices, then out onto a double track. Take a right and continue nearly back to the road. You'll see trails open off that will be fun to explore later (Green Trail - a green ribbon hanging off a tree, fun to ride when it's dry out). Before you come out onto the road, there is a short trail called Tricks are for Kids that turns off to the left.
Tricks are for Kids	The name may not be right, but the builders call it that. The trail parallels the road and has a deep gully to ride through. Make sure the bridge is at the bottom before you ride down. Some technical choices again if you wish and then out onto the road... Ride back down to blue rock. (or take a right into Kaiser on the way to blue rock) This trail is in a state of disrepair right now - June 2008
Chutes & Ladders	Open

Prison Love (Fat Lady)	Open
Ewoch Village	The famous Ewoch Village is no more... but the name lives on at a new location on some maps, as the continuation of El Pollo Elastico (Mas Pollo)
Banjoland
Cabin Trail (renamed Homestead on new maps)	Open - This trail will take you uphill both ways! Cross country riders will love it, freeriders may not.
Kung Fu Theater	Open - curvey through the woods paralleling the road from the top of the death climb and down to the entrance to 911.
Junkyard	Closed
Kaiser	Kaiser is a great trail that goes uphill both ways with hills, dips, and roots... classic Bellingham mud in the fall, winter and spring.
Swamp Trail	Trail closed. There is now a new trail with a boardwalk from Kaiser and Mullet that parallels the old trail. The swamp trail interconnects Kaiser to the logging road between 911 and Shawn's Trail (Aneurism). About half way uphill in either direction on Kaiser turn to the downhill side. It's a nice downward ride with a couple of jumps and a log ride (narrow) and bridge over a bit of swamp... don't be surprised if you get a foot stuck in the muck! Comes out onto the road then take a left downhill to Shawn's or a right uphill to 911 and the North side trails.
Oly	Re-opened in February by the WHIMPS
WHIMPS Notes	12/20/05 "Well after 5 months, 4 fall work session one, IMBA Trail Care Crew Visit, Multiple off weekend sessions. We finally finished what we started. Thanks to everyone for your input, help & support to finish this project. So go and ride it & enjoy. Check out the website for pictures: www.whimpsmtb.com The Schedule for the next two sessions will be as follows: We will not be working on the January 1st, January 8th � Working with Bob T. and Mark S. on the �SST�. I�ll post location of work a week prior to session, January 15th � Weather permitting we�ll be clearing out the old rifle range trail. The base trail is in, but most of it is over grown with thistle and other weeds. If the weather is not suitable (Snow, Heavy Rain Etc.) we�ll be working on the bunny trails. I�ll send mail prior to the session. Again Thanks all for the help. Happy Holidays, Darren Clark, Whinps VP" Past: Thank you IMBA! We are pleased to announce that the WHIMPs have been awarded an IMBA Trail Care Crew Visit for July 28th-31st, 2005 for an IMBA Trail Care Crew Visit. Many new projects have stemmed from the visit! "Our plans this year are to finish the naughty Nellie, reopen the Oly, and clear and groom many of the existing trails." Wimps "Also would like to thank those who debrushed many of the lower trails this summer --Jim Frickker, Mark & Doug Salisbury and all the others who (have worked on trails)." Wimps acts as a liaison with the landowners of Galbraith and would like to remind trail builders that "trail building on Galbraith and trillium property on lookout must go thru The whimps."

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Trail Building With Hawk and Crew	Hawk and Crew's Notes 05/05/2008 - Yo - We're having another trail work day on Saturday, May 10th. This one is going to be sponsored by Fairhaven Bikes. The plan is to meet at the upper Lake Padden parking area at 10 am and drive up to the bottom of Cheech and Chongs Wild Ride. We'll then focus on buffing trail, building jumps, and wood work on the recent reroute sections towards the bottom of CCWR and on Safety Break. If you like building jumps and other stunts this is the day to show up. Be sure to bring work gloves, water, a snack, and your bike if you want to ride afterwards. Fairhaven will provide food for lunch and we'll provide the tools, but if you have a favorite, bring it. Cheers, Hawk 04/13/2008 - Great day on the hill yesterday. Beautiful weather, a crew of about 12, pizzas for lunch, and a new section of trail got cut. We rerouted the lower section of Mullet to hook into the new boardwalk Trillium installed. The trail was only roughed in so we'll need to go back thru it and shape, buff, and build hits where appropriate, but it's already got good flow due to some serious scouting by the WMBC trail crw leaders, and some serious work by the trail work volunteers. Thanks to Pat and REI for the pizza, work, and schwag. Our next build day will be on May 10th and we'll focus on buffing some of the sections we've recently cut and building hits! Hope to see more of you out then. Cheers, Hawk 04/04/2008 - The WMBC FR Trail Crew will be having another trail work day on Saturday, April 12th that is sponsored by REI. The plan is to meet at the upper Lake Padden parking area at 10 am and drive up to the mid-point on Mullet. We'll then hike down and reroute the lower section of Mullet to connect to the new 375-foot boardwalk thru the swamp that Trillium just installed, which leads directly into CCWR. The reasons for the reroute are to have better connectivity and eliminate using Kaiser. Once completed, this new section should be fast and flowy. It will also be the last new section of trail we put in this trail building season, so if you dig (pun intended) cutting new trail, come on out and join in the fun. After this session we'll focus on maintenance, buffing, and building jumps and other features. Be sure to bring your work gloves, water, a snack, and your bike if you want to ride afterwards. We'll provide tools, but if you have a favorite, bring it. Cheers, Hawk 03/17/2008 - The WMBC FR Trail Crew will be back on the hill this Saturday working on a reroute at the bottom of Cheech and Chong's Wild Ride (aka Shawn's). The plan is to cut a bunch of new trail from the new rainbow skinny log ride section, all the way to the top of Safety Break. The new line will connect the trails better, eliminate most of the road riding, and extend the trail quite a bit. We'll be meeting at the upper lake padden parking area at 10 and leave around 10:15. Bring water, work gloves, a snack, and your bike. Drop in Zone is sponsoring this trail day and will be providing pizzas for lunch and word is they even have a Transition Vagrant frame to be raffled off at the end of the work day. See you there. Cheers, Bill 02/25/2008 - We had a great trail crew day last Saturday. About 20 guys helped throughout the day to punch in a new reroute on Safety Break which connects right into Meth Lab. The new section connects and flows better. We also had a crew finish rebuilding the Rainbow Skinny log ride feature on Cheech and Chongs. The skinny log was replaced and the big log ride section was all decked and blended together. We also added an up on the corner so riders can bypass the skinny if they aren't feeling it and still get some ladder riding in. We were pretty stoked on how it all came together. Check the pics. Next official build day is March 22 sponsored by DNZ. Cheers, Bill 02/17/2008 - Specifically we will be working on the new approach to the rock/wood wallride, and if there are enough folks that show up, a crew will cut in the reroute on Safety Break that will drop you in directly to the top of Meth Lab. There will also be some Dakine swag that they donated to handout to volunteers. Matt 02/15/2008 - The WMBC FR Trail Crew will be having another trail work day on Saturday, Feb. 23rd. The plan is to meet at the upper Lake Padden parking area at 10 am and drive up and work until approx. 3 pm. The plan is to continue working on Cheech and Chong's Wild Ride (aka Shawn's trail). Come on out and boost your trail karma and give something back to the trails you love to ride. Bring your bike, work gloves, water and a snack. Cheers, Hawk 01/27/2008 - Awesome day on the hill yesterday. We got a new line punched in after the rainbow skinny on Cheech and Chongs that adds more flow and hooks back into the trail on the other side of the ravine. Dirt work was surprising easy. With one swing of the pulaski a 3-inch chuck of frozen loam would break off exposing the good dirt. Pretty cool stuff. The log ride after the rainbow skinny will get rebuilt in the next few weeks and there's still some buffing to do and a couple small hits to build on the new section. Once it's complete, its gonna be sweet. Thanks to the 15 or so volunteers that braved the cold and snow and helped out yesterday. Good times for sure. Our next official build day will be Feb.23, but we'll probably get back out before that. PM me if you want your email added to the list. Cheers, Hawk 01/24/2008 - Just a reminder we're having a trail crew day this Saturday and will be working on Cheech and Chong's Wild Ride. Catch a ride up in a truck from the upper Padden lot at 10 or ride your bike up and find us working on the trail. Also, Matt D will be coming thru the Padden lot around 10:45-11 to pick up anyone who wants to come out but likes to sleep in. Cheers, Hawk A note from Matt on Proposed new Trails for Galbraith Mountain: 01/20/08 We proposed and were approved for 2 freeride routes on the Southside of galby - we plan on dialing them in over the next couple of years (or less) depending on how much help we have. They are: #1 - Evo./Scorp - PT - The Luge - then a new trail from the botom of the luge to the gate (starting on the North side of the HUGE drainage) #2 - Trail from the lookout/12 monkeys area connecting to Mullet - Mullet - New trail dropping into the top of CCWR - replacing lower Mullet (Trillium is going to send in a crew to deck through the swamp area) - CCWR - with a couple of reroutes(1 completed), a wallride... - Safety break with a reroute to drop right to the top of meth lab - Meth Lab Our goal is for connectivity, so more single track and less road ridin. Also, more jumps, flow and stunts. All of this takes volunteer labor and we have 5 official (and a number of unofficial) work parties left this year. If you are interested in helping out, contact hawk or myself. If you want any other information let us know, peace 11/17/2007 - Hey everyone, here's the trail work report from Saturday's session. We had approx. 12-15 volunteers show up and got some good maintenance work done on the top part of Evo. A few holes got filled in, some drainage work got done, the first jump and approach got built up a bit, and a couple berms got worked on. The rain made everything we worked on super mushy so it'd be a good idea to wait until it dries out and firms up before checking it out. We worked until about 2:30 and then had some burgs and dogs thanks to Adam from Hidden Wave, who also handed out riding gloves courtesy of Dakine to the guys that stuck around until the end. Our next session will be Dec. 15th and we'll try and finish maintenance work on the rest of Evo and get started on some projects on Scorpion. Thanks to everyone who helped out today, Hawk 11/12/2007 - Hey everyone, the WMBC FR trail care crew will be back out this coming Saturday Nov. 17th. The plan is to meet at the upper Padden parking area at 10 am and drive up to the Towers and complete some much needed maintenance projects on Evo and Scorpion. There will be a BBQ for lunch and a swag raffle for volunteers courtesy of Adam McCoy and Hidden Wave Board Shop in Burlington at the end of the work session. Come on out and help make Galby's FR trails even better. Cheers, Hawk 11/2/2007 - This Saturday and Sunday the DJ Park is going to need some diggers to help sculpt the new lines. Ram Construction was on the scene all day Friday moving dirt and getting things roughed in. It's gonna take hand tools and volunteers to get the rest of it dialed in. Meet time is 9 am, but it'll probably be going on most of the day. Show up and help out if you're into it. Cheers, Bill 10/30/2007 - Darren Clark will be leading a work crew this Sunday and they'll be working on Bob's trail. The first priority will be to rebuild the dilapidated bridge near the bottom of the lower section and they'll tackle other maintenance issues after that. If you ride that trail alot and would like to see it in better shape, come on out and lend a hand. Meet by the gate at the top of Alvarado St. (where Karma exits) at 10 am to move bridge building supplies up to the trail. Cheers, Hawk 10/27/2007 - Here's the report from the trail work party today: We had approx. 15 volunteers throughout the day helping buff out the top section of Mullet. We filled in a lot of holes with rock and dirt and decked the log ride in the middle. The top part should be riding faster now. Thanks to Fanatik Bikes and the Salisburys for providing coffee, bagels and work and to all the other volunteers who showed up and got dirty. We'll be back out on Nov. 17 to finish off the rest of the trail. Hope to see the rest of you then. Cheers, Hawk 10/23/2007 - The WMBC FR Crew will be back at it this Saturday with the first maintenance/build day of the season! Our plan for this session is to focus on buffing out Mullet. As most of you know, that trail has only been around for a year and it's seen a lot of riders and many sections have gotten pretty haggard. With a good turnout, we can get all of the problem spots fixed and that trail will be running smooth and pumpy at the top and fast and flowy on the bottom. Fanatik Bike Co. will be on hand as the sponsor of this session and there should be some good eats and coffee in the morning at the upper Padden parking area starting around 9:30, and some pizzas for lunch on the hill. The weather looks like it'll be good so come on out and throw some dirt around with your buddies and give some love back to the trails. We are expecting a good turnout so bring your favorite tool. See you on the trail, Hawk 9/25/2007 - Yo, I'm heading up to Galbraith on Saturday to deck the rest of the Stinger. There's already cedar rounds at the top of the trail. They'll need to get split up, hauled down, and hammered into place. If that project goes quick, we'll move on down to Mullet and finish building that wood kicker/table. If you like wood work, Saturdays the day. Should be decent weather. Hit me back with an email or call at 305-2518. Cheers, Bill 9/3/2007 - Hey guys, the WMBC leadership is meeting on Sept. 19th to review trail proposals for the upcoming building season. If anyone has a trail they want to build, buff out, or put some TTFs on, email me the details prior to that date so they can be considered. So far we have Kevin from Transition looking to put a new entrance on Scorpion and another group of riders looking to have a FR connector from the Arsenio area lead into SST. Other sections that we didn't get to last year include a trail below the Luge to the gate, and something off of Evo to connect to the top of Mullet. Any proposal should include who will build and maintain it, where it will be on the map, what kind of trail will it be, and will there be any man-made or enhanced natural features on it. The more thorough and thought out the proposal, the better the chances of it getting approved and getting built. Peace, Bill 5/31/2007 - We will be finishing the last "major" feature on Mullet, just below the step down, and some other buffing if more people show up. Leaving from the upper padden lot at 10:00 and working until about 3. Feel free to catch a ride or ride up and meet us... Last chance to give some love to the hill. 4/16/2007 - Hey guys, alot of you have been calling and asking how I'm doing so here's the deal . My left fibia, which is the smaller bone on the outside of the shin, is broke right above the ankle. I also torn some tendon attached to the bone. I had surgery on Sunday and spent the night at my house. Docs say the recovery time is typically 6-8 weeks, which sucks, but it could be worse. I'm bummed I didn't even get to ride all the new killer additions to Scorpion. Thank you very much to all the guys and gals that stuck around and helped get me outta there. And the turnout and quality of work from Seattle guys and Mukilteo guys was impressive. If someone could forward this to them that would be cool. I'm heading back to the couch to pop another perc and watch another dvd. See you soon, Bill 4/10/2007 - It's on for this Saturday. Come on out and take part in the Scorpion resurrection project. So far the trails be cleared of obstacles and brush, puddles drained, and sketchy stunts removed. We'll focus on building new TTFs and buffing out sections to keep the flow. There's also some work that could be done on neighboring trails Evolution and PT if enough people show up. Meet at the upper Lake Padden parking lot at 10 am to catch a ride up in a truck. Otherwise, ride up and find us working on the Scorpion. Raffle for swag courtesy of Transition at the end of the day and pizza courtesy of Lil Ceasars for lunch. There will also be a bonus prize for anyone who dusts off the old black rock Scorpions T-shirt and wears it to the work party. 04/01/2007 - Here's some before and after shots of the work we did yesterday. The one with my dog Blade in it is the natural hump which we boxed in and built a lip off. The other one shows the whole approach, hit, transition area. The big ass stump was dug out of the tranny. Another one is the finished transition. The last one is a side view of the hit and transition. It's still kinda rough, and we'll need to go back in a do some touch ups, but it's good enough to hit if someone's feelin it. Peace, Hawk PS - That's not a challenge and I saw two people with broken clavicles yesterday so be smart. 03/31/2007 - About 8 of us built some cool features on Mullet today. Look for a new skinny near the bottom of the top section right by where you have to duck between that curved tree and big rock. We also buffed and built some jumps on the lower section after Kaiser. A couple small hits and pretty big jump were built. It's still soft, so it's not totally dialed in yet, but should be rockin once we finish buffing it out and it firms up. Let me know what you guys think once you get a chance to ride it. Peace, Hawk 03/29/2007 - The freeride work crew will be back on the mountain on Saturday, March 31 working on Mullet. We still have a section or two left to buff out and then that trail should be dialed in. Meet at the upper Lake Padden parking area at 10. Bring your bike. We'll work until around 2 and then do some riding. Raffle for goodies courtesy of Transition back at the parking lot when we're done. Peace, Hawk 03/11/2007 - Scorpi0n - Many of you have expressed interest in helping to bring Scorpion back to life. Well there's good news. Kevin and the guys at Transition are stepping up to take the lead on reopening the trail. After an initial scouting session today (March 10) to determine what needs to be done, the trail was cleared of obstructions (except for one huge tree that blew over in one of the storms) and some preliminary buffing has begun. We've scheduled a work party on April 14th to do the majority of the work, but Kevin will be going up a few times between now and then and working on some projects. You can contact him at kevin@transitionbikes.com if you want to help out. Peace, Hawk 03/10/2007 - Here's the report from the trail work party: 10 guys, a couple gals and a few dogs showed up for today's work party. We worked on Mullet and got a couple sections buffed out that needed it. So now the trail's pretty butter all the way to Kaiser. Another couple trail work parties and that trail should be dialed in for the summer. Shout out to Barb at WWU Cycling for recruiting some volunteers who seemed pretty stoked on the whole building scene. Thanks also to Kevin at Transition for supplying schwag for the raffle. A couple newbie volunteers each walked away with new T-shirts. Kevin also showed up with a couple other volunteers and did some preliminary work on Scorpion. We finished off with a flow check from the top, and were off the mountain by 3. We almost avoided the rain. Saw lots of riders out there today. Everyone was stoked. Our next trail work session that was originally scheduled in two weeks on the 24th is being pushed back a week to April 1st. No joke. We'll be in Port Angeles on the 24-25th for the trail work and shuttle day. Peace, Hawk 03/07/2007 - We'll be back on Mullet this Saturday, March 10 trying to finish cutting in the lower section and working on some features. Meet at the usual upper Lake Padden parking area at 10. Bring your bike. We'll work until around 2 and then do some riding. Raffle for goodies courtesy of Transition back at the parking lot when we're done. Peace, Hawk PS - I posted on ridegalbraith.com looking for someone to take the lead on overhauling the scorpion, but instead of people stepping up to help out, it turned into another sarcasm vs testosterone cyber-bitch session. so i deleted the thread. Let me know if anyone wants to take charge of that project or get in on the action, otherwise it'll stay buried at the bottom of our list of things to do and most likely not get done. 02/24/2007 - Here's the trail work report: Rainy and 40 degrees - gnar mud was everywhere. 5 of us showed up and did some work on a new feature on Mullet. It's not finished yet, but some progress was made. Shout out goes to Barkley Village Starbucks for hooking us up with a bunch of coffee. It was appreciated. Next trail work session will be March 10. Peace out 02/23/2007 - The trail work party is going ahead as scheduled. We checked out the trail today and there was a little bit of slushy snow in some spots, but mostly just wet. Trails will be sloppy so the riding won't be that great and Baker will be crowded so you might as well come out for some killer trail building action. Be sure to dress appropriately for the weather. Peace 02/20/2007 - The freeride work crew will be back on the mountain on Saturday, Feb. 24 working on Mullet. We have a few sections left to buff out and a few features to build and then that trail should be dialed in. Those of you who have checked out our recent work should know that most of that work was done in 1 day thanks to a good turnout of volunteers. If you're one of those people who have been wanting to get out, but haven't yet, now's the time. Meet at the upper Lake Padden parking area at 10. Bring your bike. We'll work until around 2 and then do some riding. Peace, Hawk 02/10/2007 - Here's the trail work report: It was an awesome day to be on the mountain. We had beautiful weather - 60 degrees and sunny - and a crew of about 15 guys working on Mullet. Some of the highlights include the new bridge over the creek, a new ladder over the gnarly log in the top section, and a new log ride feature at the end of the top section. We also opened the section below Kaiser that takes you out to the Tower Rd. To get to that section, ride Mullet to Kaiser, go left on Kaiser for a few turns and then break off to the right and follow the new trail down to the road. That section is still pretty rough and will be the focus of our next work party on Feb. 24. Big thanks to all the guys that got out and got dirty today. We got a hell-of-alot done. Peace, Hawk 01/24/2007 - Matt D. will be leading the crew this Saturday, Jan. 27 and be working on Mullet. 01/10/2007 - We'll be meeting at the Upper Lake Padden parking area across from Galbraith Ln. at 10 am on Saturday, Jan. 13 for another freeride trail work party. Feel free to bring your bike and/or your favorite tool. We'll be working on finishing the new freeride trail after Evolution and on the Mullet. Layer up cuz it looks like it's gonna be clear and cold. See you Saturday, Hawk 12/18/2006 - The trail work party scheduled for the 23rd has been cancelled and it's on for the 30th. 12/13/2006 - Yo - I need some feedback regarding our next trail work session. It was originally scheduled to be Dec. 23rd, but I'm guessing alot of people have plans or will be out of town. We also scheduled one for Dec. 30 as a special session since alot of people will be on vacation and probably be looking for something to do. I've decided we're not going to do both sessions, so if you could pick one of the dates to volunteer at, which one would it be? Email me back and let me know. Also, at the end of the session, we'll be having on BBQ on the mountain. That's right a BBQ on Galbraith. Food will be courtesy of Barbara and the WWU Cycling Club. Plus, a raffle for some sweet bike parts and shirts courtesy of Transition Bikes. Peace, Hawk 12/09/2006 - We had a great turnout of volunteers at the work party. Roughly 15 people showed up so we were able to break off into 2 groups and work on a variety of trails that really needed some attention. One crew went thru and cleaned up SST. Clearing trees, draining puddles and raking loamy/organic material off the trail. They also found time to build a new skinny log ride option off to the side of the trail in the middle section. The other crew went thru Evolution and cleared approx. 6 downed trees, raked braches off the trail, and unclogged drainages. The 2 crews then met on Mullet and cleared a couple trees, drained a bunch of puddles, and finally built that bridge over that big log in the middle section. Mullet still has a ways to go before it's in good shape, but SST and Evo are now dialed in. Hawk 12/06/2006 - We'll be meeting at the Upper Lake Padden parking area across from Galbraith Ln. at 10 am on Saturday, Dec. 9 for another freeride trail work party. We'll be focusing our efforts on repairing damage done by the wind/rain/snow storms on various trails. The trails are in bad shape and need your help. Come on out and join the fun. Free stuff courtesy of Transition Bikes to be raffled off, given out to the volunteers. See you Saturday, Hawk 11/21/2006 - Hawk and crew will be back working on the mountain Saturday, Nov. 25th. We'll be working on Evolution fixing drainage issues and building some new berms. Reasons to volunteer this Saturday: Work off the Thanksgiving calorie overload. Get a break from your family (if you need one, which I know I will) Up your trail karma. Meet at the Upper Lake Padden parking area by 10 to catch a ride up, or ride by and find us working on the trail. 11/20/2006 - Darren had a crew of WWU students up on Galby yesterday and got a bunch of trails cleared of trees that came down in the recent storms. They did: Cedar dust, Family fun, Intestine, SST, El pollo, Rock n roll, Candy, Upper ridge Also Evolution, Chris's trail, and Cheech and Chong's (Shawn's) are clear. 11/16/2006 - This year the WMBC has 2 crews working on 2 different days, Saturdays and Sundays. Darren Clark will be leading the traditional Sunday work crew that usually works on xc and all-mountain trails. They meet at the Lake Padden Softball Fields at 10 am. Their work dates are: 11/19/06 12/03/06 12/17/06 01/07/07 01/21/07 02/04/07 02/18/07 03/04/07 03/18/07 04/01/07 04/15/07 I'll be leading the freeride trail crew again this year. We'll be working on Saturdays and we'll meet at the Upper Lake Padden parking lot at 10 am. Our trail work dates are: 11/25/06 Post-Thanksgiving Session - Work off some of the calories you consumed. 12/09/06 12/23/06 Pre-Christmas Session - Get some away time. 12/30/06 Winter Break Session 01/13/07 01/27/07 02/10/07 02/24/07 03/10/07 03/24/07 04/14/07 04/28/07 05/12/07 05/26/07 So there it is. Many options to choose from. Save it. Print it and post it. Whatever. Get out and help out when you can. Up your trail Karma and give something back to the trails you love to ride. Peace, Hawk 11/08/2006 - The freeride work crew is heading up on Saturday, Nov. 11 to do trail work. We plan on working on the new trail that's being cut to connect Evolution to The Sht. The trail is almost complete, and with a good turnout of volunteers we can probably get it cut all the way through. To find the trail ride the Tower Rd. up past the exit of Evolution and go another 200 ft. and look for it on the right side of the road. If you get to Dan's you've gone too far. If you want to get a ride up in a vehicle, meet us at the Upper Lake Padden parking lot at 10 am. Bring water, a snack, and work gloves. We've got plenty of tools. See you there. Hawk 10/16/2006 - Hawk and crew will be back out on the trails starting Saturday, Oct. 21 building and maintaining Galbraith�s freeride trails. Last year, with the help of dozens of volunteers, we where able to get quite a bit of work done. Some highlights from last year included: q Rerouting the top of Evolution so you could ride to the view spot, gear up, and drop in q Adding that long skinny log ride right off the top q Building the new line right after the berms section so you approach the Stinger from a better angle and ride that log ride to drop in onto the Stinger q Rerouting the line after the Stinger to go up the other side of that ravine to scrub speed, and built that new ladder drop q Adding that new section of trail in the middle section with the table tops, stump drops and berms q Building a new line after the step-up instead of riding thru all those puddles q Adding the Rolling Machine and the table top-to-rock wall ride to Cheech & Chong�s Wild Ride (formerly: Shawn�s) also adding berms and rebuilding jumps q Started building Mullet from Keystone Rd. to Kaiser (almost complete) q Buffed out The Sht (off Dan�s) Some of the projects we�ll be working on this year include: q Finishing Mullet o Adding pump sections, jumps, and bridges/ladders o Cutting the rest of the trail from Kaiser to Blue Rock q Rebuilding jumps and transitions and other maintenance on Evolution q Building a new trail from the bottom of Evolution to the top of The Sht q Buffing out Scorpion q Buffing out Dan�s q Finish building jumps and berms on The Luge q Buffing out Bob�s q Planning and scouting for a Sudden Valley side trail So if you like to ride those trails listed above, and can find the time to volunteer, we definitely could use the help. Our regular workdays will be the second and fourth Saturdays of the month and we�ll work from 10am to 2pm or later. You can either meet us in the Upper Lake Padden parking area across from Galbraith Ln. at 10 to catch a ride up in a vehicle (bring your bike too), or ride to the trail, stop and work for however long you can stay, and then go enjoy the rest of your ride. Our first session will focus on building the new trail from the where Evolution exits and connects to The Sht. Work has already started and a good portion of it is already complete. With a good turnout the lower section could get cleared so the whole trail will be rideable. To find the trail, ride up the Tower Rd., pass the exit of Evolution, go another 200-400 ft. and look for it on the right side of the road. Also, let me know if you�d like to work on any of the projects listed above but can�t make the regular trail workdays. I�ll try and hook you up with others with similar schedules and make sure there are tools available for you to use. See you on the trails. Hawk 9/109/06 - Great having you guys over Thursday night. Here's what we came up with as a group and where freeriding on Galbraith is headed. 1. Link up the trails. A major theme that kept getting brought up was the need for more freeride trails to be linked up giving us a couple different top to bottom options. To accomplish that we'll need to buff out a couple of existing trails and build a couple new ones. To be buffed - Scorpion, Dan's, Luge, the trail below the Luge, and Not Shawns. Finish building - Mullet, the Shit, Grasshopper, and the trail between Evolution and the Shit/Luge Start building - trail that would replace 12 Monkeys and go to the top of Mullet (built using an excavator and be A-Line style), and a Sudden Valley side trail (scouting to start this winter) 2. Trail building using an excavator. This was a major point of emphasis at the IMBA conference. More and more people are using heavy machinery whenever possible. Jon Syre is down to give it a try. We'll need to rent a machine, have someone who knows how to operate it and permission to do so. We should work on making it happen. 3. Freeride features that we'd all like to see more of include: grade reversals (using uphills to scrub speed instead of braking), steep chutes and drop ins, gap jumps using wooden box frames (Black Rock style), pump track flavor on Mullet, Skills Park at Upper Lake Padden area --------------------------------------------------------------- Trail work schedule is still up in the air. It'll either be Sat. or Sun. and we'll probably have a flexible schedule versus one that is set months in advance. There's also some of us that have flexible schedules that will allow mid-week crews to head up. I'll generate a trail task list for maintenance and building and send it out as soon as it's ready. If you can't make the weekend work partys then let me know when you are available and what you want to work on and I'll try and get you hooked up with others with similar schedules and make sure there's tools stashed on the trail or in the soon-to-be-constructed tool storage shed to use. That's it for now. The little bit of rain we just had should have knocked the dust down nicely. We should all go ride. Peace, Bill 8/28/06 - We just bought a bunch of new tools for the upcoming trail building season. Greg Mroz who lives at the corner on Galbraith Ln. has offered to allow a storage shed to be built on his property for storing these tools. The idea is to have easy access to tools for anyone who wants to go do trail work. Email me back if anyone has a storage shed they want to donate, or has the experience and time to build one, or has materials we could use (plywood, 2x4s) so it can get built. Thanks, Bill 8/28/06 - Hey riders - a few of us are heading up on Wed. to do some wood work on the new trail from the keystone rd. to blue rock. We'll also be trying to open up the last section that will connect to Kaiser. Anyone is welcome to join. Meet at the upper padden lot across from galbraith ln. at 4 to catch a ride up, or just ride by and find us working on the trail. Oh yeah and from here on out, the trail shall be known as... Mullet 8/5/06 - The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is sending a crew of Professional Trail Builders to Bellingham August 10-13. This is the second year in a row that IMBA has sent a Trail Care Crew to Bellingham thanks to the Whimps Mt. Bike Coalition (WMBC) and Kona. Last year, legendary Galbraith trail builders such as Bob Torsett, Dan Waters, Shawn Obra, Darren Clark, Jimmy Fricker, Bill Hawk, and others all came together for a weekend of trail work, riding, and good times. Dozens of others came out to join in the fun, and to learn what it takes to build and maintain Galbraith's great trails. Anyone interested in learning basic and advanced trail building techniques, finding out more information about the WMBC and IMBA, or just looking for cool people to ride with should come out and enjoy the activities. Here's what's on tap: Thursday, August 10 - Group ride from Whatcom Falls Park. Meet by the Tennis Courts at 5 pm. Friday, August 11 - IMBA slideshow presentation at Boundary Bay Brewery in the outdoor seating area at 6 pm. Saturday, August 12 - Basic Trail Building and Design. Meet at the Lake Padden Softball Fields parking area at 9:30 to catch a ride up. If riding your bike to the trail, we'll be meeting at the bottom of the Death Climb/Wall at 10 am. Sunday, August 13 - Advanced Trail Building. Same meeting locations but different times. Meet at 8:30 to catch a ride up and 9 am at the work site. BBQ @ 3pm. Site TBD. For more info contact Darren Clark at 360.733.3441 - darren@clarkscycle.com or Mark Peterson at 360.366.0951 - mp@konaworld.com C U There! 7/5/06 - Just a reminder that we are gonna be working on opening the new flowy freeride trail this Saturday. Meet at the upper lake padden parking lot at 10:45 or ride up the Keystone Rd. from Red rock and find us working on the new trail. Check out www.ridegalbraith.com for more info. Thanks to Kevin at Transition for getting the site setup. Peace, Bill 6/16/06 Yo - We got a trail work day planned for Saturday, July 8. This is a special session scheduled with the BBTC, so those guys that live down there in the Sea-town area and ride up here can give something back to the trails. We'll be meeting at the Upper Lake Padden parking lot across from Galbraith Ln. at 11 am. We're hoping alot of people will make it out and we'll get some serious work done. Hope everyone's diggin' the new features we built on Evolution. Hawk 5/21/06 Yo - the second stump drop is finished and it turned out really f'in good. that entire new middle section is now dialed. have fun ridin it. building on evo is pretty much done for now. we'll be working on and off throughout the summer on the new trail that'll connect the keystone road to blue rock. if anyone wants to help out that has time let me know and we'll line something up. peace 5/17/06 We're heading up to work on the second stump drop area on Evo this Friday. Meet at the Upper Padden lot around 12:45 if you want a ride up and we'll leave at 1 pm. See you there. Bill 05/16/06 I was thinking it'd be good to get the second stump drop on Evo built this week. I'm going up either on Thursday around 3 or Friday around noon. Help would be appreciated. Let me know which day/time works best and we'll get 'er done. L8 - Hawk 4/23/06 We got a couple projects accomplished Sunday thanks to a good turnout of volunteers. Thanks to Matt, Drew, Matt, Douglas, Jeremy, Dan, Rob, and all the other guys that stopped by and helped out. We were able to build a couple transitions on the jumps that used to be to flat, and we cleared out the approach and exit lines around the other jumps. We also got a bunch of slats split up for the second stump drop, which should be getting built in the near future. We had around 40+ riders come by during the day and everyone seemed really stoked on the trail. It's in great shape. Thanks again for everyone's help. Hawk 4/19/06 Trail work on Evolution will be going on this Sunday, April 23. We plan on rebuilding the jumps and transitions on the lower section so we get it totally dialed in for the spring/summer/fall riding seasons. We'll be meeting at the Galby Ln. parking lot at 10:30 and driving up. If you want a lift up meet us there. Otherwise, ride by the trail after 11 and you'll find us working. Peace 3/23/2006 Hawk and crew will be back up on Evo this Sunday building a 2nd table top and working on the 2 new stump drops. We'll be meeting at Galby Ln at 10:30 and driving up if you want a ride. Otherwise, ride by the trail after 11 and find us working. Peace 3/13/2006 We didn't quite get the new ladder drop built yesterday, but it's close. Don't try and ride it until it's done. We also got materials cut for the two stump drop ladders. We should be able to get at least the first one done next time up. We had about 14 different people show up yesterday. Thanks to all those who did. Peace 3/11/06 We didn't quite get the new ladder drop built yesterday, but it's close. Don't try and ride it until it's done. We also got materials cut for the two stump drop ladders. We should be able to get at least the first one done next time up. We had about 14 different people show up yesterday. Thanks to all those who did. Peace 3/10/06 Whatup riders - In addition to the trail work session this Sunday on Evo, we got another project in the works. After the new features on Evo are built and the maintenance projects completed, we're going to begin working on connecting the bottom of Evo to the top of Shawn's, and working on buffing out the Not Shawn's trails so we can have a complete top to bottom freeride run with as little time on the road as possible. So, we are looking for help scoping out lines between the Red Rock junction and the top of Shawn's area. And alternate lines from the bottom of Shawn's to the gates. If you are interested in helping find the lines, let me know cuz we've already done some preliminary recon and we have some ideas about where the trails should and shouldn't go. Let me know bros. L8 - Hawk 3/8/06 Hawk and crew will be back up on Evo this Sunday building table tops and ladder drops. We'll be driving up from Galby Ln. at 11. So meet us there if you want a lift up. Otherwise, ride by the trail and find us working. Peace 3/6/06 Report - We were back up on Evolution yesterday and got a couple