M aple Valley residents are beginning to discover a secret once known only among die-hard mountain bikers: Just south of the city limits lie the hottest bike trails in the region.
“It’s under-recognized. There are a lot of people who don’t understand the value and probably don’t realize it’s here,” says Rick Heinz, a 48-year-old engineer for Boeing who took up serious mountain biking three years ago when he realized that roughly 60 miles of trails were waiting for him in his own backyard behind the Maple Ridge neighborhood.
A mountain biker would need to go to Bellingham or Olympia to find such an extensive network of trails, says Glenn Glover, executive director of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, a statewide advocacy and trail-building group based in Seattle. Sixty miles far exceeds other regional trails.
Rick Heinz, left, listens as Todd Petrie discusses trail building in the Henry's Ridge area of the trail system.
“There aren’t many places where 10 miles of trails can hold the interest of a mountain biker for a long period of time,” Glover says. “Being able to go to the same area and ride different trails each time you go there is a great benefit of the Black Diamond area.”
Glover’s alliance, King County parks and local trail builders are working to draw attention — and development — to the trails that have been carved over the last decade or so throughout the private and King County-owned land between the city limits of Maple Valley and Black Diamond on either side of state Route 169. The system is known informally as the Henry’s Ridge/Lake Sawyer trails for now.
About a year ago, the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance signed a memorandum of understanding with King County that the county-owned area would be developed specifically for mountain bikers. Now the county provides support and supplies for trail building and maintenance. Separately, the Real Life Church, which initially had tried to tear down the illegally built trails on its adjacent private property, has embraced mountain bikers and encouraged trail building.
A few months ago, Heinz founded the Black Diamond Trail Coalition with avid trail builders and bikers to develop and protect the entire system. The coalition has a mailing list of 70 people, many of whom come out for maintenance and other events. The coalition is also working on official maps of the trails. View draft PDFs of Henry’s Ridge and most of the trail system.
“I just totally got a vision for the value of the trail system we have from Four Corners to Black Diamond,” Heinz says. “I kind of took it upon myself to say I don’t want to lose this.”
Glover’s statewide alliance plans to include the Henry’s Ridge/Lake Sawyer trails this summer for the first time in its annual Mountain Bike Festival, which features dozens of national bike vendors and educational groups. The first day of the festival will be held at Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park, a 2-year-old park in Issaquah that offers fewer than 10 miles of trails. On the second day, Sunday, June 10, the festival will move to the Henry’s Ridge/Lake Sawyer trails.
Also, a number of mountain bike races are scheduled to be held on the trails beginning in April.
To accommodate the growing interest in the trails, in July King County plans to install a parking lot along Route 169 that will hold 50 to 70 vehicles.
“Especially on the weekends, you come here on a sunny day, and I bet there’s close to a hundred people out here,” says Todd Petrie, a former “rogue” trail builder who now holds the title of King County ambassador for parks and recreation, maintaining the trails with the county’s blessing. Petrie drives from the Cherokee Bay neighborhood in Maple Valley to work on the trails several days a week. (Read his story soon in the Post.)
Mountain bikers who don’t live nearby currently must park along the shoulder of Route 169 and in some of the adjacent neighborhoods that offer trailheads such as Maple Woods and Maple Ridge.
Peter Fisher, foreground, and Rick Heinz, both members of the Black Diamond Trail Coalition, ride along the "Once Upon a Time" trail in the Henry's Ridge system of trails.
And as word has spread about the trails, bikers do come from all over. Heinz says he’s met some who regularly drive to Maple Valley from Yakima, Seattle, Olympia and Vancouver, B.C.
They come because the trails offer so many different rides. Petrie has identified four:
1. tight, twisty forest trails
2. long, open cross-country trails
3. more technical up-and-down rolling terrain
4. a jump and slalom course called the Summit Ridge Free Ride Park on the Real Life Church property
Jimmy Goulet, another area trail builder who lives in Auburn, says that he once clocked 34 miles of riding without repeating a trail — all on the east side of Route 169 alone.
“Here at Henry’s Ridge/Lake Sawyer you can spend days and days and never do the same thing twice, so it’s pretty unique,” says Petrie.
Some out-of-town mountain bikers have wished aloud for a place to camp nearby, Heinz says, though that isn’t in the works yet.
The difficulty level of most of the trails equates to a green or blue rating — similar to ski-slope ratings, says Petrie. He is seeking permission from King County to add a highly technical trail that would match a black diamond rating.
On the other side of the spectrum, Goulet would like to build a very easy, family friendly trail near the new parking lot.
“We want some stuff where they can get their kids out — you know, they’re just learning to pedal — and get them on the trails, with picnic areas,” Goulet says.
Meanwhile, the trails attract more than just mountain bikers. Dog walkers, runners, families and senior citizens have increasingly been using them.
Heinz and the trail builders say that the heavier traffic has helped to keep “riff-raff” such as vagrants and meth-lab operators out of the woods, which partially border three neighborhoods of about 600 homes. Access to trails also tends to improve property values, Heinz notes.
The trails provide access to nature, including a view of wildlife such as deer, elk, osprey, eagles, beavers (near Ravensdale Lake) and on rare occasions — from a distance — even bobcats, coyotes and bears.
Heinz says discovering the trails three years ago changed his life.
“Today I’m out on the trails four to five times a week either running or riding a bike. It’s part of my lifestyle right now.”
Want to learn more about the Black Diamond Trail Coalition? Click HERE.
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Mike,
Define natural area. Is it where you reside, as it once was a natural area? Is it where you work, go to school, or go to buy your groceries? Tthey too once were natural areas? I hike and bike, and on the trails which have never seen a bike have seen serious trail erosion and ruts from the constant foot travel far worse than bike trails I have been on which get reinforced and designed to handle the use. It’s called design, and hikers are notorious for bad trail building habits until recently like bikers. This is all in degrees of relevancy. Your Lowa’s damage the trails like a Kenda tire, and since when is an inanimate object the litmus test?
You’ll establish your arguments to support your view because you don’t like bikes. Not a problem with me, but to get anyone to believe in your rhetoric won’t work on me. G hike on trails where bikes aren’t allowed. That is what I do when I want no interaction with bikes.
I love how some people will throw the biggest hissy fit when it comes to land being used as a BENEFIT to the community with a minimal impact. If you want something to complain about how about the rape of the land by the mine just south of the trail system.
While using the Summit Ridge trail system I’ve seen deer, black bear and tons of small creatures along with hundreds of different species of birds and guess what, none of them were dead. I can’t say the same for the clear cut pit not far down the road.
I believe these trails teach our children how to use and share our land with other for the benefit of all, vs. destroying are sections it to pad the pockets of a few.
How does one define a “natural area” and thus should deem it not worthy for mountain bikers? This land as far I have heard has been logged multiple times and is basically considered a green space around what is now the suburbs. We should be so blessed that we have people that are willing to maintain the trails, regardless of what they are for. There needs to be a place for people to recreate, be is mountain bike, hiking, 4×4 offroading, motorcycles, horses, etc. Do each of these need to be allowed everywhere no, but there needs to be somewhere.
Also, to address something in the article, doesn’t Kenaskat-Palmer state park have camping? It is not that far away.
Michael,
Your opinions are valid. Everybody deserves the right to what brings them happiness in life so long as it is not detrimental to others choices and lives. You sound like you enjoy hiking, as do I.
Specific to the topic(s) of the OP (original posted article), it would be my opinion that you have raised a number of points that are truly unfair criticisms (possibly your understanding of the specific land areas being discussed may be short-termed …?). Do you have any long-term vested interest in our community??
We have lived in Maple Valley / Black Diamond area for a long time and have scene first hand through the years various transitions of the open spaces in our community. The lands being discussed have been trashed through the years (litter, trash including drug production, general unsafe inhabitation of the open spaces, etc.), and it is my opinion that recent efforts (as discussed in the OP) have been a very positive turnaround. The partnerships with landowners and various associations & advocacies (especially in the last couple years) have been extremely positive from both perspective of land use and also our community (read our kids and their lives and our community as a whole).
Portions of the land being discussed are private land. I trust your comments are not related to these lands, and how/why owners might choose to partner with groups interested in improving their private lands, and that your comments are related to the public spaces governed by King County and our local cities of M.V., B.D, and Covington.
It seems that you feel being on foot, hiking, does no harm to nature and that you have more right to be on foot than on a horse or a bicycle …? Hmmm, I disagree and hope that you can respect my opinion that it’s not whether you choose to walk, ride a bicycle, ride a horse that determines how the land is treated, but it is whether or not the “person” respects and cares for the land whilst they are enjoying it. I too have my vices like horse poop in the middle of the trail, but I’m not gonna make a stink about it because I understand that to a horseman this is “natural”. I don’t like it, I’d like to see them take a second and kick it off to the side of the trail …, but can accept and respect others for the harmony of getting along.
Everybody we have met that is/has been involved with what’s being discussed in this OP article have been very positive and respectful. Very much interested in the good of the area and the community as a whole, including discussions related to how their actions and choices may impact others and their alternate viewpoints (hikers, bikers & horseman for the most part in this case). Hopefully you to will keep an open mind with regard to those who “share” the great spaces we have locally having consideration for others choices and lives.
Michael oh Michael
From where do you hail
If not from our local
Your posting should go to jail
Those with vested interests in our community, I urge you to read some of Michael Vandemans link (as it illustrates how one sided his opinions are, I think he is a post-Nazi with no vested interest in our community … Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer …
Respectfully,
Chris Olson – resident taxpayer of our local
RE: MTB-Relations & Considerations
Pedal-Driven: a bikeumentary
Bicycles should not be allowed in any natural area. They are inanimate objects and have no rights. There is also no right to mountain bike. That was settled in federal court in 1994: http://mjvande.nfshost.com/mtb10.htm . It’s dishonest of mountain bikers to say that they don’t have access to trails closed to bikes. They have EXACTLY the same access as everyone else — ON FOOT! Why isn’t that good enough for mountain bikers? They are all capable of walking….
A favorite myth of mountain bikers is that mountain biking is no more harmful to wildlife, people, and the environment than hiking, and that science supports that view. Of course, it’s not true. To settle the matter once and for all, I read all of the research they cited, and wrote a review of the research on mountain biking impacts (see http://mjvande.nfshost.com/scb7.htm ). I found that of the seven studies they cited, (1) all were written by mountain bikers, and (2) in every case, the authors misinterpreted their own data, in order to come to the conclusion that they favored. They also studiously avoided mentioning another scientific study (Wisdom et al) which did not favor mountain biking, and came to the opposite conclusions.
Those were all experimental studies. Two other studies (by White et al and by Jeff Marion) used a survey design, which is inherently incapable of answering that question (comparing hiking with mountain biking). I only mention them because mountain bikers often cite them, but scientifically, they are worthless.
Mountain biking accelerates erosion, creates V-shaped ruts, kills small animals and plants on and next to the trail, drives wildlife and other trail users out of the area, and, worst of all, teaches kids that the rough treatment of nature is okay (it’s NOT!). What’s good about THAT?
For more information: http://mjvande.nfshost.com/mtbfaq.htm .