Trail Description:
So you think you like hills and hillclimbing? This is the place. Good local technical and aerobic riding with climbs and descents range from intermediate to killer. Short-but-challenging twisty singletrack in the dense woods just west of Willows Road in Redmond.
Steep ups'n'downs make it too difficult for most riders, but for locals, it's a great workout. Connects to the Sammamish River Trail and Puget Power Trail. Can get swampy in the winter and overgrown with nettles in the summer. Basically the best part of the riding covers a series of ridges between the light industrial complexes on Willows Road in Redmond, up to the powerline above. The best trails are designed, created and maintained by mountain bikers, creatively using powerline right of ways and various easements. This trail system is deserted on weekends and only has a few mtn bikes and joggers/walkers at lunch time during weekdays. Only one small bit of connector trail is posted "no bikes". You can bypass that short trail so it is nothing to worry about. Neigbors seem ok with mtn bikes too.
The only trail to generally avoid is the original "Primex trail" which goes through the bogs at the bottom of the Fjords and is not designed to be particularly rideable anyway. Trails have been given colorful names. All are twisty and slow and challenging. They need a day or two without rain to unslime enough to be really rideable.
Current favorite out and back is to get into the system from the trail head for the We Who Trail which starts at the South end of the pond at the top of the access driveway that cuts between Data I/O and Metawave.
We Who is the only trail really designed for uphill climbing. When you reach the top of that trail you can take the first right for the most technical twisty dowhhill SKaM trail. Or you can push on and take the next right, drop to a 4 way intersection, take a left onto a cutoff over to the powerline. Take a right on the powerline, which will take you to the twisty Sniper Blind trail.
Left out of Sniper Blind will joggle onto Mad Dog or go right on the powerline and follow that up to the construction swath. A new tech area may eventually be put in on the other side of the swath. If you go down the swath, I recommend turning around at that point and backtracking, versus taking the Primex trail.
When you back track, and go back through Sniper Blind and the cutoff, go straight ahead at the 4 way intersection, then drop down twisty Heartbreaker (actually THREE descents are your option at that point, on all of the next three ridges). A new out and back is in work at the top of Heartbreaker, going down the ridge just north.
Main trick is to explore and keep circling back up We Who at the pond, when you come out onto parking lots at other points.
The descents are twisty and fun, but designed to keep speed down (please limit or avoid skidding).
How to get there:
The woods are roughly bounded by the Willows Rd office complexes to the east, 124th St to the north, 85th St to the south and the residential neighborhoods off of 132nd Ave to the west. There are several ways to get there and several entrances to the trails.
From 405, take the 85th St exit and head east towards Redmond. 85th St becomes 908 and eventually Redmond Way. Make a left on Willows Rd. After about 1 mile, turn into one of the many office parks on your left. Wind your way west through one of the many parking lots and you'll eventually hit the woods.
There are several places to park, but the legal ones are not easy to find. You can park in one of the office complex lots (I haven't heard of anyone getting a ticket). Or park on one of the many side streets east of 132nd Ave (for example, take 97th St to 93rd Ct and there's a little trail at the end of the cul-de-sac that takes you to the southern most entrance to the woods). There is a discreet trail access at the top of that driveway, between the rock and wood retaining walls, which is a short bike push to the starting point on the south end of the pond.
There are other access points you may stumble upon as you explore.
Additional Notes:
Can get swampy in the winter and overgrown with nettles in the summer.
| Posted by: Anon on 10/10/2012 |
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Intermediate to advanced trail -- nothing for beginner riders at Willows.
BMX riders had done a great job with their dirt jump project but apparently lawyers got wind of it. Still an awesome spot for mtn bikers. Great place to practice climbing.
Trails took a beating in spring of 2012 due to an illegal 4-wheeler ATV tearing up the entire hillside on the north/central part of the trail system. Thankfully, the yahoo was stopped and loyal trailbuilders have been out in force cleaning up the trails. Thanks also to a dry summer, trail conditions in Willows are phenomenally good now.
Note about trail conditions after rain: this is steep hillside terrain with several ravines. The trail drains beautifully in most places, EXCEPT at the low points of the ravines, where there are seasonal streams and (currently) poor bridging over the peat bogs. So a day or two after the rain, WALK your bike around the valley mud and enjoy the rest of the trails as usual. Ill-informed trail users tha
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| Posted by: Anon on 10/10/2012 |
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Part 2 from prior clipped post:
... a day or two after rain, WALK your bike around the valley mud and enjoy the rest of the trails as usual. Ill-informed trail users that block up natural drainage: STOP!!! Blocking drainage with turnpike-style raised trail & boardwalk creates more problems and it doesn't do anything to make the low spots more rideable.
Real fixes are happening slowly. At the La Brea Tar pit, for example, there is a half a bridge. Locals started and hopefully will finish it soon.
In general, locals do a great job raking off leaves and obstacles. Unfortunately, being easement property, legal limbo prevents clear authorization to add new trails or build significant new (and much needed) structures. There is plenty of real estate for future improvement if mtn bikers advocated and volunteered the time to grow & improve the trail system.
My advice: check it out on a loop through the Sammamish Valley inbetween stops at the many wineries and breweries ther
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| Posted by: Sudha on 6/14/2012 |
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We were on the Disney Wonder on this Alaska cruise in May. This video shows extacly what it is like to sail away from Vancouver, cruise Tracy Arm, and visit beautiful Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. Best cruise ever!
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| Posted by: bicyclingfool on 9/4/2010 |
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I've been on these trails twice in the last week. I spent some time looking for trail heads, yeah, they're pretty hidden. I didn't see any no tresspassing signs anywhere on these trails. The trail descriptions and map on this page don't bear much resemblance to what I found, but no matter - there is some super fun riding up there. In addition to what's on the map, I got onto a whole network of trails that are south of what the map shows.
To all the little whiners that think these trails are too steep, that's fine, go run your long travel suspension bikes around the Colonnades. These trails are a little challenging, but pretty much all rideable without dabbing, and _really_ fun to explore. I've spent about two hours up there so far and still haven't ridden everything. By the looks of the soil, I'm guessing these trails will be a muddy mess by December, so the time is now to enjoy them.
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| Posted by: ben on 3/16/2010 |
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trails are getting plowed. technical sections not intended for mtbs. you guys blew up our spot and now it is being taken away from us. they will be posting no tresspassing sigs this week.
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| Posted by: Nico on 3/29/2009 |
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I don't understand the mediocre reviews across the board for this trail, unless it was previously underdeveloped.
I rode the trail for the first time today and was very impressed by what it had to offer for a local, small trail. Great downhill and plank crosses over creeks. Challenging uphill climb that is a great workout and a section chisseled away purely for downhillers with man made jump pits.
There were some technical aspects to the trail that novices might not like, but technicality is no reason to review it low.
For a backyard trail that has features like a 45-minute drive to the mountains , I recommend the trail. The only issue I had was that it was poorly marked and jumps sometimes offered very little control when landed as they would normally send you straight into a sharp turn or a stump.
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| Posted by: QuadDamage on 9/20/2004 |
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Could anyone update the access points for this trail? The corporations used as reference are all either defunct or no longer there. I think I found a nice portion of the trail, but it looked like it hadn't been ridden in a while, even though it wasn't overgrown. No bike tracks, but found the signature "sprocket chopped" log that tells me this definitely was the place. I just can't find the main "WeWho" trailhead in the description. Anyone know where that is these days?
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| Posted by: Dave on 5/21/2003 |
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I rode this trail a couple of years ago. Way over-rated in my opinion. Too steep and not a lot of mileage. Worthwhile if you live right in Redmond but a little driving will take you to way better trails (ie, Tolt, Beaver Lake)
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| Posted by: Memo on 6/28/2002 |
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No very good trail.I think is almost advanced, so for an intermediate level you cannot enjoy this trail.A Couple of good downhill rides.No people at all, you can bring your dog.Maybe ONE time trail just to see this nice little forestI wouldn’t do it again.
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| Posted by: Da Real Cravin Morehead on 5/2/2002 |
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Craven you were on the Burk Gilman you knucklehead
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