MTBR Reviews
(summarized, click name to open MTBR reviews)
Snakeonia
flowing upper trail, ‘hidden dragon’, with short log rides and a good rock drop leads into the snake, with steep off-camber clear cut rolling into deep forest with many rollable rock outcrops, a supersteep and long, but rollable “headwall” rock drop-in, some good swoops, a hike-bike, some more drops and swoops into very steep switchbacks, a healthy log drop, more steep swoops, finally a steep rooty drop in to the mudbog. cross creek on an old, narrow diversion dam, ride past old vacuum and toaster, and back to car.
Reviewed by: joel , from Bellingham
Summary:
New trail. It crosses the snake at the top of the hike a bike in the middle of the trail. To get to the top of the new trail, go up the road that crosses the hike a bike and stay to the left. trail starts in the trees next to the cliff. Or from the bottom stay on the road next to the freeway for a bit then take the next major road on the left, go to the top.
New trail is not as steep but there are some stunts with no ride arounds. Trail is not quite done yet but is completely ridable. I also did a little work on the upper snake and rerouted an easy line slightly (do not remove debris blocking this) and made the berm after the head wall much bigger, no jumping the berm now!
Made a new rock line to the upper left of the reroute and there is one to the right also.
Trail Directions: N. Lake Samish Exit to Lookout mountain.
Trail Length ~ 3 downhill miles
Trail Level Extreme
Trail Type Singletrack & Fire Roads
Krasskiki
Steep, slick, and burly, lots of cool new stunts and natural features to freeride.
Trail Directions Follow the directions to Snakeonia, after the hike-a-bike, go north/right, up the logging road to the top- staying left. Trail starts in the woods next to the clear-cut.
Trail Length 1 miles
Trail Level Extreme
Trail Type Singletrack
Mercury Falls
Very steep and tight, a few drops, several steep rock slabs to ride down. This trail will abuse your brakes. This is not a trail for most people. The trail starts out on a 25ft rock slab. It gets harder for a ways with a couple of really steep chutes and tight corners. About half way down it gets less technical but it is still steep. 4/5 of the way down there is a water fall on the left, you have to cross the stream directly above it.
Reviewed by: joel , from Bellingham
Summary:
This is a trail for those who like it very steep. Mark and I built this trail and this is definitely the hardest one to ride. It takes about 1 hour to ride up to it. the ride down is somewhat short but very intense. I was able to ride everything except for one chute which I crashed. My disk brakes were starting to smell about halfway down. This is not a trail I wil hit too often right now because it is so burly.
Recommended Route:
ride up logging roads and then a motorbike trail.
Reviewed by: Evan , from Bellingham
Summary:
The entrance is a Beaut. Western Washington Slick Rock at it’s finest, steep and moss covered. The builders did a great job of peeling the moss back from the route, and the drop-in is a rush, and I rode it. (I usually am the one taking the pictures as my buds ride the obstacles.
The trail is steep, and then it gets steeper. If you’ve never smelled hot disc pad, ride this trail and you will. The obstacles/stunts are generally natural and the trail feels uncontrived.
I liked Snakeonia more, probably because it is a longer trail for the amount of climbing, it takes to reach the trailhead. (1hr. 20 minutes for our group which walked a fair bit of the steeper logging road and Motorcycle trail)
If you’re in the neighborhood and ride Hidden Dragon and Snakeonia, I do recommend Mercury (name and emblem on the trail marker from the car by the same name) Falls.
Make sure your brakes and tricepts are in good working order before this descent. There is one short hike-a-bike section past the half-way mark that is not well marked, and there isn’t much of a trail bed. When you get to this point the trail continues relatively straight up the hill before you. Look for the orange flagging up the hill side.
In the lower section it is less technical, but the penalty for falling to your left is significant due to the fact that you’re riding along a deep steep draw. This trail is not for the weak of nerve nor for the weak of brake. I would avoid this trail in the rain.
Recommended Route:
To get to the trailhead, up past the rifle range then climb. Several hundred meters after the first possible left fork on the logging road, you will stay on main road that curves to the right and up. Follow it for another long climb. At the point where there is a new road being built down to the right, and the other option is to climb a very steep and short climb straight ahead take the harder route going up. This will curve immediately to the right. and soon drops for a little while. When you come out of the trees there is a road up to the left, this leads to the entrance of Hidden Dragon. You can see the end of that trail not too far past the fork. The next fork is decision time. Left for Mercury Falls, Straight for Snakeonia. If you want to ride Merc. Falls follow the left fork to the road’s end and continue straight on the motorcycle trail. Follow this to it’s end. The entrance to MF is obscured on the right, but well marked with orange flagging along most of the route.
Other recommended trails in the same area:
I only know of 3 trails in this specific area, Hidden Dragon, Snakeonia and Mercury Falls, all of which I recommend. If you ride only one of the trails back to the bottom of the hill (Snakeonia or Mercury Falls) I recommend the Snake, it is longer, more varied, and ends much closer to your car. Hidden Dragon is possible to do regardless of which trail you take the rest of the way down, and it is a hoot.
Trail Directions Same as Snakeonia, almost. It is probably best if you were shown where the trail is as it is hard to explain. At the bottom of the trail you will have to ride 1.5miles back to your car.
Trail Length 2miles
Trail Level Extreme
Trail Type Singletrack