The New Hill in Town
I don’t really like hills. Being a “big boy” means gravity is my enemy when the road pitches skyward even a few degrees. I’m working on it (yeah, you haven’t heard THAT one before), but I am cutting my intake, doing my spin classes, and starting to venture out on the bike to grunt and groan.
There was an article in the King Country Journal back in November about a new trail running from the vicinity of the Green River @ 277th St., up the “East Hill”. The hills close to home are all pretty much the same when you come down to it. 6 to 8% grade, a mile more or less, and approximately 350 feet of elevation gain that you get to achieve sucking exhaust fumes while you ride the shoulder. Ho-Hum. It’s the geography we’re stuck with. So when a new candidate pops up that shows a hint of uniqueness, I’m all over it.
After having survived the great 2006 purge at work (that would be a 50% layoff in my work group) on Wednesday, I decided I needed to go hammer for a couple of hours on Thursday. The rain was coming in by mid-afternoon, so I handled my early morning email and phone calls, strapped on my gear, and headed up my hill (I must ride about 150′ of vertical just to get out of my housing development. The horror, the horror!). In about 10 minutes I was on the Interurban Trail, the ragged breathing from my previous climb having settled down to a dull wheeze. I felt incredibly strong, and my speedo told me I had entered the ranks of the “brisk”, since I was travelling at 17-18 mph. “Wow, those spinning classes are really paying off” he thought, until he looked around to see the steam from the Ball Can Plant was moving horizontally from the stacks, not vertically. Tailwind. Damn. Nice while the good vibes lasted, however.
I made my way over to Green River Road, and headed back south toward 277th. Wind now in my face, so my pace is a more “moderate” 14-15. Past the Pea Patch (community vegetable garden), under the bridge and I’m at the foot of the trail. There’s red “DANGER” tape across the entrance. Damn the torpedo’s, full speed ahead!
This trail is asphalt, 6 to 10 feet wide, cut switchback-style up the east hill. Quite a lovely ride through the trees and ferns. You only really catch a glimpse of civilization (277th Street) a couple of times on the way up, which is a nice change.
The trail is littered with tree debris from the recent storms. The reason for the red tape is a couple of major mud slides where they cut the path into the hillside, but no ground cover was there during our 26 day rain streak. I was able to ride through one, but had to walk the second which sullied my cleats for the remainder of the ride (The horror, the horror!).
For a tree-hugger like me, this is really, really nice. I don’t think I’d want to fly downhill on this bad-boy (I understand there was a “no bicycles” sign posted for a bit until they installed some guard rails), but the going up is nice, and there’s NO CARS!
Once they shovel the mud off and pull down the red tape, I’d recommend this for a trip UP to to the East Hill of Kent/Auburn, maybe as a prelude to heading out to Black Diamond.
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January 25th, 2006 at 4:37 am
[...] The weak link in this little bicycling nirvana has been the ways to get from west-to-east. Even with the addition of the 277th St. Corridor Trail, the primary link for me will probably remain Auburn-Black Diamond Road. You head south on “R” Street from East Main in Auburn, and after maybe a mile it bends to the left and becomes Auburn-Black Diamond. The road then runs the length of what is known as The Auburn Narrows. This is the gap in the east hills through which runs the Green River, and Highway 18. Our route lies between those two. It is also frequented by a gazillion gravel trucks a day, as there is a quarry at the Auburn end of this road. The road is two-lane, often there is little shoulder, and the potholes could sometimes swallow a Hummer (that might be a good thing). Riding through here on a bicycle is a tense little dash for a mile, until you can get past Highway 18 and either head up the hill to Black Diamond, or go right to Green Valley & Flaming Geyser Park. [...]