Last Sunday I went up to Bellingham WA to check out Galbraith Mountain as I had heard it had the goods. The folks who gave me that 411 were right on the money. This place RULES plan and simply. I got in a week’s worth of stoke in a single day. This was a good thing as work this past week has been a real beater that consumed all of my physical and mental energy. Luckily the tidal wave of work had moved on by this past Saturday evening. This Sunday I found myself once again heading north to enjoy Galbraith Mountain once again.
The place is sorta broken up into two areas, the Lakeview Drive side and the Galbraith Lane side. There are miles and miles of good trails all over the place here with most of the XC oriented stuff on the Lakeview Side and the DH/Freeride stuff over on the Galbraith Lane side.
The weather on both days turned out to be killer but both started somewhat cloudy and progressively got better. Once you get inside the dense forest it really does not matter wither the sun is out or not as the forest canopy renders the light in some spots just a few levels dusk. Nothing but yellow or clear lenses if you are going to ride here.
The first day out here I started on the Lakeview side and rode a series of trails over to the Galbraith side. One fun trail was call Bob’s Cedar Dust as there are a ton of skinnies of various difficulties to dare you into trying them. You see so much of this stuff you just have to give it a try.
If you choose to, you can spent most of your climbing on forest roads and then catch a series of singletracks back down the mountain. Getting to the top of Galbraith is where the real fun starts. There are several north-shore style trails coming off the top that will get your fix on if you are into that kind of thing. Most of the riders I met heading up to the top where on beefy downhill and freeride rigs.
The rewards for your efforts are some really killer black diamond level trails that will peg your stoke meter or scare the crap out of you. There is a good chance that both may happen at the same time. The first day out here I hooked up with a couple of local young guys. They were too old to be “groms” but they did talk about calling there mom to come pick them up near the end of the day. I’m guessing somewhere around 16-18. I bring it up because following these fearless young bucks was feeding my mojo and I started hitting stuff I would normally balk at or stop and think about first. Small to medium gaps, tabletops, kickers and 4 foot drops where just happening. Now I was not transformed into some hucker that day, but a new level of comfort was obtained on this type of terrain. Riding with these folks who were more than half my age certainly made me feel half my age. Mountain Biking is just freaking great!
One of the most killer trails out here that I rode was Evolution. It has an incredible mix of ladders, berms, gaps, log rides and other BC inspired stuff that just rocks! The Korn song of that same name popped into my head and it has been stuck there ever since.
I’m pretty sure you can not get all of the trails bagged in a single day out here. It would take at least three humps to the top of Galbraith to get in the really cool stuff near the top. The last section to the top gets steep and it will put some hurting on you. Granny and me had it going on during both of my visits here.
As far as what trails to hit, the general consensus on the All-Mountain scene are: Evolution, Mullet, Cheech and Chong’s Wild Ride, Not Shawns, Meth Lab, Scorpion and SST are “Da Bomb”. I rode all of those and then some with the exception of SST. On the cross country scene, the Whoopsie Woodle trail way in the Southwest back 40 of Galbraith is pretty darn cool. Have no idea what I’m talking about? Well when you roll into Bellingham swing by one of the shops (I hit up Fantik) and pick up a map printed on waterproof paper. They were $8 and they are really nice and the profits help out the local advocacy group.
Bellingham is also a really cool town with an awesome vibe. The Boundary Bay Brewery and Bistro is not to be missed for post ride goodness. Thier IPA is killer and the Rueben sandwich is to die for. Killer trails, Great Brews and Yummy Food — I’m digging this place!
As a former Seattle’ite, I miss those trails, no in So Cal – the trails here are cool too, just can’t compare to WA, try Wenatchee, Devils Gultch, sweet!