August 22, Galbraith Birch Street Trailhead, Bellingham

Found a nice Basement 2 Bedroom Unit in Bellingham on AirBNB.  Parked at the tiny north trailhead at Birch Street, a small parking area with room for about 8 cars, and totally in the shade.  It has been about 10 or more years since we have ridden in Bellingham.  We have heard good things about Galbraith, and it didn't dissappoint.  After the technical trails of Squamish, Francine was quite happy to find smoother trails.  We stopped by Fanatik bike shop to buy the map and get trail recommendations.  The guy in the shop recommended a great Cross Country route.  Francine told him she didn't want the super steep trails with drops and steeps, but was looking for the "Cross Country" trails.  He delivered.

Climbed Miranda Trail, Ridge Trail, Cedar Dust, Bandito, up Tough Love climbing trail, Kung Fu Theater, Here to There, Pick Up Sticks, Fire Circle, and down El Pollo Elastico.  Next we started climbing again up Intestine to Cleavage to Rd 2510 and left onto Rd 2520 to the "G" Aid Checkpoint and a little further to the new Shelter built by an Eagle Scout for his project.  After a short rest & food, we descended Cabin and 187.  187 was a nice bermed downhill trail.  Then we climbed Cougar and Cabin Trail to get back at the shelter at the top.

We had a sweet descent on Golden Spike to SST to Back Door.  Then we had a slight climb thru the neighborhood to get back on the Ridge Trail and a nice descent on Miranda back to the car.  We are so glad we made sure to hit Golden Spike for our last descent to the car.  Golden Spike seemed to be a new flow trail, with jumps (all with ride-arounds), which was in the shade, with damp, tacky dirt with pine needles.  It was real fun.

Oh, the dirt here was perfect for August.  Basically we had hardpan dirt with lost of pine needles.  11 miles.

No comments: