All good bike trails must end, but some end before they ever get a good start.
Exploring some of the many bicycle trails in the Puget Sound area the past couple of summers, I've found that some bike trails begin and end in well-equipped trailheads with restrooms, drinking fountains and parking lots.
Others simply come to an abrupt end in a road culvert, padlocked gate, or a muddy trail that disappears into an overgrown right of way.
Many of these are rails-to-trails that are built on abandoned railroad beds. Rail-to-Trails Conservancy reports 1,534 completed trails covered 15,346 miles in the US.
Meanwhile, there are 789 ongoing rail-to-trail projects covering 9,501 miles. Thirty-four of those uncompleted rail projects are in Washington state.
Foothills Trail
The latest one I explored was the Foothills Trail through Pierce County.
The Foothills Trail is a wonderful, 12-foot-wide rail-to-trail stretching about 15 miles from South Prairie, through Orting, to near Puyallup. Unfortunately, I tried picking up the trail in Wilkeson.
This is a great little town at the foot of Mount Rainier. One day in the future its short section of the Foothills Trail will connect with the others to create a scenic 28-mile route.
But if I had looked closely at the maps, I may have discovered the trail only runs for a few hundred yards, if that, before it abruptly ends in a foot/horsepath at the end of the bridge. Eventually the trail will run to Buckley, my next destination by bicycle along some lightly travelled local roads.
Warning
I found the Foothills Trail in Buckley paved and well-maintained, until a point about a half-mile outside of town. There I saw the “use at own risk” sign, always a good warning but also a challenge.
Taking the challenge I plunged ahead on my road bike with 28mm tires. The trail started out nice and packed, but I reminded myself that we've had nearly a week of rain. I was soon mired in the mud.
Hefting my bike onto my shoulder I pressed on until I felt the mud sucking at my shoes and could see the trail peter out into lightly beaten path through the vegetation. I turned around and walked back to the nearest road crossing. That took me to South Prairie Trailhead and the scenic ride to Puyallup.
Discovery Trail
I encountered another memorable dead end while riding the Discovery Trail on the Olympic Peninsula a couple of years ago. This is another ambitious rail-to-trail project that is constantly expanding thanks to the diligent efforts of local citizens.
When I visited in 2006, my map showed where the trail started on the east approach to Sequim, but I saw obvious trail work had been completed east of that. I hopped on that path and took it up a long hill through secluded woods to a locked chain-link gate. I wasn't happy about lugging all my stuff up that hill, but I should have known better.
King County
There are some other dead-ends I've stumbled across in eastern King County's bike trails. Recently I rode the Tolt Pipeline Trail until it suddenly stopped, overlooking the Snoqualmie River Valley with my destination of Duvall off in the distance. (BikeSeattle.org has a great description of how to continue the route.)
This summer I also found the Snoqualmie Valley Trail and followed it through the woods for several miles. This old railroad route crosses a bridge with good views of surrounding mountains, then it ends just past a tunnel (more like a road culvert) beneath Tokul Road. The trail picks up again a couple of miles away, after climbing a flight of stairs to a bridge.
One of my favorite dead ends is the Preston-Snoqualmie Trail. The paved trail comes to an abrupt end in the woods.
When I rode this a couple of years ago, I thought it wasn't much of a destination, until a couple of boys directed me to a park bench that had a view of roaring Snoqualmie Falls about a mile away.
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