Trail #6 is a new addition to the network of trails in the Yacolt Burn area, known as the Cold Creek Trails. Featuring a bit of everything for all types of riders and disciplines, the trail system is renown for its shuttle-friendly downhill trail Thrillium and the “all mountain” slash enduro style trail, Cold Creek.
Like Cold Creek, Trail #6 is a multi-use, multi-directional trail that happens to be a heck of a lot of fun to descend, optimized for the modern mountain bike experience. The first segment of trail construction was completed earlier this summer.
Maintained by the Cold Creek Mountain Bikers AKA the Southwest Chapter of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, the team brought Evergreen’s Bryan Connoly (the trail leader for Tiger Mountain) down to help out with an excavator for the trail work.
Trail #6 can be accessed by riding up the access road from the lower parking lot, also known as the Terrible Tarbell Climb due to the steep grade that feels never ending. It can also be accessed from Cold Creek by riding down the road from the clear cut.
This winter’s build is focused on extending lower Trail #6 up to connect to the Cold Creek Trail.
The route was previously flagged, so the bulk of labor for the work consisted of clearing the corridor to facilitate the machine and speeding the process along. While the group limbed trees, cleared brush and branches, Aaron Krieger (of AK Timber Services) and a few others focused on cutting downed trees and logs.
This downed tree was a beast. Aaron is a pro with a saw — and reportedly a ripper on a bike — it was amazing to see him work.
After the work was completed, the crew enjoyed refreshments before getting bike time in.
We’ve been hearing about Trail #6 all summer, so we did a few laps down the completed lower section. From all accounts, the trail is bedding in nicely and was much improved since its inception.
It was my first time on the trail and it was running great — needless to say, I was stoked.
It has good flow for the bulk of it, with lots of terrain to pop off of and over. For every rolling grade dip or roller, there was something you could point at to land on. It may be my favorite new trail — on my second lap I was running wide open into every roller I could find to launch over rocks, roots and the occasional stump.
We’re looking forward to helping complete the new trail; you can come out and help as well. Keep up to date on trail work parties by following the Southwest Chapter of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance Facebook page.
Learn more about the Cold Creek Trails and the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance at EvergreenMTB.org
