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Tokul West question

5K views 63 replies 16 participants last post by  mbcracken 
#1 ·
Great ride out there this morning, think I might have passed Slop and couple other guys too. One question though, is Full Bench still rideable? I could not find the start of it based on the 2009 map on the Evergreen site, but it looked like there were a couple new logging roads branching off that area that weren't on the map too. I know that's close to the property border, so I didn't want to chance it without knowing where I was headed.

On the plus side I found Poopy D instead, which was a good way to link up the upper trails with stuff like Bobsled.
 
#33 ·
Spent about 4 hours out there this afternoon. Other than Beaver pond that's a little "dry" the rest of the trails were rolling great! Moved a few tools, gave Steakhouse and Bon house some dirt and drain love, checked out the top of Full Bench. Yeah, it wouldn't take much to pimp it back up and it would be fine for winter use. The question would be what we would find at the bottom. Speaking of finding things. Finally found the gnome's new home. Rode right by him. Nice and warm up there this afternoon so I was hoping he would have friends. Denied.... So good to be back on the bike after almost 9 weeks off. Even if I have to take it easy. BTW: Saw or heard no one else in the time I was out here. But, one can tell GS is getting some good use. It is indeed weed whacker and leaf blower season! :)
 
#34 ·
I'll try to give the gnome some product soon. Perhaps something more for the winter time riders.

How about an official work party middle of October? Focus on spike perhaps. Rode through there yesterday and the section that's going to get the creek crossing had the most standing water.
 
#36 ·
Hmmm, I used to continually block that straight line off but just eventually gave up. Actually started with moto use out there. I have never actually ridden that way. I like that most people just want to keep things the way they are though. At least, those that have replied.
 
#37 ·
The work involved getting to these trails, such as it is, is enough greater than Duthie, etc, that I rarely see people out there that appear to need or want the trails made easier. The best thing about outback and outhouse is that they reward good braking technique and line selection due to the quick transitions between speed sections and tight corners. Throw in the worn in surface that keeps me on my toes and it makes for the funnest ride out there. The only way outback could be better is if there could be more extensions added on that are just like the existing trail.
 
#38 ·
How about a right turn at the end straight down to Griffin Creek!

Borneo - Sorry for using the unofficial bypass but...it's more fun than the other section and is long enough that it's not a "trail-braid". It's more like a "more difficult" option. I'd say make it official. I'm a guy that stops and blocks trail braids.
 
#61 ·
How about a right turn at the end straight down to Griffin Creek!
Belated reply to this bit:

I believe Griffin Creek is a salmon spawning creek. That means when a trail is discovered crossing it and reported to King County, they'll probably be pretty grumpy. Please factor that into your trail building plans. :)

(Besides, with the trails on the other side now being closed it seems much less appealing to build trail down to the creek...)
 
#39 ·
It does allow the continuation of "at speed" which I get but I'm stubborn so I'll keep using the old way. No worries though. it's staying now. Need to make the old way more "fun"... :) There have been thoguhts of peeling off Extension down to the end of the road at the Griffin Creek crossing for years. Wanna spear head it?

That said, any comments on filling in the rock roll on Outback so one can easier hit it at speed coming down?
 
#40 ·
Tempting...I'll ponder that as my October/Nov is pretty open. Is that all Hancock land? Wonder if there could be a climbing trail back to the area of Full Bench or PPD/Middle. Or is there road back up?

Rock Roll...lots of speed there. Would be cool to have it setup to jump better.
 
#42 ·
Hopefully getting closer to new trail approval. OB extension actually gets quite close to the Hancock Boundary. There really isn't enough Hancock property to extend the extension. And dropping down near the top of OB gets into water issues.
Better potential might be to build down into the woods on the other side of the clearcut out past OB. Question is would anyone pedal out to it.
 
#44 ·
Do most people just go up Beaver pond to get up to the upper trails at T West? Is there a road route up?

I've gotten much better at climbing over the years, but that still is a lot of hike and bike for me, especially right at the start of the ride when I'm not warmed up. Are there other options?
 
#45 ·
1. I added a short bypass trail to avoid the steep root ball at the bottom of BP. Also, you can climb up the roads instead of staying on BP.
2. Post clearcut, I think most people climb Bobsled because it is shaded, but it has some steep parts.
3. You can trespass onto the McCaw property and circle around on the dirt roads. You can reach the top of BS, as well as Middle and PPd this way.
 
#46 ·
See thread with Perfect Tokul West Route. Although it has a flaw in climbing Full Bench which right now is off property and overgrown. The road route in #3 above is a mild climb which bypasses climbing bobsled and actually goes past the top of BS.

Or to elaborate on #1, take the bypass from SVT to the first road and go right up that road all the way to the top with optional trail excursions. Or take Beaver Pond one more road up and again go right on the road to end up at the same place eventually.

Or go up one of the 2 Tokul East roads and cross over on Golden Spike for the Tour de Tokul.

Most of these roads are quite visible on the web sat maps.
 
#48 ·
Most of the time to get to the top, I go beaver pond, middle, steak house, bon house, bon bon, but yesterday I went up bobsled to middle instead of beaver pond to middle. Either way is fun. Going up bobsled right before that tree root place the doubletrack forks left up towards where the start of Bra was. Somewhere not far up that road the ownership changes, but as far as I know, all the trails I've listed above are legal.
 
#49 ·
Got over to T-West for the first time in ages. Weird to ride up lower Beaver Pond and not really recognize it... but then I never used to ride up it before. On the way down it felt more familiar. Still weird how different the (more-or-less) same trail can be. Thanks for PPD and Middle! And Bonhouse. (House of Bonbons? :p)

Saw that trees along the trail are marked around Bonbon/Upper Outback. Do you guys know when they might be harvesting over there?
 
#50 ·
Saw that trees along the trail are marked around Bonbon/Upper Outback. Do you guys know when they might be harvesting over there?
I didn't know you were back here, let's go ride sometime!

The BonBon/Moonraker/Mousetrap area is getting logged this winter. Not sure exactly when, but I'm guessing after the first of the year. I met on site a month ago with a Hancock forester who was trying to figure out how to do the logging so that we can easily reopen the trails.

No logging will happen below the road this winter, but all the mature forest in the entire Tokul zone is about at harvest age, so we'll see a fair bit of cutting in the coming years. They usually (but not always) wait a few years before cutting adjacent to recent harvests, and the trend is toward smaller cuts instead of doing a huge area all at once.
 
#51 ·
Yeah, RnR didn't really leak that out. We all sorta had to find out from local reference FBposts, etc... What he didn't mention was how Bon Bon and the upper reroute has been standing the test of time with minimal repair. (thumbs up to both of you...)
I like that the "T" markings are everywhere and we may actually have a minimal clearing job after the cut like BP was. More weed whacking in our future though....
 
#54 ·
i'm not sure if i'm describing this, but here goes,
the road that goes from the east end of mouse trap to the end of moonraker (the one where in the middle, you could turn further east and head to the trail that crosses the powerline and head to the golden spike), got improved.

i was out there in the dark by myself on wednesday evening, came across the spike from east to west, down to that junction and found a dozer and a lot of new road to the left, toward what i think is called moonraker. didn't want to spend time huting around for where moonraker split off the new road, so went right to mousetrap instead. i'm sure that end of moonraker is still finable, but my light batteries were all on red at that point in the night.

i heard hancock named this logging project 'forest gnome'. that made me chuckle.
 
#55 ·
i'm not sure if i'm describing this, but here goes,
the road that goes from the east end of mouse trap to the end of moonraker (the one where in the middle, you could turn further east and head to the trail that crosses the powerline and head to the golden spike), got improved.

i was out there in the dark by myself on wednesday evening, came across the spike from east to west, down to that junction and found a dozer and a lot of new road to the left, toward what i think is called moonraker. didn't want to spend time huting around for where moonraker split off the new road, so went right to mousetrap instead. i'm sure that end of moonraker is still finable, but my light batteries were all on red at that point in the night.

i heard hancock named this logging project 'forest gnome'. that made me chuckle.
Hancock started working on that road a couple of weeks ago in preparation for the logging on the tract of timber that includes BonBon/Mousetrap/Upper Outback/Moonraker as well as a bit of that upper end of Golden Spike between BonBon and the powerlines.

That road is where BonBon started and losing that part of BonBon is frankly no big loss. Moonraker forks off from BonBon at the big stump and heads north towards Mousetrap and Outback.
 
#56 ·
last wednesday that new road improvement wasn't there. so i was surprised to see it all this week.

okay, i think i understand,
so from the stump where gnomey used to be, moonraker goes toward mousetrap. are you saying it's bonbon that stays on the plateau and heads towards that new road improvement, is that right? then what's the trail that goes from the gnomey stump, downhill into some switchbacks towards the lower middle road?
 
#58 ·
Correct. BonBon is the whole trail that heads uphill (and connects with Golden Spike) from the road that accesses Steakhouse, Outback, and Outhouse to the west and Upper Outback, Mousetrap (the mini-flow), and BonBon to the east. Moonraker connects BonBon and Mousetrap on the top of that small plateau.

The road rebuilding started on Monday, the 4th of November. I was riding and had to turn back on BonBon as the Hancock crew was actively felling trees and clearing the old roadbed area and I couldn't/wouldn't go through while they were working.
 
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