The North Fork will rise again!

I feel pretty sick in the stomach for the tight knit group of riders down there.

Please don't leave the shop vehicle parked right beside a (secret) trail head.

At first I feared this thread was about the brewery/pizzeria/wedding chapel closing. This is even worse.
That really sucks, completely senseless.
Secret trails aren't a problem, but the shuttlable ones don't last long.

It is sad to see this. For those that are giving them a hard time about keeping the trails secret and calling them selfish, seriously you have no idea what you are talking about. they are a small community of riders and builders. they are in a jurisdiction that doesn't see the value of what they have provided in building these trails. if anything, everyone has always been welcoming down there. they ask people to keep their mouths shut and videos off of the web, but that's about it. locals shared the location of trails and tips on which ones to ride with me. good people, good builders, great trails.

Condescending nonsense, completely divorced from the realities of trail building and advocacy in the states.

FYI, I have been actively involved in trail legitimacy for the last 5 years. Whatcom Trails Co-op was formed as a 501c3 nonprofit in response to a DNR scare 5 years ago. We met with DNR officials in Olympia, recruited the help of Evergreen, the largest bike advocacy group in WA, and toured Duthie Hill with them to demonstrate legal rider built trails. We showed up en masse to DNR recreation planning meetings to stress the need for legitimate mountain bike trails in Whatcom County. I have attended DNR volunteer meetings, bimonthly, for the last 3 years. We have organized several trash cleanups at the gravel pits where rednecks dump and shoot old TVs and furniture. We coordinated a National Trail Day on multi use trails that drew 100 volunteers. We have kept open lines of communication with the local DNR rec manager and enforcement officer. Believe me, if I could be building permanent, legitimate trails, I'd be doing so.

Funny how so many 'secret' trails get ruined and sanctioned trails don't.

If you are greedy eventually your trails get torn down. Your fault for not working within the system.

I'm not saying trails can't be secret but when you start seeing people you don't know on the trail it's time to start trying to make it public and legal. It's not rocket science, I've heard this same story at least twice a year in place all over North America.

Trails should have a 'Secret' life span and then be turned to the masses or demolished by the owner.

These people in North Fork have been active for a long time in public advocacy. Your comment is thoughtless and displays a healthy amount of ignorance

Pretty ignorant, just ignore him

I've never ridden Northfork but have heard tales from those who have calling it one of the best riding spots anywhere. I remember hearing stories about that bridge before it was built. It seems it was a victim of it's own success which is a real shame. My heart goes out to the builders who have put so much time and effort only to have it destroyed in front of their eyes.

Truss contruction started May 5 2007, completed June 6. Would've got it done faster, but I had such a boner to get started, I couldn't wait for the snow to melt.

First work party with moved 8 bags of concrete, and a 100lb box of 6" spirals, 100lb box of 12" spikes and some sano tube to site. We carried 4 bags of concrete uphill, and decided that was stupid, not doing that again. So we put the rest in a 4X4 yota, drove up the road til it got stuck in the snow, then strapped the crete to Clayton's KLR250, and he ran/pushed the bike uphill through the snow, then rode it in an old skidder road, and we wheelbarrowed it downed super gnar dh trail. LOL, not the way to do it.

Next few days, I was up there digging holes, sinking sano tubes for the two supports, rushing to beat the rain. I was stressed on ending up with 80lb concrete rectangles.

Once the supports were built, I dropped the one downed tree and spiked that down. Then, used a throw line to get a rope on that leaner, and used a rope winch to pull it over. About this time, Colin, PB, and Clayton got super fired up on the project. We started making the truss triangles. We could only get 1 and a half done on each side, before the stringer was way too bouncy and sketchy to be climbing on 15-20ft up.

Had the second work party. Matty, Trevor, Bryan and Sean ran the mill all day, churning out 48" long money slats. The rest of the crew moved the last two stringers in, spiked them down, adding tons of stiffness to the structure. Once spiked down, we finished the truss triangles in the center. Got it halfway decked, before we ran out of light.

PB, Colin, and myself made it up the next and finished 'er off.




Brad Walton took this photo. We were gonna try an get in a mag, but I decided against it. Sorry for making you drag 80 lbs of flashes into the middle of the woods, Brad!

More pics of the first bridge I built. This one took longer than the truss, because I was a rookie, and I didn't really have much help. So many people bitched about the banked corners. "ooooh, I fell off and stubbed my toe, ooooh, please change it" GO FASTER, and don't use your brakes, SHEESH. I eventually lowered the second bank. It got smashed by a windfall tree, and I figured if I'm fixing it, might as well do something about the whining.

And who in their right mind calls up DNR to ask for directions?

This is what I'm wondering!

The loss of this riding area is gutting. For most on this forum, they will never know just how good those trails were as they were never shown. It was a whole other Cypress but faster and with Woodlot style jumps. I can remember Todd saying he was inspired by the Woodlot and that is when he started building there. In reality it was kept under wraps quite well but not good enough I guess.

Perhaps the Bike Mag Bible last year had a part in it's demise?

Those trails were BY FAR the best within 5 hours driving distance. Absolutely horrific that they are to be destroyed/in process.

Shake and Bake
Moto
Race Horse
Skull Duggery
Dirt Reynolds
Dog Party
Deliverance

the list goes on and on…

Back to the fringe now. The real trails need to be kept between friends. Sad really because ripping awesome trails you've built with other people of like minds is amazingly fun. I had 14 days there last year. Roughly 100 laps +/-

:fu: Whatcom DNR!

I was able to get 1 day in last year at North Fork, It was the most fun I have had on a bike in a while, all the trails had great flow, and were built proper.
I thank you for all your hard work. I'm sorry to hear about this loss of an awesome trail system. Unfortunately certain groups of riders don't understand how sensitive some riding areas can be, and will show up with 4 cars full of 15 riders, once that riding area is shut down they just move on to the next one, and so on.

A trail is no longer secret after you tell just one person.

If a zone is as good as that one is, it is bound to be popular. build in a non shuttleable area and I will guarantee you wont have any more problems

Forgot about Racehorse…
Nice saw dude, what ever happened to that thing?

sucks to hear that. Those trails were great.