August 23, Galbraith trails, Bellingham Day 2

We checked out of our AirBnB ground floor 2bedroom unit and tried to get an early start for today's ride.  We started at the south, main parking lot near Galbraith Lane.  Francine's bike computer battery was dead, so we tried to use her "Hike-n-Bike" app on her phone, but it didn't record anything, so we don't know how many miles we rode today.

Rode up Galbraith Lane and turned right on the second road, went thru two gates, and headed for the climbing trail, 3 Pigs (Brick, Stick & Straw).  These were sweet, easy climbs compared to what we have at home for steepness.  At the end of 3 Pigs, we went right on the Towers Road 3000 to the top.  Being a Saturday, we saw lots of bikers climbing the Towers Road.  They were all friendly and told us which way to go at the intersections, which kept us from pulling out our map.

At the top, we ran into some more friendly bikers.  After a break, and getting directions on how to get to our descending trail, we headed off on Evolution, with an immediate right onto Wonderland.  Descended on Naughty Nelly to the just opened Keystone trail.  The local bike club, WHIMPS, just finished the bridge yesterday, which meant we could descend on Keystone.  Hit the road, and realized we missed the intersection for Bottle Opener.  Really glad we retraced our steps to climb back up and hit Bottle Opener, as it was totally in the trees, with damp, tacky dirt full of pine needles.  Then we went left to traverse on Kaiser, (which had seen recent logging) until it hit the Towers Road 3000, at the top of the 3Pigs trail.  We were here earlier in the day.

Climbed the Towers Road a short distance this time, past the Red Rock  (locater rock painted red) to descend on Pump Track, The Sh*t, Eagle Scout and Atomic Dog.  Atomic Dog ended just below the start of the 3 Pigs trail.  We weren't done yet, so we climbed the first section of the 3 Pigs trail, went left on Pony Express, and finished the day on Dog Patch (new fun trail) to Last Call for a third little downhill of the day.  They were really fun trails with swoopy corners and tacky dirt.

All in all, the trails conditions were fantastic for late August.  They have done a sweet job of building easy grade climbing trails, with multiple options for descents.  We aren't sure why it has taken us so long to come back to Galbraith.  The last time we were here, years & years ago, we were totally lost and really couldn't find the trails from our poor map.

The current map is great.  Intersections for trails and roads are well marked.  They even have Emergency Checkpoints that correspond to the map for reference on where you are.  Signage is great.  Navigation was a breeze.  I think we always knew where we were.  Great couple of days.