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Bellingham, Washington
Photos and words by Jadyn Welch
We’ve all ridden them. Trails that have potential, but are lacking in flow—the elusive aspect that we all yearn for when tires meet dirt. Trails with no flow are bland, and often leave a bitter aftertaste. If there is one trail that defines flow and Galbraith Mountain, it’s SST. A wide variety of singletrack laces this local mini-mountain; some trails are windy with ups and downs, others with drops and jumps. SST brings it all to the table to serve up a delicious meal of zesty berms, fast wide-open singletrack, hip jump transfers, and the last vital secret ingredient to spice things up: flow.
Ask any local who whips down into the parking lot at the trailhead what they just rode, and odds are, with a coy smile on their face, they’ll reply casually “Oh you know, the usual…” The “usual” starts with a grunt up the Ridge Trail, hooking in a few other mellower singletrack climbs like Cedar Dust and Intestine (or just straight up the road section affectionately called “The Wall”) on your way to the start of SST. Quick climbers can find themselves atop SST in about 25 minutes, though most will probably make the pedal/push in about 45 minutes to an hour. After a final stint of fire road, a short singletrack connector trail leads into a small innocuous clearing. Toss the seat down, throw the pads on, and prepare to dig in.
The first course of SST doles out a healthy portion of tight, high-speed berms, with a side of small jumps to whet your appetite. Throw in a few quick pedal strokes, and you coast up the hill to the first dirt road intersection. Take a few breathers and gather your crew, or if you can’t wait for your second course, crank it across the road into the left-hand berm and back into the trees. The second serving is much like the first, but with one straight dash that begs you to open up and give it full throttle. Go for it, indulge yourself, but watch for the split just after you air over an old downed tree—take the left route if you don’t want to hit the brakes, or slow it up a tad and slice between the two trees on the right for some saucier singletrack. Either way, the two routes rejoin, and shortly thereafter, you’ll pop out into another clearing. Plenty of people stop here again to regroup, but I usually can’t resist, so I hammer out a dozen or so pedals to give myself ample speed so I can air out the small kicker just to the right after dropping in. The third leg is a bit flatter than the previous two, but by no means less rewarding. If you’re smooth, you can pump your way through the berms and rollers to navigate this section without a single pedal stroke.
One more small skidder road crossing marks the fourth course of our meal: dessert. The last chunk of SST is where you get it all. Teeming with small jumps, drops, and hip jumps that transfer you from one side of the trail to the other, the flow becomes inescapable. It oozes out of the trees, and springs from the endless berms. Towards the bottom, you blast out of the woods into an open clear-cut section packed with rollers, corners, and whoops, all culminating in a style-worthy six-foot tabletop jump. Catch your breath as you turn to watch your buddies rip out of the last section, air it off the table, and fail to wipe the gluttonous, satisfied grins off their faces. Who wants seconds?
