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Bellingham, Washington
‘At Least Our Name Doesn’t End with A’
Words by Matt Shelton
Photos by Sean Hreha
Many Washington State residents—and plenty of people from further a field—dream of living and riding here in Whatcom County. Nestled mere minutes south of the Canadian border, our trails sprawl large expanses of rolling mountains and ridgelines that guide highway 542 toward Mount Baker. You can take your pick of dozens of trails; there’s too many to ride in one day. Pedaling the hillsides, rocks, and dirt of the North Cascades stirs our connection with the land. Those of us who’ve taken to creating these trails have found more than more than mere personal expression of a sport; creativity has blended with a communal love of trails to create our own unique mountain biking culture. Within this environment, a dedicated community has developed. A community of riders that gives back beyond the trails they build and then descend; creating more than flow, they’ve created a movement.
Building trails is a rewarding pastime that can bring you fulfillment with every turn. It can also give you a backache, empty wallet, and scarce time to ride. Slowly but surely, a few local builders began to look up from the trail tread they so diligently nurtured, and notice that there might be a few likeminded people lurking nearby in the woods. Pooling funds, knowledge, and tool stashes could make the work a bit easier, and the outcome more shredworthy. And so the Whatcom Trails Coalition was born. Our goal was to alleviate the strain on local builders by providing tools, materials, and support for their hard work. The problem was, we had to track down these mysterious local builders.
We knew they were out there; rumors would float around about some new mystery trail going in, and occasionally you’d hear the unmistakable buzz of another fellow sawyer a few miles away. They’re an elusive bunch. Understandably, secrecy protects their work, and preserves their own progression of building and riding while keeping the final product true to their vision. At some point, you run out of PBR to lure them all out into the open. So we decided to develop an online forum (www.whatcomtrails.org) for builders to share ideas, resources, and most importantly, communicate with those that run to the hills. This new tool in our building arsenal—one that isn’t made of wood and iron—provides a wealth of information straight from the builders’ brains, and is uncensored at best. It was a safe place to start talking trail, without giving up secret stashes out of the gate.
The goals of a new forum are often vague at best. One that clearly developed was to open a dialogue with the riding community, shared with any who cared to participate. By that measurement, we’ve already achieved some initial success. Moving from 8 founding members of Whatcom Trails to 150 in a year’s time—with hundreds of threads and thousands of comments—the conversations are happening. And they are brutally honest. Many on the forum have expressed concern that that more exposure will deteriorate the local vibe, and with good cause. But there are also stories of stolen bikes making it back to their owners after some heroic sleuthing and quick communicating by the online community, strengthening the ties that bind our passions together. The group continues to thrive on input between builders, riders, local businesses, and bike manufacturers.
At the same time, the forum supports another lofty goal: to help gravity biking proponents be a productive element in the community and succeed where others user groups have failed. Open conversations show the greater population that we are an element of a healthy society that requires involvement and support from its constituency. Concerns, desires, and fears are openly expressed and addressed. But we still weren’t sure if we were reaching out and connecting with the people who really have the power to clear the way for our sport.
During the development of the Whatcom Trails Coalition, the closure of a treasured local trail system shifted the focus from community and builder support to one of advocacy and outreach directed at the governments land managers, notably the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Most unauthorized bike trails don’t see a shelf life of more than a few months after discovery; we all have heard of the chainsaw massacres that have occurred up and down the west coast. Our job is to save the thousands of hours of trail work now threatened by a government agency wary of increased traffic and liability, and understandably so. There is no procedural way to handle unauthorized trail systems, and the DNR is increasingly concerned about lawsuits. This approach to land management works for no one, leaving riders with dangerous trails, builders with broken hearts, and the powers that be even more in the dark than ever, alienated and distrusted.
When we discovered that existing work remained on a few trails—features and whole sections left untouched by the destructive work crew’s boots and shovels—we sensed a chance to change the rules of the game. We started a dialogue with Washington State DNR, and offered an alterative to the practiced approach of cut and run trail closures. We are working with standards for creating and marinating mountain bike trails, helping the DNR start to see some of its terrain as legitimate areas to ride. To date we have had major support from other clubs such as Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, based out of Seattle. Their support and dedication to our community and culture cannot be understated; they have opened the door for our passion to succeed.
In the past, it was easy to see our larger goals on a clear horizon while the undercurrent of the issues pulled and strained our community, both positively and negatively. A unified voice shows power, but it also garners attention. Through this profile boost, we endanger the work of local builders until the acceptance of our sport becomes a reality, but without it we are powerless to defend it from other elements. With nowhere to provide a legitimate outlet for gravity assisted biking in Whatcom County, we find ourselves treading water. We continue to work with the DNR and other land managers to find new riding areas and legitimize existing locales. With just one year of experience under the belt of Whatcom Trails, there is a long road, or should we say trail, ahead of us. If you’ve ever put foot to pedal and tires to dirt in the greater wilds outside Bellingham, WA, we welcome you to come join the movement!
