Trail:Paradise Valley

From Evergreen Trail Guide

Trail Overview

The Trails are open for Riding!

Paradise Valley Conservation Area (PVCA or just PV) is a Snohomish County Park property that has a variety of singletrack to ride from rooty to twisty to swoopy. There are no big climbs here, but a lot of up and down. You'll get a suprisingly good workout riding here. There is about 11 miles of trail open to bikes.

Please watch the trail signs and respect the trails that are horse or hiker only.

Evergreen actively performs trail maintenance here. Check the calendar for workparties.

How to find it

Paradise Valley is located between Maltby and Woodinville. Official Park address is 23210 Paradise Lake Rd Woodinville, WA 98077

From the West:

Take SR 522 east from I-405.

Turn right at Paradise Lake Road (Paradise Lake Road is the first traffic light you will encounter on SR522 east of I-405).

Drive 1.8 miles and the parking lot will be on your right.

From the East:

Coming from Monroe north, take SR 522 west towards Bothell/Woodinville. Turn left onto Paradise lake Road. Drive 1.8 miles and the parking lot will be on your right.

Coming from Duvall south, take the Woodinville-Duvall Road west towards Woodinville.

Turn right onto 204th Ave. NE / Paradise Lake Road. Continue approximately 2.9 miles on Paradise Lake Road and the parking lot will be on your left. NOTE: The actual road name changes a few times before finally becoming Paradise Lake Road for good, don't sweat it, just keep driving and you'll be fine.

The parking lot is signed. If the white gate is closed, it means that the park is closed.

Typical Conditions

About 11 miles of nice singletrack that is open to Mountain Bikes. Most of the trails drain fairly well, however there will be some standing water after a good rain. Try to ride through, not around puddles. Give the trails a day or two to dry out after heavy rains.

Current Conditions

--Bcrowley20 20:56, 6 July 2010 (PDT) Mud is gone. Trails are in primo shape!

--Bcrowley20 21:09, 2 June 2010 (PDT) Yup. Sloppy out at PVCA again. Try not to ride the trails right after sustained rainfall. We have spent a lot of time working on them, but the older trails (Red Alder and Lloyd) were just poorly routed over some tough soils and there is only so much that we can do to make them drain.

Also, uploaded the latest map from the County which shows Cedar Run.

--Bcrowley20 16:26, 16 May 2010 (PDT) OK, things have dried out consderably at PVCA. Plus, there has been a fair amount of drainage work done in the last month. Trails are actually in good shape right now...very grippy and fast. If you see a trail gnome out there, be sure to thank them...

Condition report below still applies! Be gentle, and bring fenders... R1de 20:39, 30 April 2010 (PDT)

--Bcrowley20 10:21, 8 April 2010 (PDT) It's wet, muddy and sloppy, sloppy, sloppy at PVCA right now. Woodinville has just received a TON of rain. Best to give the place some time to dry out before you ride here.

There have been reports of cars being broken into in the parking lot. PLEASE BE CAREFUL ABOUT LEAVING VALUABLES IN YOUR CAR.

Watch your speed when driving to the trailhead on Paradise Lake Road. It's a good revenue generator for Snohomish County.

Turn-By-Turn Guide

See the trailmap below. All the intersections are marked with waypoints corresponding to the waypoints printed on the map.

Local Points of Interest

• Maltby Pizza & Pasta is the most common post-ride destination. Go NW on Paradise Lake road, straight across Hwy 522, then zigzag right-left. map link

• Maltby Cafe has world famous breakfast.

Misc. Information

Here you mention anything that doesn't fit in the other categories.

Advocacy Information

Paradise Valley was a private (tree) farm property where the owners (the Lloyd family who still reside on the property in a Life Estate that will eventually revert to the County) passivly allowed recreation. Snohomish County acquired the 663-acre property in 2000 using funds from the state Salmon Recovery Fund and Snohomish County's Conservation Futures Board, converting it into the Paradise Valley Conservation Area, and eventually closing the property to recreation.

Evergreen contested the closure to public access and recreation, in both public meetings and direct communication to the county, on the grounds that parts of the property west of Paradise Lake Road had no critical aquatic habitat and closure to the public was unwarranted. Evergreen supports the protection of critical salmon habitat including wetland and riparian areas. The existing mountain bike trails do not encroach on any critical salmon habitat.

Evergreen continued its work with Snohomish County on reopening the property for recreation. Finally in late 2007, visible signs of progress appeared:

1. Snohomish County was able to strike a deal with the Lloyd family for an easement on the life estate that allowed the County to construct a parking lot, information kiosk and install a porta-potty.

2. An initial entry trail was constructed from the parking lot, connecting to an existing trail.

3. The County began reaching out to potential user groups (including Evergreen) on what the final trail configuration would look like.

Evergreen worked with Snohomish County throughout 2008 and early 2009 to assist in reconfiguring the trail system to what it is today. As of April 2009, there are about 11 miles of trail open to Mountain Bikes.

Current work by Evergreen focuses on trail maintenance as well as upgrading the trails for better sustainability. New trails are planned in the Southwest portion of the park.

Advocacy updates written during the 2004-2008 closure can be found on the Paradise Valley History page.

Photos