Trail:Tapeworm - Towers of Power

From Evergreen Trail Guide

Trail Description

Skill builder ride, nice quick after-work destination. It takes 1-2 hours to ride everything. This is a small system of trails that are tightly wound to make the most of a power utility company lot. There are four trails: Crop Circles, The Worm, Parasite, and Mr. DNA. Best to find a copy of the CycoActive map and use that. [See link below.] This is a trashy section of young deciduous trees, don't expect nice forest (and doesn't really make for great night riding with so many low branches if you use a helmet light).

How to find it

Most people park at the adjacent Philip Arnold Park and ride a few hundred yards up the road to access the trails.

From Seattle, take I-5 South to I-405 North. Take exit #2 to SR-167 North. As soon as you've gone under the freeway, turn RIGHT onto S Grady Way. This soon turns into Main Ave S. At a traffic light, take a RIGHT onto S 4th St which will go uphill. At the first intersection, bear soft right into Cedar Ave S. Go about 0.4mi, take the first LEFT onto S. 7th St going steep uphill. Go straight to the 4-way stop. Go straight, and before the gate turn right into the parking lot.

To get to the trails, bike up the gated road a bit. You'll see entries on the right; take the one just past the jeep road as one way in. The alternative is to take the first entrance as you crest the top of the road from the Philip Arnold parking lot. Once you're on the trail, the left fork takes you to the main entrance area, and the right fork to the Parasite entrances.

Here is an aerial view of the parking lot.

For those people riding out with a GPS, the trailhead for Tapeworm is at 47.468234N 122.196480W.

Typical Conditions

Does get a little muddy, but generally holds up pretty well. Trail is meant to be a skill-builder, so riding is generally slow and careful.

If you see puddles of water next to the paved road, the trails will be wet-ish. If no puddles, it'll be dry). It can drain pretty quickly, so can literally change from day to day.

Current Conditions

[July 23, 2010]: Lots of blackberrys. The tapeworm and new parasite trails are clear, but all the other trails are getting overgrown. Many of the features on tapeworm that were built last year are now torn down. Trail is definitely showing its age and neglect.

[November 20,2009]: Trails are clear for the most part except for a down tree that blocks off a turn on Parasite. Overall the trails are in good condition with very little mud. There are alot of leaves which add a bit of challenge to any climbs. Ladders/features seem to be in good shape.

[June 6, 2009]: The draw is nearly overgrown with blackbearies, wear full finger gloves. Access cut straight down the draw by tree crews. Very dry. New skinny at the big rock is fun, with the trail reconfigured to take it straight. Someone has been clearing out blocks at more difficult corners ;(. Tables added at wet rooted area. New drop at third downhill.

[May 1, 2009]: Have been working on drainage in typical wet areas. Trails are gooey in depressions. No standing water except the boggy, rooted area. There are a couple new minor man-made hazards and falls (Parasite & Tapeworm). Well groomed of foliage. Some sticks and clippings on the trail.

Turn-By-Turn Guide

This is where you describe the trail and route in detail.

Link to map

Local Points of Interest

If you're looking for a place to have a beer and some food after a ride, try the Whistlestop. Go back down the hill and continue straight on S 4th St, you'll see it on the left after a block or two.

If you're looking for GOOD food and an excellent selection of post-ride brews, try the Dog and Pony. Corner of Park and 3rd Sts., very limited parking.

3rd option is CJ Brennan's (used to be Giant's Causeway) - Irish pub with pretty good food and a nice beer selection (although not nearly as varied as the Dog and Pony). Located near the Renton transit station in downtown Renton (201 Williams Ave. S., Renton, WA 98057). They have their own parking lot and plenty of on-street parking, too.

Misc. Information

Tapeworm is considered by many to be a one-way trail; you may get grumbles if you ride it counterclockwise (just keep in mind that no one will expect you to be coming the other way, so BE CAREFUL...and don't wear your iPod). All other trails are generally considered two-way.

The Tapeworm trails are aged. When it was a young fresh trail, there were many sections that were more difficult than it's current state. Please respect the difficulty in the trail, that all riders enjoy overcoming whether sooner or later, and don't remove natural obstacles, or create go-arounds.

Note that there are now some nice (i.e. difficult) log piles on Parasite that were built after all the winter storms (early 2007) that add some more difficulty back to Parasite (but you can walk over all of them, so good skill builders).

Some trails tend to grow in a bit, especially in the Spring, and especially Crop Circles. It's a great help to all riders if you bring clippers and spend 10 minutes cutting back some brush!

Also great fun to ride the last part of DNA downhill, which is the reverse of the typical direction (3rd entrance on the right along the power station fence (go right instead of left once you take the right...left takes you to crop circles). You will have no problem seeing if someone is coming the other way.

And the trails on the far side (used to be called "Stay on Target", I think) now have a great berm section, and new lines with good drops and jumps if you're looking for some technical in-the-air challenges. You can even do a variation by starting Tapeworm, then in the first or second turn after the first big rock, go left out onto the open trail, then right, then immediately left to hit all the jump/drop stuff. Ride back up the hill to take the left back onto the 'worm). Keep in mind that this is more intermediate to advanced, but you can take a look and ride around anything there. Someone has put a lot of time into developing this (moving a lot of dirt by hand). If you want to do the berm stuff, start earlier on the trail (at the bottom of the fire road on the far side, and look for the first left turn past a big log about 300 yards into the trail). Fun stuff!

History

From one of the builders (source):

Mr DNA was first, then Tapeworm (completed June 20, 1997). "Crop Circles" was opened in winter 1998, then finally the "New Parasite". Crop circles is a remarkable trail in itself, not patterned after any trail I'd ridden but possibly the only MTB trail of its kind. The inspiration came from the notion that it is in clear view of the planes coming into Renton airport, and I thought it was necessary that they saw a spiral on the ground. It is actually a double spiral, 3.5 rotations to the center, then 3.5 rotations back out.

Photos