Trail Tuesday featuring Airport Escalator, East Chapter
Airport Escalator is a 1.6-mile green/beginner trail at Beacon Hill/Camp Sekani in the East Chapter.
Trail description by Emma Wooldridge, East Chapter
Airport Escalator is a green trail that is primarily used for climbing and provides access to many technical trails in the Shields area. Previously known for its punchy climb sections, Airport Escalator takes you from the Shields parking lot and quickly winds up through the forest, passing by large rock walls where you can spot the occasional rock climber, and levels out for a brief pause to bring you through a quiet meadow.
Trail work over the years has given mountain bikers reprieve from some of the more technical sections, but the spirit of the trail lives on! Airport Escalator is the perfect trail to test out your (green) climbing abilities and it also expands your riding palate to bring you to a selection of fun, technical rock trails that are unique to Beacon Hill, like Penny Lane or Deep Thought! Be sure to stop when you reach a viewpoint to look out at the Spokane River. Like many of our trails, its best season is the spring when the dirt is tacky and the balsamroot is blooming!
While you can continue on up past the meadow to connect to the majority of trails, you can hop onto Middle Myth, Granite Trail, Will's Traverse, or connect to Ridgeline as your first stop on the escalator. Up further, you can access Vince 5k, Upchuck to the Towers, Penny Lane, Myth, Cirith Ungol, or Orch Chaser. Airport Escalator is the fast track to the chunky tech and rock slabs that makes our little hill famous.
A green loop for those comfortable navigating the hill and looking for less than 1,000 feet elevation gain could include Airport Escalator then east onto Upchuck to connect Disorderly Conduct, The Yard, Dan, and then Simple Tools back to the road for a quick pedal to the Shields parking lot using the bike path or bike lane.
A short and spicy loop to satisfy the techiest of souls would have you taking the escalator to Penny Lane which opens your trail horizons: take Cirith Ungol and ride down some slabs into bumpy, teeth-chattering Water Wings to the road and a quick pedal to the parking lot or head down Orc Chaser for fun option features that test your tech skills then down into the loose and steep Granite Trail, ending with a peaceful pedal back by the start of Airport Escalator.
