digbellspeedo

I have always wanted to know where the markers (if any) are located, and also if its cumulative markers.
Also if thery're mile or km markers or hopefully both?

digbellspeedo

also i am curious who "owns" (for want of better word) the trail?

donnamb 

I've copied this thread to the Pacific Northwest regional subforum, as well as leaving it here. Hopefully you will get more information that way.

pmseattle

I have ridden the BG hundreds ( possibly thousands ) of times and I donīt recall ever seeing any markers. When I have ridden it from end to end, back when I had an odometer the reading would be about 60 miles for the round trip, which includes the section where it morphs into the Sammamish Slough trail.

The owner of the trail is King County. There is a short section through a community called Lake Forest Park which has been controversial, once in a while, over the years. Some of the people in that community who own property fronting the trail claim that when the railroad that previously owned the right-of-way abandoned it, the right-of-way became their property. Every once in a while, the Lake Forest Park police will start a campaign of harrasment against trail users with the encouragement of their city council. Then King County puts a stop to it in short order.

ericgu

No real markers. There are sometimes a few markers spray painted on the trail that are used for some of the training walks, but they're small and random.

Do you have a bike computer?

Bekologist

no real markers. a neat mosaic map at the woodinville rest stop though.

its almost complete all the way from ballard to marymoor park; riding a round trip would give you roughly a metric century. add a few laps on the marymoor velodrome (open to the biking public except during events).

fun stuff. great ride, a bit congested during the summer. get a bell!

MillCreek

In the northern section of the trail, about from the Seattle city limits northward, the trail gets very narrow and bumpy in spots. They have some substantial tree root heaves, and I have seen people crash after hitting those at speed. And the mileage markers are few and at irregular intervals. I like to access the trail at Bothell Landing and ride down the Sammamish River trail to Marymoor. Less crowded and the trail is in better condition. It is about 11 miles from the Landing to the Park.

Cycleman1958

There are many dangers on the Burke Gilman Frodo-
Root heaves that leap out of the ground and tear your hands from the drops,
Mile markers that some have made only to confuse the user, that have no relation to a start and stop point-
Stop signs literally yards from each other on the western shore of the lake, often patrolled by officers on bikes who will write tickets for not stopping ($85) or speeding, more than 15 mph
And of all these dangers the greatest horror you will encounter my son, are the hobbit like 5 year olds on WalMart bikes, meandering all over the trail, who seem to turn into a cyclist who speaks the following chant: "On Your Left"
Be careful my son.

East Hill

Are you all saying the root heaves are worse on the BG Trail than on the Interurban? If so, I will stay away from the Burke Gilman. The heaves are bad enough in the area around Fort Dent, both a mile north and south...

East Hill

MillCreek

Having ridden both, it is my opinion that the root heaves on the northern part of the BG are worse than the Interurban in Tukwila. I grew up in the Skyway area not very far from Tukwila, and often rode in that area. My club does periodic rides on the Interurban.

East Hill

In that case, I think I would prefer to have the mountain bike for the BG. One part of the Big Soos Creek trail has some lovely root heaves, which are great for launches! However, I know where the heaves are, and they aren't tricky like the ones around Fort Dent (because those ones always seem to be in shadow/light areas and I just can't pick them out very well).

East Hill

pmseattle

That was Lake Forest Park. I havenīt seen their police on the trail in a few years. They may have given up.

TWD

could some enterprising vandals then please twist the stop signs to impede the drivers to the 5-10 home owners on each street instead of the countless trail users?
Bless Ron Simms for his flaming letter to the idiotic council of the Forest of Lake ... let the snot rockets fly as you cruise through their neighborhood!

Martian Biker

While I was still studying at UW (more than 10 years ago now!), I decided to check out the trail one morning, not knowing where the trail will lead me to. I started from UW's Steven Courts on my mountain bike, and ended up at Marymoor Park. I had to stop there because my butt was burning due to poor bike fit. The way back home was literally an ordeal. Anyone knows how many miles I accomplished?

pmseattle

Roughly 45-50 miles for the round trip. Marymoor is the end of the trail so you would have ended there no matter what.