interurban trail issues
 

Has anyone ever had any issues with the Interurban trail down by the Supermall in Auburn. I talked to a guy who said he rode with a surgeon who said he worked on lots of victims that were attacked while riding on that section of the trail. I personally have been riding the trail since the early 90's and have never seen any problems. But i have witnessed lots of sketchy people, let me here your comments. Thanks Jim

I haven't heard of any of these victims. Any links to any news stories? My guess is that it would depend on a number of factors, including the time of the day, whether the victim was walking or cycling, lighting conditions, etc.

I jump on the interurban in kent and ride it up to tukwila very early in the morning. While it is pitch black in on the trail, I've noticed people walking on it with their dogs, jogging alone, stealth biking, etc. I think I'm the only one I've seen that actually has a light. So far the only scares I've had have been trying to dodge the damn rabbits, going face to face with a skunk, and having a dingo-looking dog (who was hunting rabbits) take a lunge at me.

I would suspect the rate of crime on the trail isn't much different than any other area of town, but I could be wrong.

I usually jump off the trail around 405 for a couple of reasons. First, I prefer the straight shot of tukwila drive to the meandering trail that follows the river (when I'm going into work). Second, the lighting sucks when the trail (now called the green river trail) starts to follow the river.

I also am a regular Auburn rider, but I start at main street and head north. I very rarely take the trail south of main street. I take the train to Seattle, but will some times ride all the way to the city during the warmer months.

I've had more issues with coyotes than shady personalities. It's possible that the mall is a more natural place for those types to loiter, as opposed to the industrial parts of Kent.

I'm a bigger guy, 6'3 200lbs, so perhaps they defer until a 165lbs weight weenie rolls by. ;)

I used to ride portions of the trail regularly, but in the Renton/Tukwila area. I never had a problem except as cited above with animals of varying intelligence. Now I ride it periodically as part of my recreational rides, but I can't say that I've ever seen anyone I would consider a threat in that area. There are some places where it goes through downtown Kent that I've occasionally seen people who look a little shady, but I just put that down to being in more of an urban setting.

The thing I don't like about the Interurban trail is the hooks over the train tracks in the area where it meets with the GR trail on the south end. People often hit that too fast and run tight off the thing.

I ride the Interurban recreationally, but I usually start at 37th street and head north then take the cut-off to the Green River Trail. I haven't been south of 37th since last summer where I took the trail to the end. Not too many sketchy folks, mostly walkers and an occasional gaggle of bored teenagers. I tend to ride late afternoon after work so I don't get to see what type of people hang out on the trail once the sun goes down.

I don't often ride at the SuperMall end, but I've never had any problems anywhere along the length of the trail. There's a few homeless campsites in portions, but generally speaking, the homeless would rather not bother you because they know that they would be forced to move if there's complaints.

I'd like to see some newspaper accounts, or police reports, myself.

East Hill

My sig other walks this area ( by the mall) on her lunch break almost daily and has never had an issue. That said I will now be following this link with great interest.

I don't know if this helps but once on the Interurban trail in Everett (by the Everett mall) a girl was attacked. This was years ago I have not heard of any problems up there since. I personally have not heard of any problems with it down in the South.

edit: If this so called surgeon had worked on "lots of victims" we would all know about it. It would be in the news and would have appeared on this site by now.

Thats kind of what i thought, like i said i have never had any issues my self, could have been an urban legend. I have almost drilled many rabbits usually in the wee hours of the morning. Most people don't mess with me because i am a 165 lb weenie:rolleyes: lol, Thanks for the replys Jim

No Issues
 

I ride with a number of folks out of the Auburn Valley YMCA smack dab in the middle of the area you're talking about. I have never had any problems on the trail and I haven't heard of any issues. Prior to the Supermall banning the big 18 wheeler trucks from overnighting in their parking lots around the theater, there were a number of shady folks hanging around on weekends and early evenings, but I don't recall reading anything bad in the Auburn Reporter.

I'm betting that the surgeon is referring to crash victims that he's patched up. One of the gals that I ride with broke her pelvic bone on the RR crossings South of Kent and I've heard of some folks having bad run in and crashes with the posts at the trail/road crossings. There is nothing good that can happen to a rider that miscalculates their way around those things (ouch!).

That is my 2 cents from Auburn.

Terry Davis