Robert Whitford
9/18/2018 11:39 PM
Occasionally we road riders wind up on trails, such as the Tommy Thompson in Anacortes and the narrow walkway on the twin bridges. There is "trail etiquette" or rules of the road which attempt to keep the chaos to a minimum. Unfortunately, the Tommy Thompson is total chaos as few of the wanderers and dog walkers (or seagulls!) pay any attention to what they are doing. After some searching I found the following rules:
1. Walk/ride right, Pass left
2. Bikers yield to hikers and both yield to horses
3. DOWNHILL YIELDS TO UPHILL
This last is important on the twin bridge walkway where we had two "incidents" monday when the downhill riders did not yield. One was a head-on where a lady wound up on the ground under her bike--fortunately both were almost stopped. All ok. The other was some hotshot coming down doing 20mph who blew by us without a glance--very scary and dangerous. I'm thinking a few stenciled rules painted on the surface might be helpful...
Be careful out there. Remember you are not the only one using the trail.