Thursday, November 18, 2004
It has been a dry year in terms of getting to new skateparks. I haven't made it to any new concrete...well milton wa, but that was just a pitstop. I supose I could count the new streetcourse at the Department. They built a new street course from scratch and it is quite different from their previous course. This one is more... more street. More gaps, more ledges, the whole back wall is this weird tranny to bank to wall thing that can be pretty cool, tight like a real street sort of bank. There are more stairs, handrails, a rock gap drop thing, I was confused at first, but now I'm loving it. I've been going to old man night and getting my street skate on. The reasoning there is there are too many old men that can rip the bowl, so I might as well skate the street course where I can actually skate for two hours instead of waiting for some dude to finish his epic run. I'm thinking if we get some dry days soon I'll take some time here and make a costal run.
posted by jered bogli 9:59 AM
It has been a dry year in terms of getting to new skateparks. I haven't made it to any new concrete...well milton wa, but that was just a pitstop. I supose I could count the new streetcourse at the Department. They built a new street course from scratch and it is quite different from their previous course. This one is more... more street. More gaps, more ledges, the whole back wall is this weird tranny to bank to wall thing that can be pretty cool, tight like a real street sort of bank. There are more stairs, handrails, a rock gap drop thing, I was confused at first, but now I'm loving it. I've been going to old man night and getting my street skate on. The reasoning there is there are too many old men that can rip the bowl, so I might as well skate the street course where I can actually skate for two hours instead of waiting for some dude to finish his epic run. I'm thinking if we get some dry days soon I'll take some time here and make a costal run.
posted by jered bogli 9:59 AM
Monday, May 17, 2004
Milton Washington:
Grindline is at it again, they are always at it. This park makes a great stop on the ride north - 10 minutes from I-5! Get off exit 142-B which puts you going west on Federal Way, go left on Enchanted Parkway, drive past the water park/amusement park, drive a few miles, you'll enter Milton, keep going untill you ready Milton Way, go right and you'll see the park on your left up about a mile or so.
The Bowls are bigger than most - I think everything was taller than me! Maybe 7'-10'. It is basically a "U" shape, one end has a big catchers mitt over vert thing that is very mellow, there is the Door of Death to ride over, lots of hips and two deeper half bowls off of the the opposite side of the "U". The park has pool coping on everything but the oververt mitt, which is their special blend of concrete coping. The transitions are much quicker than most other Grindline parks I've skated, tall and quick = more scary! The layout was much more linear than say Orcas or West Linn, so for me that took some getting use to. I wasn't in a skating mood really so I didn't really learn it as best as I could. The "U" layout allowed for more than one person to skate at one time, but the size made it difficult to know where the other person was. I can't complain - it is 100% better than most of the parks out there! There is a "street" area as well - quite a departure for the fine Grindline folks. I wonder if they actually built it? Check the photo - out of character, flat slab with a couple ledges/manual pads, no tranny on the ends to allow for flow - just the way a street course should be. One way and lots of space for kids to stand around... HA!
Overview of the bowls at Milton WA
door of death
You can get your hardflip to bs crooks on here...
posted by jered bogli 10:31 AM
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
Orcas Island, WA
It is wonderful that this Tiny island in the San Juan Islands can have a skatepark of this level. Again, I'll get some pictures up!! There is never anyone there, to get to the island you need to spend $50 to take the ferry and then drive (or bike over on the ferry for under $10) ten miles to the town of Eastsound. The park has some steet elements all around the outside and a crazy gate you can walk through and under the cement into the park - tranny on both sides so you could grind over the enterance if you were so inclined. The outer area of the park is also this race track feeling snakerun thing that is beyond fun once you get the flow down, the last bit of this outter circuit is a five+ foot wall that has a ton of over vert on it and when you hit it with speed it sucks you up and spits you out extra fast. On the inside of the park is a series of bowls with a center island. All types of hips and corners sized from four feet up to twelve feet, all pool coping, a turbo roll in and a vert wall death box combination that scared me. If you're biking the nearest campground is Moran State park and they do have hiker biker sites for $10 per night. Be warned it is all uphill to the camp ground...five miles uphill and in the evening into the wind, however it was a great campground!! I hear at Obstruction Pass there is free camping if you're willing to walk in a half mile...of couse on bikes it was another five plus miles there so we stuck to the close campground. A great weekend to hide out and skate!!
posted by jered bogli 11:40 PM
Hailey Idaho
I need to get some pictures and video up of this place. The full pipe is the main attraction. Full pipe you can ride through or roll over if you can get enough speed. Rolling in off the top of the pipe is crazy scary, but SUPER easy. It is weird. I guess most of us are not use to rolling in on something that is twenty feet tall. Easy because there is never vert - convex to bank to concave - easy. The scary part is when you realize how much speed you're coming into the 14 ft pocket with. Everything at Hailey is big, the six foot stuff is scary. The place is metal coping almost all the way around, some raw cement on top of the big banked wall, tons of transfer lines and more speed than you can imagine. It is worth the drive...though I put in some random dates and found you can fly there for $195 from PDX. You could easily skate from the terminal to the park - first flight in, last flight out and pack some lunch...
posted by jered bogli 11:29 PM
Thursday, January 16, 2003
Once again the fine cement masters of Oregon have constructed another piece of perfection. I'm not sure if it was Grindline or Dreamland that built this one, I still get them confused...subtle design/philosophical differences but either way a perfect park. West Linn is a great combination of bowl and street elements. The edges of the park are all rails and ledges. This is honestly the most street elements I've seen a in a park built by these guys. Design wise the West Linn park is one of the most organic looking parks I've seen since the Newport park, organic in its street to bowl intergration and the way elements seem to morph out of cement. It is one rad park. I suspect when it gets crowded you will never be safe from flying boards. I'm going to try and post some photos soon. On the bowl side of things you have a 9' roller to deep end that ends with an aumsville like pocket that is slightly more mellow, there is a super mellow 45º hip that flows into a 9' oververt pocket, all of this has pool coping and is perfect as usual! The street stuff is pretty standard fare, ledges, rails, stairs, a fun box etc. The smallest part of the park has a pool stair section that is a bit odd, but is a nice kids area. There will be some rippers living in West Linn by spring time no doubt! The park is about a half hour from Portland, so it is the closest bit of perfection we have. Maybe it will spit some of the Newberg trafic as well...? More to come.
posted by jered bogli 10:01 AM
Thursday, November 07, 2002
I went back to Aumsville this past weekend and once again realized that I suck on a skateboard. Aumsville destroys you if you don't have confidence. I was destroyed. I love that park. So fast, great hips, perfect corners, and smoooth concrete as far as you can roll.
posted by jered bogli 1:31 PM
Thursday, October 17, 2002
Department of Skateboarding - portland oregon
This was my second time to the Department. I liked it much better this time. The first time was one of the most crowded days ever - it was not fun. This time round there were far fewer people and you could really skate. I'm still not totaly sold on the street course, the layout is more terraced instead of your stock ramp/bank on either side and a series of boxes/ledges/rails in the middle. There are some boxes you can move around and a gap thing you can set up, all around it is pretty fun. There is a small 4' bowl with a vert/wallride thing, which is pretty fun, a little small, but good to get your flow going before hitting the big bowl. Big bowl 6'-8'deep, hips to the right, lots of good fast lines, fast meaty coping, and really mellow trannies - lots of fun. I paid $6.00 for two hours of skating - not bad!
posted by jered bogli 11:09 PM
Monday, August 19, 2002
Port Orford - Sweet Jesus what have they created? Easily the Scariest park I've ever set my wheels in! The smallest section is head high or higher, the deep end is...I'm guessing eleven feet or more with ample vert. The "cradle" is 13ft or maybe more and super scary and burly. I've never skated anything that fast, never skated anything where you generate so much speed so easily. The park sets up up to hit the "cradle" at mach 4 - which unless you've got HUGE skills is way too fast. The park is more than the "cradle" but that feature defines the park. I can not accurately express how incredible this park is. You've got to skate it to believe it. Drive the whole Oregon coast, do them all - Astoria, Lincoln City, Newport, Port Orford, Brookings!!!
Brookings - Clover bowl inside a U shaped bowl. Jump/launcher thing over the clover bowl. Pool coping on the extra tight clover bowl, Nice thick pipe all around the rest of the park. I honestly didn't like this park, which means it is still 3000% better than 99.9% of the other parks in the world. Not as much flow as I had hoped for, lots of lines, but they are a bit more obscure than other parks such as Aumsville, or Lincoln City. I also skated this after biking 300 miles to get there, so I was a bit tired and spent. The other issue Is the day before I skated Port Orford and that park is so far beyond fast it is scary!
posted by jered bogli 12:05 PM
