32°A Few Clouds
New trails plan in works for Saddle Rock
By Michelle McNiel
World staff writer
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
World photo/Don Seabrook
There are multiple paths in some areas of the hike to Saddle Rock. Chelan Douglas Land Trust and Project Groundwork are making recommendations on trail closures in the area.
World photo/Don Seabrook
A group takes off, up the main trail to Saddle Rock on Saturday morning, through the gated entrance where the Chelan Douglas Land Trust has advertised their need for donations for the purchase of the land.
World photo/Don Seabrook
Hikers enjoy the trails around Saddle Rock on Saturday morning, walking past ruts made in some of the paths on the route to the saddle. Chelan Douglas Land Trust and Project Groundwork are making recommendations on trail closures partly to prevent more erosion in the area.
WENATCHEE — Hikers have a lot of choices as they make their way to the top of Saddle Rock.
After passing through the gate at the end of Circle Street and heading up the primary road, walkers soon have the option of taking a steep cutoff trail to shortcut a wide bend. Then, at the bend, there are more options. Stay on the main road or climb up a leg-burning, rutted path carved by years of boot heels and spring runoff.
“Basically, a system of poorly maintained roads has provided a jumping-off point for any number of user-defined trails up here,” said David Stipe, owner of Project Groundwork, which recently completed an assessment of the trails surrounding the iconic rock outcropping.
“There have never been any plans for developing trails on Saddle Rock,” he said.
Later this month, Stipe will report his findings to the city of Wenatchee, which now owns the rock and 300 acres surrounding it, and to the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust, which has created an endowment fund to maintain the trails and will solicit donations and grants to improve the trails in the coming years.
The Land Trust hired Stipe to do the work, which does not cover a nearby trail system owned by Appleatchee Riders.
Stipe plans to recommend closing some of the steepest, most dangerous and worn out segments in the labyrinth of trails. Other paths — including the primary road that leads partway to the top — should be relocated and contoured to make less steep. And some should simply be improved to reduce water runoff and erosion.
The landscape around the landmark is marked up with nearly six miles of foot paths and another two miles of roads created by more than a century of hiking, biking, horseback riding and mineral exploration. It is one of the most heavily used trail systems in Wenatchee’s foothills.
“Many of those trails were built inappropriately; they were not built sustainably,” said Bob Bugert, executive director of the Land Trust.
He said the Land Trust is working on developing short and long-term plans for improving the the trails. Those plans must first be approved by the city. The Land Trust will then get to work on those plans, he said.
In addition to mapping the existing trails, Stipe said he met with people who regularly use the trails and also observed people to see which trails they used most.
Armed with a map for the trails, overlaid with contours, Stipe then used U.S. Forest Service and International Mountain Bicycling Association trail-building standards to design a new trail system for Saddle Rock.
“The idea is to identify where people want to go and provide reasonable access to those destinations,” he said. “If people can’t see a way to get there, they will make their own way.”
The trails he recommends closing are too steep to maintain, degrading to the natural habitat, or are unnecessary.
Some of the steepest trails have as much as a 60-percent grade, Stipe said. Standard trail-building guidelines recommend no steeper than 10 to 15 percent, Bugert added.
There are also several overgrown roads that lead to nowhere. Most were used to get vehicles to mineral exploration sites. When hikers reach the end of the road, they cut across country to reach the nearest defined path, creating even more trails, Bugert said.
Bugert and Stipe said one trail they struggle with cuts across the hillside just below the outcropping. Stipe said it’s dangerous and is not essential to reach the top. But it’s popular.
“We’re trying to get a handle on if and how it could be maintained,” he said.
Stipe said he did not try to create a mountain bikers course to the top. Right now, the trail is too steep and dangerous for most bikers.
“I believe it will continue to be a day hikers’ corridor,” he said.
Bugert added, “We just want to make it easier for kids, families and older adults to use, too.”
Stipe said no destination sites, such as large rocks and overlooks, will be cut off. Rather, he wants to reduce the number of trails getting there.
His plan also includes plenty of out-of-way opportunities for hikers who want to get off the beaten path.
“Some people want a little more of a nature experience rather than just a walk on a road,” he said.
Bugert said he expects that once the Saddle Rock trail system is overhauled, it will take people some time to adjust. He said many people have favorite routes they’ve taken for years and won’t want to change. He said it took about two years to get people to stop using the closed trails at nearby Jacobsen Preserve. They plan to use education and signs to steer people away from steep and unsafe trails.
“We want the community to take ownership in this plan,” Stipe said. “The only way this is going to be successful is if the community gets behind it.”
He added, “It’s going to be a much more beautiful place when it’s finished, not all scratched up like it is now.”
Michelle McNiel: 664-7152
mcniel@wenatcheeworld.com
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walizm 8 months, 1 week ago
PLEASE LEAVE THE TRAILS ALONE. THEY WORK JUST FINE FOR THOSE THAT USE THEM..
What is needed is a larger parking area!
The trails are beautful to look at and wonderful to hike. The area is aesthetically pleasing now and doesn't need to be made "more beautiful". It's NATURE.
HRB 8 months, 1 week ago
I agree with walizm LEAVE THE TRAILS ALONE. If they really feel the need to spend money on something then they need to fix the parking area.
jecflyer172 8 months, 1 week ago
Now that the city has it they are closing trails? Why would you mess up a good thing. People have been walking this for years and loving what they do. Leave it alone and let us enjoy it. OR better yet use a pannel of people who walk it to help decide the trails not a bunch of office people who have never even been on it.
bfield 8 months, 1 week ago
I use the trail frequently. What comes through loudly in the article is that the people doing this also love the trails. They also know a lot about the simultaneous enjoyment and preservation of landscape resources. Project Groundwork is a local landscape architecture and engineering firm and they have an exceptionally strong understanding of rural land design issues and aesthetics. I welcome the improvements because as stated in the article, the planner recognize that the existing trails are there not because of a planned layout but because people have chosen routes they want to take. Accordingly, they will honor those choices and recommend improvements to the existing routes. For a lot of people, choices may actually increase because safety on some routes will improve. The planners will recommend a few sensible safety improvements and prevent pointless and unnecessary erosion. Taking the long term view, these are relatively small advances that will allow the landscape to be enjoyed more and more safely for longer by more people without degradation of the beauty or the hiking experience. Change in this case isn't a bad thing: it's the same thing, only better.
mcniel 8 months, 1 week ago
jecflyer172, my story does state that they talked with people who regular