Meet at the North Chuckanut trail head
Saturday, Nov 30
10:30 a.m. 
 
We will car pool to the beginning of the new trail. The current work site is just under a mile from there. People can leave whenever they want but I am sure we will all leave the site by about 3:30 and be down by 4:30.
 
It is good to bring water and a snack in addition to weather appropriate clothes and gloves. Some people may need hand/foot warmers if the weather is cool.
 
There will be rake and hoe work to level the surface and put in drains. There will also be lots of roots (many small enough to cut with lopers) and rocks that need to be removed. I will try to have tools for everyone but if anyone has a favorite tool for this type of work they are welcome to bring it.
 

 

In the News:

From the Bellingham Herald: Volunteers Needed for trail-building project on Chuckanut Mountain

Half of the trail will go over an old road bed and the other half will go through undisturbed forest until its end near the Raptor Ridge overlook. Set to be completed by next spring, the new route will link the Huckleberry and Raptor Ridge trails. It also will bisect what is now a loop formed by other trails.
The route will be open to mountain bikers, hikers, runners and horses.

To volunteer, call Jackie Yereance at 360-671-7764. A member of Whatcom Chapter of Backcountry Horsemen of Washington State, Yereance is coordinating the volunteers.
To donate money to the trail-building project, go online to wprfoundation.org or buy a Buy a Chuckanut Mountain T-shirt from Klicks Running & Walking, 1431 N. State St., Bellingham.

 

Bellingham Herald: New Route will Connect Chuckanut Mountain Trails

A new 1.2-mile section is being added to the Chuckanut Mountain trail system, with half going over an old road bed and the other half through undisturbed forest until its end near the Raptor Ridge overlook.

Set to be completed by next spring, the new route will link the Huckleberry and Raptor Ridge trails.

“It’s going to be a nice connector,” said Tom Chisholm, trail program coordinator for Whatcom County Parks and Recreation Department.

It also will bisect what is now a loop formed by other trails.

The route will be open to mountain bikers, hikers, runners and horses.

It has been part of a trail master plan for the area going back to 1996, and is the last one from that plan for the county to complete.

Volunteers led by the Whatcom Chapter of Backcountry Horsemen of Washington State, which builds and maintains trails, are making the trail a reality.

“It wouldn’t have happened without their effort and their energy,” said Chisholm of the organization, which is working on the project with the parks department.

Jackie Yereance, who lives nearby and is a member of Backcountry Horsemen, was part of the trail-planning effort for the 1996 master plan.

She is organizing the volunteer effort to build the trail.

“The project also owes a great deal to everyday walkers and hikers that frequent Chuckanut Mountain and have been wanting it for a long time, and also to the running stores,” she said in an email.

Those stores are Fairhaven Runners & Walkers, which contributed money to the trail project, and Klicks Running & Walking, which is selling T-shirts and giving 100 percent of the purchase price to help pay for the trail project.

Birch Equipment also is renting a mini-excavator at cost for the trail building.

TO DONATE

Money is still being raised for the project to build a 1.2-mile trail link between Huckleberry and Raptor Ridge trails on Chuckanut Mountain.

A rough estimate puts the trail-building cost at $2,000.

To help:

— Buy a Chuckanut Mountain T-shirt from Klicks Running & Walking, 1431 N. State St. in Bellingham.

— Make a tax-deductible donation through Whatcom Parks and Recreation Foundation by going to its website at wprfoundation.org and contributing via credit card or PayPal. Or send a check to the foundation at P.O. Box 29963, Bellingham, WA 98228. Include a note indicating that the money is for the Huckleberry to Raptor trail project.