Paving to begin to Candy Mountain trailhead. The latest on the next Tri-Cities hiking trails
As the Friends of Badger Mountain group prepares to celebrate their 20th anniversary, the trail system they shepherd continues to grow with hundreds of thousands of hikers enjoying the sweeping views each year.
They’re also gearing up to start some major work on expanding trails this year.
On Tuesday, the Benton County commissioners voted to approve paving the road leading to the Candy Mountain trailhead near West Richland.
The project includes paving a portion of road that is currently gravel between the trailhead parking lot and Arena Road.
Bob Bass, Friends of Badger president, said they don’t expect to see a major interruption in trailhead access during the paving. A start f for paving hasn’t been announced. The county expects any closure to access to the parking lot to last only a day or two, and they hope to have it done by Memorial Day.
He said the parking lot is not expected to be paved, and the county may not be able to pave one portion near the parking lot because it’s privately owned.
Blazing new trails
Bass said they are working on securing more land on Candy Mountain to expand the trails there.
“We’re negotiating with one of the major land owners on the northwest side of Candy Mountain, and we’re working with the landowners to get us off (the mountain) to head down to Kennedy (Road),” Bass said.
That extra portion of Candy would eventually allow hikers to start near Kennedy Road and hike up Candy Mountain, cross over to the Badger Mountain Westgate Trailhead, hike the Skyline trail across Badger and continue on to the future Little Badger trail.
“The idea is to eventually get us over to the Amon Creek area,” Bass said.
The climb down on the east side of Little Badger should put hikers just across Leslie Road from the Amon Basin Preserve.
They’re still a ways out from making those connections, but most of the land is secured. They also hope to eventually connect with the Badger Mountain South community, but that will come much later.
Bass said he expects work on the future Little Badger Mountain trail to begin this fall. The city’s portions could get started sooner.
“It’s moving along, there’s things that the city has to do with regard to contracting out certain work. There’s part of the trail that they’re building, and what we’re doing,” Bass said. “It’ll be this year, but we won’t be doing any trail work for quite a few months because it’s already starting to get too dry.”
They expect to need a lot of volunteers to help this fall. The organization is always looking for more hands, but Bass notes that it can be hard work, especially carving out the new trails.
“A lot of our trail work we do ourselves. We need people to do that work and to help maintain the trails, as well because we’re always doing something on the trails. We’re always trying to recruit,” he said.
“There’s going to be a lot of work to do (for Little Badger), and not a lot of time to do it because of the weather. We need lots of volunteers and it’s hard work,” Bass said. “It’s not anything for kids to do with parents, there’s a lot of shoveling and raking and sometimes heavy equipment.”
The city’s portion of the Little Badger trail will include the new trailhead parks.
A January proposal called for the main trailhead with off-street parking to be at a former orchard near the future intersection of Queensgate Drive and Gage Boulevard.
That would come in after an unrelated move by the city to connect Gage and Queensgate with a roundabout.
Several other secondary trailheads also have been proposed. They could include parks at Gage Boulevard and at Morency Drive.
Bass has joked that Little Badger will be the most expensive stretch of trail in Eastern Washington, after securing $2.5 million in fundraising for the 56-acres.
That’s more than they spent on Candy Mountain and Badger Mountain combined.
To put that in perspective, the 500 acres on Badger Mountain cost them $600,000 in 2003 and the 200-acres on Candy Mountain set them back about $1.5 million.
A big part of the cost was getting the property at the summit, which is being sold at a premium to potential homeowners looking for a breathtaking view.
Friends of Badger Mountain managed to buy three lots off Skyview Loop to help ensure everyone can experience it. In all, they’ve preserved more than 75 acres on the hillside, which was primed for high-dollar real estate.
20th anniversary
The organization is looking forward to celebrating its 20th anniversary.
They’ll be hosting a private celebration in May with a look back at the work they’ve done since their founding in 2003. Guests will include former county commissioners who helped kickstart the trail efforts.
For more information about the trail system, visit friendsofbadger.org.
Anyone interested in helping with regular trail maintenance or volunteering for the new trail system should contact the trailmaster Jim Langdon at trailmaster@friendsofbadger.org.
