DNR is hard at work planning and developing recreation across millions of acres of state trust lands. Here are some of our current projects on some of your favorite landscapes. Stay up-to-date and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter. 

 

DNR opened a new trailhead in July 2017 to provide hiking access to the Mount Teneriffe Trail, including a summit viewpoint and waterfall access. The trailhead also helps connect hikers to the broader Mount Si NRCA.

 

DNR would like to create a connector trail that starts on the east of the Mount Teneriffe Trailhead location and would provide access to the Civilian Conservation Corps Trail. This connector would lead visitors further into the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River valley on the slopes north of the river. DNR is seeking funding as the trail connection design begins. In partnership with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, the new Oxbow Loop Trail located up the Middle Fork River valley opened in the spring of 2019. This unique family-friendly hiking opportunity provides opportunities for views of the Oxbow, Middle Fork River and the surrounding mountains. 

 

DNR has started the trail designing and permitting process for a new hiking trail, located east of Mount Teneriffe, on Green Mountain with grant funds. This new trail will provide a designated hiking trail to the Last Chance Promontory viewpoint and potentially offer a looped hike. The target for breaking ground is in late Spring 2021, after full design and outreach to stakeholders. This project also includes two large trail bridge installations along the Civilian Conservation Corps Trail to improve safety and resource protection.  

 

For more information, contact Laurie Benson by email at Laurie.Benson@dnr.wa.gov.

DNR is bringing enhanced amenities to Capitol State Forest campgrounds and trailheads. We will be putting two new toilets and expanded parking at Mima Falls Trailheads, popular for horseback riding; new toilets at Fall Creek Campground and trailhead; and a new shelter and unloading ramp at Middle Waddle day-use area. Middle Waddel Campground and trailhead improvements will also include paved approaches and parking areas.

 

For more information, contact Margaret Bagley by phone at 360-628-2391 or by email at Margaret.Bagley@dnr.wa.gov.

A 23-campsite campground north of Spokane, Dragoon Creek Campground is surrounded by 140 of forested state trust lands. Dragoon Creek runs through the campground, making water quality critically important. DNR is replacing six outdated outhouses with three new rustic restrooms. Other enhanced amenities will also include gravel for campsites, trails, and fire pits.

 

For more information, contact Kyle Pomrankey by phone at 509-685-2719 or by email at Kyle.pomrankey@dnr.wa.gov.

 

The East Tiger Mountain project is in the third phase of trail building. In collaboration with Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, DNR has recently developed five miles of additional trail to complete trail connections and provide loop opportunities with diverse difficulty levels. Recent trail additions include Master Link, Inside Passage, The Legend, Megafauna, East Bound & Down, and NOTG to bring the system's total mileage to over 25 miles. DNR has secured grants to help develop a future trail connection to the Preston Community, construction of part of this trail connection is underway. A new viewpoint shelter near the summit of east Tiger Mountain is in the permitting phase, and construction could begin as soon as fall 2021. During the summer of 2020, completion of a new ascent trail connection, named Power Link, opened to the public that runs to the top of east Tiger Summit. This trail link provides a forest road alternative for better trail connectivity to East Tiger Mountain's summit.

 

The design of an equestrian trail connection between Tiger Summit Trailhead and the South Tiger Mountain trail network is happening and will be permitted to break ground by fall 2021. A western descent trail will be a new option for mountain bikes and is nearing completion. DNR expects it to open in the summer of 2021. This trail will connect the top of the Preston Railroad Grade Trail to the western end of the Iverson Railroad Grade Trail. Future work will also seek to develop two miles of additional trail that will provide an ascent alternative to the Crossover Road, improving central trail system connectivity between the bottom of Off-the-Grid Trail and Quick Link. DNR will pursue another descent option trail to connect the Inside Passage Trail's western end to the NW Timber Trail's west end. It will create a link to a new NW Timber Bypass Trail.

 

In collaboration with the Back Country Horseman of Washington and Issaquah Alps Trails Club, DNR will seek to develop trail connections from Tiger Summit Trailhead directly to equestrian and hiking trail system areas at Tiger Mountain State Forest. Design work has also begun to renovate and expand the current Tiger Summit Trailhead to accommodate parking demands better and improve traffic flow. Construction will occur once trailhead development funds are secured, and the project is fully permitted.

 

For more information, contact Laurie Benson by email at Laurie.Benson@dnr.wa.gov.

With 14 miles of off-road-vehicle trails open year-round, the Elbe Hills Off-Road Vehicle trail system in our Elbe Hills State Forest draws about 10,000 visitors annually. DNR is building a new 10-site, 7-acre ORV campground with amenities like toilets, picnic shelters, fire rings, and picnic tables.

 

For more information, contact Joe Chavez by phone at 360-825-1631 or by email at Joe.Chavez@dnr.wa.gov.

This project involves implementing the Green Mountain and Tahuya State Forests Recreation Plan, a comprehensive public planning process resulting from feedback and engagement with multiple stakeholders and user groups, completed Dec. 2013. Green Mountain State Forest trail system planning efforts have been underway for the past couple of years, in partnership with a trail planning advisory committee. The committee provides feedback to meet specific management objectives.

 

DNR aims to complete trail system concept planning, design, and field layouts by spring 2021. These improvements seek to expand and enhance trail opportunities for equestrians, mountain bikers, and hikers with motorized trail development on the western side of the mountain as a secondary use. DNR has secured grant funding to develop ten trail miles and renovate four additional trail miles in the non-motorized primary recreation management objective zone. Permitting is underway.  

 

For more information, contact Laurie Benson by email at Laurie.Benson@dnr.wa.gov.

 

DNR and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are beginning to plan for the future of recreation on the Manastash Ridge trails outside Ellensburg. View a roster of our volunteer-based committee helping to make trail planning recommendations. View the committee ground rules. Meetings occur from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month at DNR's Southeast Region office, located at 713 Bowers Road in Ellensburg.

 

For more information, email manastashtrails@dfw.wa.gov.

 

 

In collaboration with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, DNR is expanding recreation opportunities in the 10,828-acre Middle Fork Snoqualmie Natural Resources Conservation Area, which protects native habitats and provides some of the state's most popular trailheads, such as Mailbox Peak. DNR will be collaborating with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to complete the upper alpine 0.5 miles of the five-mile hiking trail that accesses the Mailbox Peak summit during the summers of 2021/2022. New features will include finishing the rock steps and tread work.

 

Another project within this natural area and a high priority in our Snoqualmie Corridor Recreation Plan is the Granite Creek Trailhead. DNR opened the trailhead Jul. 2017 to provide access to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River and Granite and Thomson Lakes, located in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. DNR recently reconstructed the Dirty Harry's Peak Trail to improve hiking and rock climbing access in collaboration with Washington Trails Association, the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, and the Access Fund. This project opened in the fall of 2018. Dirty Harry can accessed from Exit 38 on I-90 by the Far Side Trailhead. Future potential recreation-related work will collaborate with the United State Forest Service (USFS) on better trail connectivity to the Ira Spring Trail and possibly other USFS network trails.

 

For more information, contact Laurie Benson by email at Laurie.Benson@dnr.wa.gov.

 

In collaboration with Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and the Darrington community, DNR opened the new Darrington North Mountain Bike Skills Area in July 2017, offering four miles of new trails with various difficulty levels and including family-friendly options. Ten additional trail miles offering downhill trail options for more experienced riders on the Upper North Mountain Bike Trail System had a soft opening in fall 2019.  

 

View a map of the trail system here. DNR is working with an adjacent landowner and the town of Darrington to construct a final trail segment to link the upper mountain system to the skills area. This segment would allow riders to connect from the top of the mountain to the town of Darrington and finish along the Whitehorse Trail. To learn more about the project, visit our webpage.

 

In partnership with Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, DNR teamed with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust and Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance to develop the 9.2-mile Olallie Trail within Olallie State Park, on the north slopes of Mount Washington (just east of North Bend). This new trail opened to the public in October 2017. Agencies and partners continue to explore opportunities to improve the current shared use. The out-and-back trail experience offers multiple lower elevation loop opportunities as part of a more extensive trail system on the western end of the Olallie Trail. 

 

DNR has secured new grant funding to add additional trails on the western end of the Olallie Trail. DNR has entered into a new agreement with State Parks to implement the second phase of trail system expansion, currently being designed and permitted, and expected to break ground by the fall of 2021. Future Olallie Trail expansion to the east, connecting to planned USFS trails, will continue to be developed – if funding sources are secured.

 

 

This project involves designing a parking expansion and renovation of the Snoqualmie Point Trailhead to accommodate an anticipated increase in visitation. It also develops a trail system for hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers with approximately 45 total trail miles. Phase 1 trail system development opened 17 miles of new trail in the Raging River State Forest in May 2018. Directly across Highway 18 from Tiger Mountain and in the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, this trail system will continue to expand and provide one of the most popular destinations for mountain bikers in the state. 

 

Future connector trails will link to our existing 25-mile mountain bike trail system in East Tiger Mountain, King County's Taylor Mountain Forest, and Snoqualmie and North Bend communities. A portion of Phase 2 trail system development efforts, the opening of seven additional trail miles, was completed in summer 2020, expanding the system to 24 total trail miles. The remaining three trail miles to complete Phase 2 construction is in-progress. Phase 3 funding, which will also include an additional ten miles of trail, has been secured, and project design and permitting are underway. DNR expects the groundbreaking in late spring 2021. Grant applications that seek funds to complete final trail system construction are also underway.  

 

 

DNR is replacing an old trail bridge in the Walker Valley Off-road-vehicle Area, which has about 36 miles of motorcycle, ATV, 4x4, and UTV trail. The new bridge will serve ATV and motorcycle trail riders on a major loop trail in southern Walker Valley. Being installed by Washington Conservation Corps crews, the new bridge will enhance water quality protection and ensure rider safety by providing alternate options from navigating forest roads.

 

Recreation Alert: A section of the popular Kim and Monica trail at the Walker Valley Off-Road-Vehicle (ORV) Trails Area will be temporarily closed from mid-January to approximately mid-March of this year while a new bridge is constructed.  The project will improve user safety and help protect water quality and wildlife habitat. This project was made possible with funding from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO), volunteers, and with the Department of Ecology Washington Conservation Crews sponsored by DNR. ORV users can still ride on the Kim and Monica trail up to the construction site on either side but will need to turn around at that point since riding through or in the stream area is not permitted. See the map here. 

 

For more information, contact Jim Cahill by phone at 360-854-2874 or by email at James.cahill@dnr.wa.gov.

 

Two development projects are underway in the Yacolt Burn State Forest. The 17-mile non-motorized trail project is part of the Tarbell and Bells Mountain Trail system. The new trails are open to multiple non-motorized uses. The 6-mile motorized trail project is part of the Hagen Creek Trail System. The Hagen Creek Trail system opened in May 2015 as the first 4x4 trail system in the Yacolt Burn State Forest. The new motorized trails also accommodate multiple types of off-road vehicles and features a rock gallery and amazing hilltop views.

 

 

For more information, contact Sharon Steriti by phone at 360-852-3390 or by email at Sharon.Steriti@dnr.wa.gov.