The History Of The Apple Capital Loop Trail

The legacy of the Apple Capital Loop Trail began in the early 1970’s. At this time, the riverfront consisted of a garbage dump, cars for rip-rap, and concrete waste causing extremely limited access to the river. Additionally, the east side of the river was threatened by a proposed highway along its banks. Two citizen groups arose to protect the future of our shorelines. One group, called the Save the Riverfront Committee, formed to oppose the development of the Eastside highway. The other group called the Columbia River Environmental Study Team (CREST) led by Joan Vandivort began discussing the viability of a park system along the Wenatchee Riverfront.

In the early 1980’s, the Save the Riverfront Committee hired attorney Mickey Gendler who successfully argued the case to abandon the Eastside highway before the state Shorelines Hearings Board. By the late 1980’s, CREST’s dream became a reality when the Chelan County PUD, largely motivated by Kirby Billingsley, developed a park system and non-motorized trail along the west bank of the Columbia River. The parks and trail were required mitigation for recreational opportunities lost by the construction of Rocky Reach and Rock Island dams.

Seeing an opportunity to expand the project, in 1989 the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust gathered a group of community leaders to discuss the potential for a pedestrian/bicycle trail along the river’s east side that would connect to the new parks and trail along the west side. The Complete the Loop Coalition was born, headed by Gordon Congdon Sr. and Bob Parlette. Over the course of several years, the Coalition worked tirelessly to raise funds, gain political support, and increase the awareness and interest of the community for the trail project. The dream was realized in 1994 when approximately 5 miles of paved trail along the east side of the river completed the loop.