Sage Hills

Hikers, runners, and bikers in the Wenatchee Valley have long known that the foothills provide amazing recreation and scenery. But in 2001, development threatened access to this local resource.  The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust responded with the Save the Sage campaign, rallying local support to preserve this community asset.

Plants and wildflowers add to the beauty of our foothills and improve the air and water quality, enrich and maintain the soil, sustain wildlife and provide humans with food and medicine.

Hikers, runners, and bikers in the Wenatchee Valley have long known that the foothills provide amazing recreation and scenery. But in 2001, development threatened access to this local resource.

The Wenatchee Foothills are a local treasure that symbolize why many people live in north central Washington—natural beauty, open space, and unparalleled recreational access just outside city limits. The beautiful, rolling shrub steppe is home to mule deer and Western Meadowlark.

WENATCHEE — The Sage Hills Trail system through much of the Wenatchee foothills will close for the season Dec. 1, the Chelan County PUD announced Friday.

WENATCHEE — The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust acquired the last puzzle piece in the Sage Hills area of the Wenatchee Foothills on Sept. 15 after trying for eight years.

The Sage Hills Trails, which traverse the hills west of Wenatchee, will close for the winter to all recreational use on Tuesday to protect habitat for wintering mule deer and other wildlife, the Chelan County PUD said in a news release Monday.

Abe Sorom and his sons were the first ones to hit the Sage Hills Trail from the north as the popular trail system opened for the season Tuesday.

The Sage Hills to the west of Wenatchee are important year round. In the spring, summer and fall, these sunny slopes provide easily accessible trails for hiking, biking and exploring. Now, as we transition to winter, the Sage Hills become a vital refuge for mule deer.

The long awaited opening of the Sage Hills Trails in the Wenatchee Foothills is almost here.  Each year, these trails close in December to provide mule deer winter habitat without human influence. Winter can be a difficult period for pregnant does, as well as fawns, who are building fat reserves to make it through winter.