Forty for Forty: The Humble Balsamroot Trail

Forty for Forty: The Humble Balsamroot Trail 

by Hanne Beener 

Over a handful of years, I have been fortunate to help bring various trails into existence across the hills of Land-Trust managed properties. It gives me a quiet satisfaction to watch my kids race ahead of me on these trails, or to share a passing nod with a stranger, both of us recognizing our good fortunes to be outside and moving through nature. 

Occasionally, I’m asked to name my favorite trail construction project and, oddly, I keep settling on the unassuming Balsamroot Trail. Traversing the lower elevation of our foothills between Kenzie’s Landing and Horse Lake Road, this modest ribbon of dirt offers neither the most glamorous views nor even the richest balsamroot bloom come springtime. It doesn’t climb to a lofty summit, nor does it boast the most thrilling features. It ambles along at a very decent grade, serving to extend someone’s outing or transport them along a sedate out-and-back walk. It’s a humble trail, if a trail could be described as such. The reason I have such an appreciation for the Balsamroot Trail is that it captures a snapshot of a very good group of people working together to lay it down across the slopes. The camaraderie and community that went into and came out of building this trail was special for me.

If you wonder how a multi-use trail ends up where it does, it’s mostly a result of people walking various alignments from point A to point B some 20 to 50 times. It was a golden fall evening in 2013 when I first walked the proposed Balsamroot Trail, following a longtime volunteer who told me we absolutely needed this connection to Horse Lake Road now that the City of Wenatchee and the Land Trust had protected additional open space in the north foothills adjacent to the Broadview neighborhood. We picked our way along the hillside, weaving in and out of the scar of a healing ‘dozer line, a remnant of the 2012 wildfires. We kept coming back to this snaking line we had walked –we brought more people with us, people who said it was too steep, people who said it was not steep enough. We moved every flag marking the route multiple times.

In the fall of 2014, we started building the trail. We used a mini-excavator where we could, augmenting this with a generator-powered jackhammer to create a bench through bands of sandstone. In the spring of 2015, we reached the northern end of the trail, where it turns nearly 90 degrees and cuts across a very steep slope and descends to Horse Lake Road. We decided to hand-build this segment to lessen the disturbance to the vibrant shrub-steppe ecosystem. The north-facing slope was thick with old-growth sagebrush towering overhead and we carefully threaded the trail through these elders to avoid removing them. The day we connected to Horse Lake Road, we sat in the setting sun and congratulated one another on all the hard work that had resulted in a creation we were proud of.

Only a month after the trail was complete, the Lower Sleepy Hollow Fire tore through the foothills and over this trail. The old sagebrushes we loved were gone, but for us builders, the memory of them remains in the trail’s funny curves and angles at its northern end. That fall, we hosted one of our biggest Make a Difference Day events to date and planted sage and bitterbrush throughout that burned area.

Over the intervening years, the Land Trust has grown and evolved. Our fleet of equipment is growing, and our expertise and efficiency in building trails and mitigating for the disturbance of construction is being honed by each new project. But at the heart of each trail project, we still need that scrappy group of folks to come out and help bring a trail to life. We need the time working next to each other, swinging a tool, trading jokes, making memories, and sharing satisfaction and ownership. We are building trails, yes, but we’re building more than that.
 

Details- The Humble Balsamroot Trail 
Access. The trail can be accessed from either its southern or northern. Southern access: Drive Maiden Lane through the Broadview housing development and park at the very end of the road at Kenzie’s Landing (the last few hundred yards of the road are gravel). There’s a vault toilet here. Northern access: Follow Horse Lake Road a mile from North Wenatchee Avenue. When the road turns to gravel, park in a large pullout on the right side of the road (no facilities here).

Trip Instructions. From the south: Two trails leave from Kenzie’s Landing and the rightmost, lower trail is the Balsamroot. The trail is initially flat, traverses west, and crosses a small draw before it hooks right and starts climbing gently in a northerly direction. Once on the correct trail, there are no choices to be made – follow it all the way to Horse Lake Road (1.9 miles). The trail climbs initially, then makes a long, downhill descent to the far end. From the north: Head about 40 yards up the gravel road and look for the entrance to the trail on the left (if you reach the gate along Horse Lake Road, you’ve gone 40 yards too far). Once on the trail, follow it all the way to Kenzie’s Landing. Regardless of where you start, this is an out-and-back outing.

Trip Stats. Roundtrip distance: 3.8 miles. Roundtrip elevation gain: 600 vertical feet.
Land Ownership.  The route spans a mixture of lands owned by the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust and the City of Wenatchee.

Allowed. The outing is suited to hikers, trail runners, and mountain bikers. Leashed dogs are allowed (carry out your dog’s waste). Horses are legal but the number of other users along this narrow, steep-sided trail may detract from the experience for riders.

Not allowed. No motorized use, camping, campfires, hunting, shooting, picking of plants, off-trail travel, or littering.

Upcoming Events. Join CDLT in celebrating Make a Difference Day on October 25th at 9:00 am- 1:00 pm at Saddle Rock Natural Area. Volunteers will assist with planting native vegetation, mulching and watering plants, and other trail maintenance tasks to keep the area safe and sustainable. The land trust will provide free food and tools. 
 

Hanne Beener worked as the Trails Manager for the Land Trust at the time this trail was built. She is now the organization’s Executive Director. 
Forty for Forty. Recognizing the 40th Anniversary of the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust with 40 stories about places the CDLT has protected and kept open for public access.