gotta love a nice long strenous horse shoe or figure 8
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Loops are all the rage (video)
Fort to Sea Trail expands with new loop
By JOE GAMM
The Daily Astorian
One frustration for hikers at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park is the disappointment that all their trails have led from one point to another. On their return trips, hikers see the same scenery, only from the opposite side.
That's not the case for the park's newest trail.
Fort-to-Sea Trail hikers now have more trail to hike. Construction of a loop trail was just completed, connecting the trail parking lot off Fort Clatsop Road to the main trail. It offers hikers a 30- to 60-minute loop hiking option.
The new segment adds three-quarters of a mile of challenging trail to the park's trail system. After descending steeply from the parking lot, the trail follows an old boundary road the park had maintained as a potential firebreak, and eventually climbs an open hillside with panoramic views of the Lewis and Clark River valley.
It winds through a stretch of blown-down timber, evidence of the power of the December 2007 storm. Trees seem to lean precariously over the trail. But a few hundred feet in, and the trail climbs through a wooded grove that was untouched by the storm.
Park Superintendent David Szymanski said park leaders decided to create the loop trail last winter. The park brought in design experts who helped them decide where the best places for the trail might be.
Because it has steps and is more difficult than other parts of the trail, the new loop is only recommended for hikers. Staff giving guided tours of the Fort to Sea Trail often use the new loop to gain more privacy, Szymanski said. It also offers different views.
"On a really clear day, I believe, you can see Mount Hood and Mount Ranier," said Ron Tyson, the park's maintenance director.
Jill Turner, a hiker from Portland said she thought the new trail was beautiful, and found the noise of the trees rubbing together spooky.
"There are some trees that seem to be crying in pain. It's eerie," she said.
The trail gave her a different view on the first leg of her return trip to Seaside on the Fort to Sea Trail.
"The good thing is, it's a mile and half, if you hike the entire trail," Szymanski said. "When (the trail around South Clatsop Slough) is finished next year, we'll have a number of loop options."
The trail was built in about 1 1/2 months by four student summer employees and Oregon Youth Conservation Corps. The students, Lori Vollmer, of Astoria, and Doug Graham, Blake Gerttula and Josh Fry, all of Knappa, are college students hired under a special temporary hiring authority. They spent four weeks surveying and flagging the route, clearing the path, and installing steps and gravel footing.
Graham said, even though the trail runs parallel to Lewis and Clark Road for a while, trees block automobile noise.
Next summer, park staff and youth crews will complete a 1.5-mile connector around South Clatsop Slough. The South Clatsop Slough, an American Recovery Act project, will complete the park's loop system and give visitors loop options that last between 30 minutes and two hours.
Szymanski is thankful for the work that the crew completed this summer and hopes the students feel a life-long connection to parks.
"The trail looks fantastic," said Szymanski. "I encourage people to come out and hike this new segment. It was built by their neighbors."
"We are very lucky to have these young people working for us," Szymanski added. "While I imagine that they will pursue other careers, I hope they look back fondly on this summer. I know we will."