Trails Archives | Page 3 of 6 | Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation

We are now the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation

We are now the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation

The Bainbridge Island Parks Foundation is now the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation, accenting its position as a leader in the planning and funding of local public trails.

“Public trails are at the nexus of outdoor recreation, community health, sustainability and climate resilience,” said Mary Meier, Parks & Trails Foundation executive director. “Adding ‘trails’ to our name affirms our commitment to an island where ample trails link neighborhoods, parks, schools, culture and commerce, open and accessible to all.”

The nonprofit Parks & Trails Foundation enjoys a close partnership with the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District, the island’s local public park agency.

Where the Park District owns island parks and runs recreation programs with its taxing authority, the Parks & Trails Foundation raises private donations and grants for projects that would otherwise go unfunded. Gifts to the Parks & Trails […]

We are now the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails FoundationDouglas2022-05-25T12:05:14-07:00

A ‘trifecta of awesomeness’ on the STO Trail

A ‘trifecta of awesomeness’ on the STO Trail

In the fullness of a 3,700-mile route, a seven-mile ribbon across a little island in Puget Sound may not seem so grand.

Then again, it’s our seven miles. So the fact that Bainbridge Island’s bit of the Sound to Olympics Trail also falls along the path of the Great American Rail-Trail – a contiguous path that will stretch from the other Washington to this one, crossing a dozen states and entirely walkable and bikeable – that’s turning into kind of a big deal.

That’s what Kevin Belanger, project manager for Washington D.C.-based Rails To Trails Conservancy found during an April visit to Bainbridge Island. Belanger came to spend an hour walking the STO’s Winslow segment with local trails fans, and was greeted by City Hall.

“I really […]

A ‘trifecta of awesomeness’ on the STO TrailDouglas2022-09-23T11:08:42-07:00

Waypoint Woods event rescheduled for March 20

Waypoint Woods event rescheduled for March 20

The Waypoint Woods Community Conversation and park walking tour has been rescheduled for 2-4 p.m. Sunday, March 20.

Hosted by the Bainbridge Island Parks Foundation, the event begins with a presentation of preliminary park designs at the Bainbridge Island Rowing Stan Pocock Legacy Boathouse, 301 Shannon Drive in Waterfront Park. A walking tour of nearby Waypoint Woods follows.

Waypoint Woods is located at the corner of Olympic and Harborview drives, bounded by the Winslow Waterfront Trail and Waypoint plaza near the ferry terminal.

The Parks Foundation is leading a planning process, with Seattle-based AHBL land use and design firm, to improve the 3-acre park for neighborhood and visitor use.

Enhancements could include improved trails, benches with views of Eagle Harbor, a new park entrance at the Waterfront Trail footbridge, and other features.

“Neighbors know and love Waypoint Woods […]

Waypoint Woods event rescheduled for March 20Douglas2022-03-10T07:05:20-08:00

Finding the way to a new park at Waypoint Woods

Finding the way to a new park at Waypoint Woods

The Winslow ferry zone is the last place you might go looking for it, but Karl Petersen sure finds it in nearby Waypoint Woods: peace and quiet.

Maybe it’s the depth of the shadows, the twisting path that always keeps you a little off kilter, that keep the tiny woods off Olympic Drive a place apart even as the great and busy world thrums past.

“The path is crooked, and you never see very far ahead. Unless the sun is out and bright, which it normally is not, you don’t know which direction you’re going,” said Petersen, a neighbor who’s been tramping Waypoint Woods for a decade and still finds it fresh for discovery. “You keep making turn after turn after turn, and a lot of the turns are pretty dramatic. You never know where you are in that place. I find that enchanting.”

The […]

Finding the way to a new park at Waypoint WoodsDouglas2022-03-11T11:14:23-08:00

SAVE THE DATE: Waypoint Woods Community Conversation, March 6

SAVE THE DATE: Waypoint Woods Community Conversation, March 6

Explore Waypoint Woods and share your ideas for Winslow’s next gateway park, at a Community Conversation and park tour, 2-4 p.m. Sunday, March 6.

The event begins with a presentation of preliminary park designs at the Bainbridge Island Rowing Stan Pocock Legacy Boathouse, 301 Shannon Drive in Waterfront Park. A walking tour of nearby Waypoint Woods follows.

Waypoint Woods is located at the corner of Olympic and Harborview drives, bounded by the Winslow Waterfront Trail and Waypoint plaza near the ferry terminal.

The Parks Foundation is leading a planning process, with Seattle-based AHBL land use and design firm, to improve the 3-acre park for neighborhood and visitor use.

Kitsap Sun: Trail planning begins for Bainbridge Island’s Lost Valley, a link in a cross-island rout

Published in the Kitsap Sun, Nov. 24, 2021:

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND – Tromping through a hidden section of forested property near the head of Eagle Harbor, Connie Waddington reflected on her first visit to Lost Valley about 20 years ago. Then, she’d been a member of the city’s Open Space Commission tasked with determining how to spend funds from an $8 million bond measure approved by voters in 2001.

She remembered thinking: “Woah, who knew this was here?”

“We’ve all driven around Eagle Harbor and all of those places and here’s this beautiful place that nobody had any idea existed,” Waddington said.

Lee Cross, a member of the commission, told the Sun in 2004, “You have a feeling that you’re in this sort of lost world, and a dinosaur could stick his head around the corner. You have no sense at all that within a relatively short distance there are quite a few […]

Kitsap Sun: Trail planning begins for Bainbridge Island’s Lost Valley, a link in a cross-island routDouglas2021-12-07T09:34:54-08:00

Rediscovering the Lost Valley for public trails

Rediscovering the Lost Valley for public trails

THE MIST TURNED INTO A DRIZZLE, THEN A STEADY RAIN, THEN A DOWNPOUR.

Not the most auspicious afternoon for even a Northwest hike in autumn. So the party tramped about 50 yards down the sodden trail, paused for a quick photo, and retreated to the shelter of a nearby barn to chat and recall the day, nearly two decades ago, they first bushwhacked across this same land.

“That was coming from the creek, up this way,” recalled Andy Maron, who served on the City Open Space Commission when “Lost Valley” first slipped into the local lexicon.

“I remember jumping over that stream,” Maron said, indicating nearby Cooper Creek. “You didn’t have to wade it, but jump over it.”

There was no trail in those days, and Maron, fellow Open Space Commissioner Connie Waddington and an ad hoc group of explorers crunched their way through […]

Rediscovering the Lost Valley for public trailsDouglas2021-11-16T08:34:07-08:00

STO Sakai Pond Connector gets a warm welcome

STO Sakai Pond Connector gets a warm welcome

Great turnout for the STO Sakai Pond Connector dedication and Trail Mixer! If you’ve not walked this new trail yet, check it out and discover sublime Sakai Pond for yourself – and trails leading up into Sakai Park and beyond.

Thank you to the City of Bainbridge Island for partnering on this great dedication event, and planning forward with Bainbridge Metro Parks on the trails next leg north. Together, we’re building out our island’s public trails network to connect neighborhoods, parks, commercial and service centers, and transit for a better, greener island community.

STO Sakai Pond Connector gets a warm welcomeDouglas2022-02-10T22:50:43-08:00

Building a greener urban trail on the STO

Building a greener urban trail on the STO

Let history record that the Sakai Pond Connector’s first user came not on wheel or foot, but hoof.

As crews feathered in the last of 400 feet of asphalt on the Sound To Olympics Trail’s newest leg, a black-tailed doe emerged from the woods, sampled a newly planted tree at the trailside – not to its taste, fortunately – scampered across the new trail and off into the highway lanes.

“Be smart,” one onlooker enjoined in the deer’s direction.

“Or lucky,” said another.

Highway traffic paused briefly, the doe disappeared across the far shoulder, and work went on. By the end of the day, STO Sakai was done.

Let the wheels and feet follow.

That the deer found the trailside so tantalizing owes to the aggressive planting schedule (formerly “restoration,” now “assisted natural revegetation” in the parlance) of Northwest trees and shrubs.

[…]

Building a greener urban trail on the STODouglas2022-02-10T22:51:33-08:00

Take a hike… new Trails On Bainbridge Island map shows the way

Take a hike… new Trails On Bainbridge Island map shows the way

Even if you think you’ve hiked them all, you may find a surprise or two on the new Trails On Bainbridge Island map.

Such is the pace of change on the island’s public trail network, now 42 miles and getting longer almost by the month.

And if you’re coming from off island, well … has Bainbridge got some great hikes for you. Pick a trailhead – you can even take a shuttle to get there.

Fully redesigned and updated, Trails On Bainbridge Island is now available at visitor-facing venues around the island. The full-color, large-format map has a range of features to guide islanders and visitors alike.

Several miles of newly added public trails, including Blakely Hill and the Sakai Park trails, which link in turn to the larger network
Trails are now color-coded by […]

Take a hike… new Trails On Bainbridge Island map shows the wayDouglas2021-09-27T16:13:49-07:00