New trails await visitors to Lolo Pass

LOLO PASS (AP) - With a trail maintenance backlog of $314 million, the U.S. Forest Service doesn't build very many new treads for hikers.

But with help from partners, the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest was able to construct a pair of trails recently. One provides visitors a handicapped-accessible link from the Lolo Pass Visitor Center to the Glade Creek campsite used by the Lewis and Clark expedition. The other provides safer and more environmentally friendly access to Weir Creek Hot Springs.

"We are not maintaining all the trails we have, so to think of adding new trails to the system doesn't make a lot of sense with a decreasing budget," said Katie Knotek, wilderness and trails manager for the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest. "But in this case, both of these trails we felt were super-justified.

"This one (Glade Creek) is meeting a specific need of visitors to be able to connect (the visitor center) to Glade Creek State Park; and then Weir Hot Spring is a very popular destination and we did not have a system trail we were maintaining into there."

The Glade Creek Trail has been on the agency's wish list since the completion of the Lolo Pass Visitor Center in 2003. It connects the existing wetlands trails to Glade Creek, a spot where Lewis and Clark spent the night Sept. 13, 1805. The land is now managed by Idaho Parks and Recreation as a historic site.

Prior to the trail, people who stopped by the visitor center had to walk along a gravel road or get back in their cars and drive about a mile if they wanted to see the small open meadow surrounded by timber.

The gravel trail is wheelchair-accessible. It follows a gentle grade through shady timber and open spots where fires have left their mark on the landscape.

"There are so few opportunities on forest lands for (disabled) users and Lolo Pass is the perfect place to be able to provide for that opportunity," she said.

On a recent weekday, Bill and Mary Chambers of Bellingham, Wash., stopped at the visitor center and stretched their legs on the new trail. They had just dropped off their youngest of seven children at Gonzaga University and were taking the scenic route back to their empty nest.

"It's beautiful," Mary said. "It's fun."

"We love it; this is wonderful," Bill said.

They said they liked that it was an easy walk that meandered through the timber on its way to the overlook at Glade Creek.

The trail also has strategically placed resting spots, a requirement of trails built to a standard for disabled visitors. To accommodate wheelchairs and walkers, the trail is about 3 feet wide.

"With the wider trail base you can hike side-by-side with your friends or family members," Knotek said. "And it's great for strollers."

Earlier this summer, the trail was adorned with a booming crop of bear grass blooms. Now it's starting to show the brilliant colors of fall.

"A lot of these trees are larch, so this fall it's going to be just gorgeous up here," Knotek said.

The Forest Service received a grant from the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation to build the path. Discovery Northwest, a nonprofit organization that runs the bookstore at the visitor center, also pitched in. The Nez Perce Tribe's Watershed Group planted vegetation on a section of the trail that needed a little bit of rehabilitation.

"Glade Creek is a fantastic example of multiple partners coming together for a really great project," said Heather Berg, recreation manager of the forest.

Colleen Mathisen of Discovery Northwest works at the visitor center and promotes the trail every chance she gets. A few weeks ago, a woman stopped by and said her family, including her paraplegic son, had traveled the trail that is just shy of one mile long.

"She said the family loves to go hiking and often he can't go with them but he was able to take his motorized wheelchair with them on this handicap-accessible trail to Glade Creek," she said. "That was worth more to me personally than anything that could ever be written about the trail. It was really great to hear that feedback."

She said many of the 250 to 350 people who stop by the visitor center every day during the summer months are senior citizens. The trail is great for them and an alternative to the much more rigorous trails the agency has in the area.

"It's the kind of trail you don't have to put your hiking boots on," Mathisen said. "You can just walk in your tennis shoes. It's easy for people to access and you can do it in a wheelchair."

At Weir Creek - a hot spring about a half mile from U.S. Highway 12 - a user-created trail has long been traveled by people who enjoy soaking in the hot water. Knotek said the trail was just a path beaten down by visitors. It was dangerous, especially during the winter, and it was leading to erosion in the fish-bearing stream.

The Forest Service doesn't promote or advertise the hot spring, but it is featured in a handful of guidebooks and sees steady year-round use. People also frequently camp along the creek. The agency built a short trail that stays above the creek to eliminate erosion and provide safer access.

"Some folks are upset we built that trail in there. We just felt like it was somewhat hazardous. People use it in the wintertime and it gets really slick," Knotek said. "People were crawling over boulders in the creek and we were also concerned about erosion. We wanted to get it off the creek."