Peshastin Mill Site - Complete the Loop Coalition

 

   Trail along Wenatchee River takes shape

by K.C. Mehaffey  Sept. 23, 2017, 4:59 p.m.

 

Photo provided

Tony Hol, at left, and his son Aiden, 13, work to build a bridge on the 3/4 mile long trail being built along the Wenatchee River on the old Peshastin Mill property, just west of Peshastin. The Central Washington chapter of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance put together the work party to honor the work of Bob Parlette for his years working to create non-motorized recreational opportunities through the Complete the Loop Coalition.

 

PESHASTIN — Volunteers came by the dozens on Saturday to build a riverfront trail on the old Peshastin Mill property, just west of Peshastin.  Many were members or friends of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, and the Complete the Loop Coalition.

They came to be part of the first physical improvements on the 14-acre site, which the Coalition purchased last summer after raising $453,255 in donations.  And, they came to honor Bob Parlette, for spearheading the fundraising effort, and for his decades of work to promote recreation and preserve public access across the Wenatchee Valley.

“It’s time to honor him,” said Mike Sorensen, a board member of Complete the Loop Coalition. “There are about 20 of us who have worked closely with him, and we unanimously felt that if it hadn’t been for Bob Parlette, we wouldn’t have the things we have today.”

Things like the Coalition’s original mission, creating the Apple Capital Loop Trail, a recreational trail connecting Wenatchee and its parks with East Wenatchee and Douglas County’s Columbia River shoreline. Or the Rocky Reach Trail, which extends north to Lincoln Rock State Park. Now, after a three-year effort, the Coalition partnered with the Mountain Bike Alliance to finish work on a ¾-mile trail that meanders along the Wenatchee River throught one of the last wild stretches of riverfront property between Leavenworth and Wenatchee.

“Our entire goal was to save this piece, which has had very little disturbance. To keep it as it is, with beautiful big pine trees, but also to open it up to allow public access,” Sorensen said.

More than 50 volunteers spent Saturday morning hauling and spreading gravel on the new path that winds along the Wenatchee River shoreline.

“At this point, it’s the preservation of almost a mile of riverfront for public access. And when you look at it, there’s not much of that anymore,” Sorensen said. “Almost all of it is privately-owned, and restricted.”

Previously owned by the Port of Chelan County, the former 65-acre lumber mill site in Peshastin was declared surplus more than 10 years ago. Developers eyed the site as a potential campus for high-tech research and development, and later for a housing development.  In 2015, Leavenworth residents Bill and Jenny Goebel purchased the 50-acre adjacent site, and worked with the Port to sell the 14 acres of riverfront property to the Coalition, and Trout Unlimited. The Goebels own the remaining property, and have said they envision putting in a complementary mix of vineyards, recreational trails, artisan studios and wineries.

Sorensen noted that raising the money was no easy task, and required a two-month extension. But it happened last summer, with the financial support of more than 350 donors, including major gifts from Drs. Tina and Eliot Scull, the Goebels and a last-minute donation from Peter Bevis, a Chelan Falls resident and grandson of the man who built the mill in 1928.

“What’s telling to me is, we had no federal money, and no grant money. Every single dollar was a donation from a private person,” Sorensen said. “We’ve had support from Plain, from Wenatchee; people from all over the valley have stepped up.”

  

He said after Parlette, Rollie Schmitten and Bob Stroup successfully raised money for the purchase, ownership of the property was turned over to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in February, with an obligation to survey and install the riverfront path.

That’s when the Central Washington Chapter of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance stepped up to offer its expertise in trail building experience, and in soliciting the help to get the work done. Along with Alliance members, about a dozen students with the Eastmont Mountain Bike Club showed up for Saturday’s work party.

“Travis Hornby, Al Murphy and Charity Duffy are real high on the list of making this happen,” Sorensen said.  Hornby, the Alliance’s chapter president, said his group was happy to help, and to come together to honor Parlette. “It’s a gorgeous piece of property, right on the river,” he said. “We’re just excited to bring another trail to our community.”

Sorensen added that even before the trail was built on Saturday, the property was already open to the public. Once people discover it, he said, they’ll understand the effort these groups put in to purchase it.

“We anticipate a lot of local use — dog walkers, people going out to walk, fishermen, bird watchers and the like,” he said.

  

Reach K.C. Mehaffey at 509-997-2512 or mehaffey@wenatcheeworld.com. Read her blog An Apple a Day. follow her on Twitter at @KCMehaffeyWW.