PORT GAMBLE — The outdoor recreation areas around Port Gamble receive an upgrade with the opening of a new, expanding trail head and parking area just south of the Port Gamble town site.
Olympic Property Group, a subsidiary of Pope Resources which owns the town of Port Gamble and nearly 7,000 acres of surrounding timberland, developed a new 15-acre parking area adjacent to a new trail head that offers access to the nearly 60 miles of trails and logging roads used annually by thousands of hikers, mountain bikers, equestrians and other outdoor recreation enthusiasts.
“We’re proud that this property has become a destination for outdoor recreation enthusiasts throughout Western Washington and that we’ve been able to continually improve the experience,” OPG president Jon Rose said. “We wanted to provide a better user experience for the visitors but also lessen the impact of noise and crowds on nearby residents. This new trail head and parking area represents a win-win for all of the parties that love this area.”
The trail head includes a new kiosk with large, bright permanent maps showing the trail network as well as smaller maps and pamphlets to help guide hikers, bikers and other trail users through the property.The new area offers expanded parking for cars and for vehicles towing horse trailers. It also accommodates an area reserved for use by radio-controlled aircraft. The new area is located in the Uplands portion of the property and is accessed by a gravel road located a quarter mile south of Port Gamble town sign on Highway 104.
The new trail head and parking area replaces the Teekalet gate, which has been the primary trailhead and parking area for people to access the property. OPG staff will continue to patrol the Teekalet area to remind trail users to park at the new parking area. Although the property is privately owned, Olympic Property Group decided to do the improvements to benefit the many users groups as well as eliminate the impact on residents living near the Teekalet gate. Much of the trail maintenance is performed by volunteers from the various user groups, such as the North Kitsap Trails Association. Linda Berry-Maraist, the association’s president, said her group is very excited about the new trail head.
“OPG has always been welcoming to the community, but it’s pretty amazing that they’ve built a real trail head for the public to access their private land,” Berry-Maraist said. “I’m really looking forward to having a trail head near town so people can access the trails without impacting neighbors or businesses.”
Berry-Maraist said the trails association will keep the kiosk stocked with trail maps and is working with OPG on trail signage to help improve way-finding on the trails. The new trail head also provides an adequate staging area for trail events, such as the recent Stottlemeyer 30/60 Endurance Mountain Bike Race that attracted nearly 400 participants, Berry-Maraist said. “Port Gamble and the trails already are a destination for eco-tourism and events,” she said. “Now there’s a trail head big enough to support that.”
Several other groups echoed the trails association’s sentiments. “It’s great to have a large parking area for horse trailers,” said Gerry Magnuson of the Olympic chapter of Backcountry Horsemen. “It’s important that we all help to keep it clean.” “The new trail head provides easy access to good birding habitat,” said Judy Willott, a member of Kitsap County’s chapter of the Audubon Society. “A lot of birders haven’t known that they can go in there.”
For additional information about the trails at Port Gamble, visit www.itsyourbackyard.com or www.northkitsaptrails.org. OPG will have a public open house on June 27 to review its proposed master plan for the Port Gamble redevelopment. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Kingston Middle School.
