An 82-mile multiuse trail that will be a generational treasure for Oregonians

written by Isabel Max | photography by Salmonberry Trail Foundation

Through forest draped in thick fog, rust-orange rails guide me forward, narrowing to a point 20 meters ahead. I hike on an abandoned railroad, first laid in 1911 by Japanese, Irish, Swede, Austrian, Greek, Russian, Bulgarian and Norwegian immigrants, now a ghost in a filigree frame of overgrowth. Between the ties, diverse mushroom species grow.

Cutting through time comes the cheerful voice of Caroline Fitchett. She draws my attention to a newt flipped on its back, its orange belly wriggling in the leaves. “Nothing is the same on the Salmonberry Trail,” she said. “That’s what makes it so fascinating and adventuresome.”

Fitchett is the executive director of the Salmonberry Trail Foundation, the nonprofit leading a legacy project to build an 82-mile pedestrian trail on top of the historic tracks of the Pacific Railway and Navigation Company Railroad (PR&N). When complete, the Salmonberry Trail will span biomes and effectively link Portland to the Oregon Coast. It will reconnect the twelve communities once tied together by the PR&N railroad—such as Manning, Mohler and Rockaway—before the Great Coastal Storm of 2007 tore up sections of track. It will also become the backbone of a larger statewide dream.

The Salmonberry promises an unprecedented opportunity for exploration in the Coast Range. Beginning outside Banks, the route snakes along the Salmonberry and Nehalem rivers through old-growth forest and canyons, cuts west to Wheeler and ends in Tillamook. The route offers a time capsule that mixes adventure with natural and human history. It weaves through ten mossy railroad tunnels and more than seventy-two trestles standing up to 170 feet high, among trees and above treetops.

As a runner and gravel biker, I warm at the thought of people gaining safe access to such an extensive path. Like the Rockaway cross-country team, who will trade highway miles for a softer, safer surface. Or the children who will take to the “Learning Mile,” a geographically diverse section between Manning and Williams Creek perfect for arts and science field trips. The artist and curator Steph Littlebird, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and descendant of the Clatsop Chinook and Atfalati Kalapuyan people, will work with students in Washington County to create a mural on the Washington County railroad overpass over Highway 26.

The Salmonberry is no small feat: The trail’s full construction will take twenty years, led by just a staff of two. The foundation has not yet received government funding. Nevertheless, miles of trail blaze on. Retired biologists, trail-working hobbyists and even classes of kindergartners lend their time and hands. When you build a trail, you build a public health system, a launchpad for adventure, a place for retreat, an educational ecosystem, a gathering place and a story for the next century of Oregonians.

I met Fitchett at Catlin Gabel School in Portland. At her feet—old leather hiking boots with bright red laces—sat attentive kindergartners. “Who are the decisionmakers we learned about today?” she asked. A tiny arm shot up. “Senators and people.”

The phrase echoed in my head all day as I learned what a legacy project requires. Collaboration between civilians and government is a balancing act, like straddling a rail across an old trestle. The project has had a foot in both worlds since the first “rail to trail” proposal in 2007. Doug Decker, Tillamook native and the State Forester at the Oregon Department of Forestry, created momentum for the idea within state government agencies. Meanwhile in Rockaway, children walking to school needed a safer route—one distant from the increasingly busy highway. Cathy Bates and Michelle Jenck lobbied alongside other Rockaway parents, and the 2007 rail-to-trail proposal narrowly passed in a contentious vote.

“Trust is the only thing that moves anything forward. Before we build the trail, we do our research,” Fitchett said. Research is vital, not only discerning whether old trestles will support pedestrians, but whether bordering communities support the project. Fitchett looked out the windshield at the houses in Timber, the border town where opposition to the trail has historically run high. “They’ve been without the rail for twenty years,” said Fitchett. “So the goal isn’t to win them over, but to listen and to understand them. We hear their concerns and work with them to address their concerns, together.”

The phrase “senators and people” could describe Fitchett’s personal path, too. A former Get Out the Vote director in New Mexico and political strategist turned, at one point, cowgirl, she has found in the Salmonberry a synergy between governmental experience and her passion for being outdoors.

Back at the Catlin Gabel classroom, I pictured the children twenty years from now. Some will hike the PCT. Some will research solutions to protect our land. Others will find fifteen minutes between work meetings to take a walk. The Salmonberry is for them and for their children, who will put down their phones to hike the trail and learn about the environment and, perhaps, themselves.

With a cue from Fitchett, the 10-year-olds raised their arms and curled their biceps. “Feel your strength. This is your power.”

HIT THE TRAIL

Ready for a test run (or hike)?

Open now: The Wheeler Demonstration Trail

Stroll from downtown Wheeler into the delicate tidal estuary of Botts Marsh. A beautiful three-quarter-mile stretch. Celebrate the work of the many people who lent their hard effort to the completion of the Salmonberry Trail’s first open section.

Itching for an adventure?

Try: Guided Hikes

Discover the Tillamook and Washington county wilderness you’ve never (legally) seen before. With trained hike leaders, venture out into sections of the Salmonberry Trail closed to the public. Hikes range from a ninety-minute trot to a halfday trek. Multiple outings are led each week and weekend, beginning in March.

LEARN MORE

Support the Salmonberry Trail Foundation with a donation. Donations help this legacy project build its future. To learn more or donate, head to www.salmonberrytrail.org