Continuous hiking trail to stretch across major ridges in Tri-Cities
TRI-CITIES, Wash. — Hikers will soon have access to a continuous trail system stretching across three major ridges in the Tri-Cities.
Friends of Badger Mountain recently purchased the remaining land needed to complete the Little Badger Mountain Preserve.
This will connect the Badger Mountain trail to Little Badger Summit, allowing the group to link Badger to Candy Mountain.
Sharon Grant, co-founder of Friends of Badger Mountain, said the purchase of this land has been about five years in the making. She said they were able to reach their fundraising goal of $1.5 million dollars.
“I’m just so thrilled that we get to have this land in it’s beautiful shape and so easily accessible,” Grant said. “It keeps us all healthy and outdoors and gets us through whatever challenges come up in our lives. We can always get outdoors close by.”
Once the trail is complete, the group will have created a trail system stretching about 10 miles across the three ridges.
“People get to hike close to home throughout the year no matter the type of weather,” Grant said.
The work doesn’t stop there. Grants said their goal has been a ridge trail that stretches to the Red Mountain vineyards and down to the Yakima River.
“We account for over 300,000 users a year,” Grant said. “We know that people both want to try new trails and want to spread out, so this is going to be very exciting.”
The non-profit organization was founded in 2003 by a group of residents with the goal to preserve and maintain the ridges and other land in the Mid-Columbia region for the benefit of the general public and the environment.