Equestrians, mountain bikers will continue to have year-round access to gravel trails at 300-acre regional park
VANCOUVER — Clark County Parks and Lands will put seasonal trail restrictions in place at Whipple Creek Regional Park to preserve the park’s natural surface trails.
Beginning Nov. 1, dirt trails will be open only to foot traffic at the 300-acre park off Northwest 179th Street. Equestrians and mountain bikers can continue to use gravel trails year-round.
The park’s trails have been plagued by persistent, heavy mud because of poor drainage, clay soils and steep slopes. To improve trail conditions, volunteers have donated 7,600 hours over the past six years to build reroutes, improve drainage and spread gravel across the park’s main trails, making them accessible year-round. Volunteers also realigned and restored a series of natural surface, or primitive, trails.
“A lot of time, effort and money have gone into these trails,” said Dora Hernandez, volunteer program assistant for Clark County Public Works. “Volunteers worked hard to create a trail system that offers varied experiences to users, so these seasonal closures are necessary to preserve the trails and the hard work that goes into them.”
Clark County Parks will post signs at main entrances to Whipple Creek Regional Park explaining the seasonal closures and displaying a map of the park’s gravel and primitive trails. Signs also will be posted at each primitive trail entrance reminding users that the trail is only open to foot traffic during wet weather.
A map showing the park’s gravel and primitive trails has been posted on the county’s website, www.clark.wa.gov/parks.
Information provided by Clark Co. WA Communications.
