A Note From the Presidents:
- Chris Gutmacher and Andy Stevenson

We need your help!

The Peninsula Trails Coalition has had an eventful year. Below is a summary of what has been accomplished. Details for many of these milestones can be found in the “What’s Happening on the ODT” column…
• We established and nurtured excellent working relationships with numerous government jurisdictions and agencies that have a stake in the ODT at Discovery Bay. We are awaiting final results of the grant applications done by Jefferson Co and WA Dept Fish and Wildlife. Despite the quality of the applications, there are many other worthy projects ranked higher than ours, so we are beginning the search for private grants, just in case we need them.

We need your help!

The ODT’s expansion–while glorious, note-worthy and exciting–greatly increases the demand on our volunteer
workforce. We are about half way to the 126-mile ODT vision. Sadly, as trail duties expand, the county and city
maintenance coffers have shrunk. This increased pressure on volunteers has sorely taxed our capabilities. Workers come and go, and while many have contributed for years, our pool, frankly, is “graying.” They simply cannot physically continue indefinitely.

History of the Larry Scott Memorial Trail

Larry Scott Memorial Trail—From Dream to Reality

Full Newsletter HERE….

From the Presidents
- Chris Gutmacher and Andy Stevenson

PTC Vice President, Chuck Preble, on a roll in West Port Angeles

Discovery Bay — Grant applications for funding to build the Maynard section and design the ODT the rest of the way to Hwy 20 have been submitted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Jefferson County (Jeffco). They have given preliminary presentations on the grants to the evaluators, and the feedback received will significantly strengthen the applications for the final round. Our gratitude and a huge thank you to: Nik Worden, who worked with Jeffco on this; Jeffco for prioritizing their staff time to write grants, and WDFW for revising their grant plans so they could help the ODT at this critical time. It takes a village to build this trail!

Spruce Railroad Trail — See report in What’s Happening on the ODT.

Fundraising Committee — We need some help with this, folks. For starters, we have offers on the table that the board cannot handle alone; we sure don’t want to just say no! Your interest and enthusiasm trumps any lack of experience in garnering funds. Please, can you give us a hand? Contact Chris per info on back page. Thank you.

Full Newsletter HERE….

From the Presidents:
- Chris Gutmacher and Andy Stevenson

The red x’s along the bay show the old route leading to trestle that will now be removed; orange dashes show proposed new route of ODT on slope just above lagoon.

Discovery Bay — PTC has been working HARD (lots of miles, meetings, and “seat time”) to get on top of this issue. We have made major progress in assuring the ODT will have a viable route through this bottleneck (the Maynard section: the narrowest strip of land between the bay and Hwy 101).

We cannot adequately express our gratitude, awe, and appreciation for our ODT supporters, near and far. The response to our plea for funds has been overwhelming. We have achieved our goal of raising $35,000 in less than two months! (This literally brought us to tears on more than one occasion.) It is an incredible privilege to lead the effort for such a constituency; your love for and support of the ODT are gratefully acknowledged.

Our trail design is well underway, and we have been able to identify a route that will meet both the restoration and trail goals. We expect to have a final design soon. With our planning monies secured, we have turned our effort towards finding the approximately $600K needed to construct the trail through the Maynard section and the approximately $100K needed to design the southern and eastern route around the head of Discovery Bay.

Full Newsletter HERE….

A Note From the Presidents:
- Chris Gutmacher and Andy Stevenson

A Day in the Life of a Trail Project — Building the Olympic Discovery Trail

Things are heating up on the ODT!

Three developments this fall have the potential for tremendous impact on the ODT:

1. There is new hope for breaking the routing deadlock around the head of Discovery Bay, as reported under JTC news. This pinch between the shore line and Hwy 101 may finally be solved!

2. Olympic National Park’s results of the Environmental Assessment of the proposed Spruce Railroad Trail upgrade at Lake Crescent will have a huge impact on how soon and how well that bottleneck is solved. Your pair o’presidents logged a lot of computer, road and meeting time chasing down the facts and regulations pertaining to this complex issue. We worked with cycling groups, Olympic National Park, county and state officials, US senators, and Representative Norm Dick’s office to urge a true ODT-level upgrade of the SRRT. PTC thanks all of you who sent comments to the Park during the response period. Soon we hope to know if we had an effect.

Full Newsletter HERE….

Longest Day of Trails

Carrie Blake Park Detour - Sequim

The Longest Day of Trails event in Port Townsend on Sunday, June 19, was a great success, despite the somewhat soggy weather. The LDoT is the major fundraising event of the year for the Jefferson Trails Coalition, the Jefferson County contingent of the Peninsula Trails Coalition.

Held on the Sunday closest to the Summer Solstice, participants are encouraged to travel as many miles as they can between sunrise and sunset on the Larry Scott Trail, the eastern end of the Olympic Discovery Trail, to raise money for three local trail organizations: The Jefferson Trails Coalition, the Pacific NW National Scenic Trail, and the Quimper Trails Association.

Full Newsletter HERE….

Invitation to Board membership

New Bollard Markings

Peninsula Trails Coalition is currently accepting applications for new members for our Board of Directors. The next several years promise to be exciting ones for the Olympic Discovery Trail. After years of hard work by many people, agencies, and organizations, the momentum has built and progress is imminent.

But with this progress comes added responsibility, and added work. The Olympic Discovery Trail will become one of the most beautiful trails in the country, attracting trail users from around the globe. But before that can happen, some challenges need to be surmounted. That is where you come in! Becoming a Board Member allows you the opportunity to shape the future of the Olympic Discovery Trail.

Full Newsletter HERE….