by Andy Dappen
Article in partnership with The Wenatchee World. Forty for Forty: Recognizing the 40th Anniversary of the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust with 40 stories about lands the Land Trust has protected and kept open for public access.
“Leave things better than you found them.” This creed not only respects others but, if followed, eliminates most problems when visiting family, friends, new places, and natural lands. In regards to natural lands, if all of us practiced the creed during our outings, we’d solve most problems landowners contend with from visitors wandering off trails, using unwanted social trails, cutting switchbacks, littering, unleashing dogs, or refusing to carry away their dog’s waste.
Few people criticize themselves for either the thoughtlessness or the blatant disrespect shown when they violate a landowner’s rules and signage. “What’s the harm of one person ‘bending’ the rules a tad,” they rationalize? But one person ignoring a rule multiplied by 500 people– which is exactly what landowners contend with – turns small transgressions into the significant problems of trampled vegetation, new and unwanted trails, trail erosion, the spread of noxious weeds, and stressed wildlife. Meanwhile, litter and fecal matter left behind disrespect the future visitors coming outdoors to enjoy an area.
The formula of little practices multiplying into big outcomes, works in a positive direction if visitors concentrate on helping rather than hindering the owners who provide access to their lands. The small practices of staying on-trail, blocking faint social trails with branches and brambles that discourage use, pulling a few dozen noxious weeds found along the way, picking up litter, and even packing out someone else’s dog waste, all turn simple efforts into huge wins when 500 other visitors are magnifying these practices.
One of our local foothills parcels in need of The Visitor’s Creed is the ever-popular walk up the Saddle Rock Natural Area. These lands were purchased by the City of Wenatchee in 2011 when the Department of Natural Resources put the 325-acre parcel up for sale. Saddle Rock had already become a popular walking destination and its open lands were a fixture in the Wenatchee landscape, so the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust (CDLT) rallied the community in raising the funds needed for the City to purchase the property. CDLT also raised funds to assist the City with the area’s ongoing stewardship and continues to help manage issues related to the area’s vegetation, wildlife, and trails – a huge job when hundreds of people visit the property each day and dozens of those daily visits actually leave the property in poorer condition.
My outings up the main trails leading to the top of the Saddle Rock Natural Area typically follow a similar pattern. The uphill is for enjoyment. On my recent Mother’s Day outing, I particularly enjoyed taking stock of the different visitors out for exercise, companionship, or inspiration. There were sweaty individuals running, groups of women walking together and gabbing; school-aged children being dragged by the ears uphill because this was Mom’s special day; husbands and wives walking together without the anchor of kids; and three-generation groups of Spanish speakers enjoying the setting and the family time.
At the top of my walk, I found a seat and marinated in the scenery. The Columbia River, far below, looked like a white rope winding through the green hills. The slopes of Mission Ridge, on the horizon, still glistened with a white mantle of snow. Overhead the sky was painted in pale pastels of blue and gray. And at my feet the linear-leaf daisies and bare-stemmed desert parsley painted the ground yellow. What a rush to be still and soak it in.
Then it was time to switch into service mode. I pulled a screwdriver and a few plastic grocery bags from my pack, stuffed them into a pants pocket, and started down. At one spot, a trace of a new social trail had started and I spread a few armloads of dead sagebrush branches over the trail’s beginning to discourage its use. Farther along, a patch of noxious weeds (diffuse knapweed, Western salsify, and tumble mustards) sprouted alongside the trail and I spent five minutes pulling a few dozen starts. When necessary, the screwdriver from my pocket was driven into the ground and wriggled back and forth to loosen the soil so that the roots would come along with the pulled weed. Along the trail there was also a little litter (two empty water bottles and a few energy bar wrappers) that went into one of the plastic grocery bags that I now carried by my side. Finally, there was one particularly unpleasant present to pick-up (a poop bag) that a dog owner had so considerately left beside the trail for everyone else to appreciate. Using one of my extra bags as a glove, I grabbed this thoughtful package, folded the plastic-bag glove around it, and dropped it into the litter bag.
I didn’t worry about tackling every problem, but simply spent 15 minutes leaving this much-loved area in better shape than how it was found. If all of us contribute in kind, the problems we visitors inflict upon our fragile landscapes will diminish and, eventually, disappear.
Details: Visiting Saddle Rock Natural Area
Access. Drive Miller Street south until it ends. Here, turn right and follow Circle Street 0.25 mile to the trailhead servicing both Saddle Rock Natural Area and the Dry Gulch Preserve.
Trip Instructions. Walk to the north end of the parking lot and follow the main dirt/gravel road heading uphill. A number of smaller trails leave the road; ignore them and stay on the main dirt road. In about 0.3 mile, another dirt/gravel road splits off to the right and heads more steeply uphill. Stay left at this junction, remaining on the flatter road. There are no other intersections to worry about – simply stay on the main dirt/gravel road as it winds and switchbacks uphill to a pass at the top of the Saddle Rock parcel. At the top, enjoy the views; then retrace the same route back down.
Distance: 3 miles round trip. Elevation Gain: 950 vertical feet.
Allowed. Hiking, trail running, mountain biking, dogs on leash (scoop their poop).
Not Allowed. No motorized use, camping, campfires, hunting, shooting, plant removal, off-trail travel, or littering.
Land Ownership: City of Wenatchee.
Maps. See the Land Trust’s map of the Wenatchee Foothills or view a map of the Saddle Rock area on CalTopo.com
Supplies. To help leave our trails better than you found them, consider carrying the following: a few plastic bags, work gloves, and a screwdriver (to loosen the soil around the roots of noxious weeds).
