People who like to hike, boat and kayak will soon have more opportunities in and around Spada Lake, Snohomish County’s largest lake.
Hardy recreationalists will benefit the most. Those who like to drive all the way to the east end of Spada Lake, however, can no longer do so.
The state Department of Natural Resources plans soon to give up control of a longtime gravel logging road at that end of the lake. The road will become part of a wilderness conservation area and will be converted to a trail for hikers only — no mountain bikes, autos or all-terrain vehicles.
Timber is no longer harvested in the area and there’s no longer any reason for the state to maintain the 1 ½ mile section of road, according to the Snohomish County Public Utility District.
The lake is about a 15-mile drive from Sultan. The PUD maintains the 5-mile gravel road from Olney Pass — the point where Sultan Basin Road arrives at the lake — to the logging road. The utility also maintains two boat-launch areas on its section of the road and two day-use recreation sites along the logging road.
The PUD has jurisdiction of the area because it owns and operates Culmback Dam at the west end of Spada Lake. The dam, built in the 1960s and expanded in 1984, swelled the lake to its current size of 3 square miles.
The dam is part of the Jackson hydroelectric project, which generates about 4 percent of the PUD’s power. The lake also supplies drinking water for much of Snohomish County.
The logging road will be made into a trail sometime before the end of summer, said Dawn Presler, relicensing specialist for the PUD. The road is already closed to auto traffic, but hiking is permitted. Trailheads to Boulder Lake and Greider Lake begin at the end of the logging road.
The PUD will remove a paved parking lot at the Nighthawk recreation site and replant the area because vehicles will no longer be allowed, Presler said.
The PUD also plans to improve the boat launches at the South Fork and South Shore sites, including opening the South Fork site to boats on trailers, she said. Trailers already are allowed at South Shore.
The South Shore site will be the easternmost point where vehicles will be allowed. The PUD plans to build a trail east from the parking area there, which is located a short distance off the gravel road, to reconnect with the former logging road. This will shorten the distance for hikers, Presler said.
These changes, along with others planned at the west end of the lake, are part of the agency’s planned relicensing of its hydroelectric project with the federal government. As part of the process, the PUD agreed to improve opportunities for recreation.
At the west end, a former U.S. Forest Service road will be converted to a trail to the Sultan River, west of Culmback Dam. Kayakers will be able to carry their boats down that trail and down another planned trail to the Sultan River, said Erik Ozog, a realty specialist for the U.S. Forest Service in Verlot.
The PUD also plans to open access across Culmback Dam, currently closed to the public, to hikers and bike riders. This will make it easier for hikers to reach the north shore of the lake. Currently they must hike in 13 miles on a closed road from the west, Presler said.
The Sultan River trail and dam access are planned for May 2011, depending on approval of the relicensing by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Presler said.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
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