MUKILTEO — The narrow trail snakes through brush and ferns and over ambling streams. Birds sing from the trees, and the breeze is scented by cedar.
Kevin Stoltz feels like he’s in the North Cascades when he walks the wooded path — but he’s less than a mile from his home in Old Town Mukilteo.
Stoltz, a member of the Mukilteo City Council, is leading dozens of volunteers in building the first permanent, groomed trail through Japanese Gulch. The quarter-mile trail connects Mukilteo Boulevard with the waterfront at the mouth of the gulch.
“There’s a lot of potential here,” Stoltz said. “It’s really much better than I could have hoped for.”
On Saturday, George Ira, 75, was among a handful of volunteers who worked to widen the upper portion of the trail. He hacked away at blackberry bushes with a machete.
“I joined up for the exercise, the physical labor, which I needed,” said Ira, who lives in Mukilteo. “I see the benefits of trails. I walk in the gulch weekly, because my doc says to do it.”
The upper part of the trail starts on the eastern side of the Mukilteo Boulevard bridge over Japanese Gulch. A pair of concrete barrier blocks mark the trail head.
The path is covered with hog fuel — a mixture of wood chips and shredded bark — and has been charted by a consulting firm to minimize its impact on wetlands. Small wooden bridges over the streams will eventually be replaced with permanent bridges, and raised wooden walkways will be built where the trail crosses wetlands.
The city has $80,000 in its budget for trail work and is helping to pay for the project. Workers will likely need several more weekends to finish the trail, Stoltz said.
Joel Carper, 32, is among the volunteers who have been working on the trail since April.
After reading about the upcoming trail work in The Herald, Carper attended a volunteer meeting with Stoltz to learn how he could help. He sees the project as a way to have fun while improving his neighborhood. He lives near the gulch, barely inside the city of Everett.
“That would be cool if I had kids, I would be able to walk them down here and say, ‘I helped build this trail,’” Carper said. “I think it’s coming along pretty good.”
Janet Carroll, 65, of Mukilteo has also been working on the trail since April. She said she enjoys the northeast side of the gulch, which is full of wildlife.
“There’s a lot of stuff in here to see and find,” Carroll said.
For decades, hikers, bikers and runners have carved numerous makeshift trails through the gulch, a swath of woodlands and wetlands between Mukilteo and Everett.
Stoltz envisions this new trail as perhaps the first step toward making an established trail network in the gulch, one that would better protect the gulch’s natural resources.
“Being able to formalize that and maintain those trails would be a great thing,” he said.
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
How to get involved
Call Kevin Stoltz, 425-344-1071, or leave a message for him at Mukilteo City Hall at 425-355-4141.
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