This morning, Olympia’s Parks & Arts and Recreation department opened a brand new trail in the NE neighborhood of the capitol city, connecting East Bay Drive by Howard Road to the Reeves Middle School grounds. What has been a secret, neighborhood boot path for many years is now an official city trail, thanks to the support of a generous grant by REI and the incredibly trail work of the Washington Trail Association.
The opening of the trail was officiated my Mayor Cheryl Selby, with several park’s staff and city council members in attendance. The event was also attended by neighbors and friends of the park getting ready for a work party right after the ceremony.
The trail itself is just a few hundred feet of beautiful, graveled, single track trail that winds through the second growth forest at the far end of Priest Point Park. Currently, there’s no direct connector to the main trails of Priest Point, as the Mission Creek ravine is an obvious natural obstacle.
With this new trail, neighbors from the NE neighborhood can now get quick and easy access down to the water and to Priest Point. The trail is also used by Reeves Middle school as evacuation route and the school grounds shouldn’t be accessed when classes are in session.
To find the new trail from East Bay Drive, park at Priest Point Park and walk out of the park along East Bay back toward the city. Take a left on Howard St. and head uphill to the dead end of the road. The trail will lead you uphill toward Reeves.
From the NE neighborhood, you can park at Reeves Middle School (when the school is not in session) or just outside the gate, walk through the school grounds toward the north end of the grass fields. There’s a gate leading out into the forest where the trail begins and leads downhill toward Howard Street.
Pickup a copy of our newest release ‘Adventure Running – Exploring Olympia’s Trails‘. A celebration of all the parks in Olympia and its surrounding region.
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