Stimulus $$ will extend Arnold trail

Five more miles of the Arnold Rim Trail will be completed by the end of next year thanks to nearly $800,000 in federal stimulus funds.

Construction of both a handicapped-accessible trail running from the Sierra Nevada Logging Museum in White Pines through the forest to an area overlooking San Antonio Creek and a trail cutting through the San Domingo canyon near Hathaway Pines should begin next spring.
 

The new paths will bring the Arnold Rim Trail to 15 miles. Proponents hope the trail will one day weave 30 to 40 miles through the forest past waterfalls, outlooks and sequoias.

“We’ve created a whole bunch of trails with very limited resources,” said Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway Association Executive Director Warren Alford, who conceived the project. “The funding that is coming into this trail is really giving it a shot in the arm.”

Congressman Dan Lungren, R-Fair Oaks, who spoke about the project during a media conference call Thursday, said he was pleased with the use of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

The project is emblematic of community efforts that are reclaiming natural riches across the state, and further money would help realize their full benefits, said Arnold Rim Trail Association Chair Randy Crutcher.

“Here in Arnold, we have unburied the treasure chest,” he said. “What we need now is keys to unlock that treasure chest. We need capital investment.”