Build a short loop trail and don’t waste money on planning Hornaday Park Loop Trail. 

By Marylou Burton

To the Homer Mayor and City Council:

I didn’t realize that the loop trail envisioned by Homer City Council Member Jason Davis that would begin/end above Karen Hornaday Park and end/begin at the newly acquired Woodard Creek trail property was on last Tuesday’s City Council agenda. But it really caught my attention when I heard Randy Wiest step up to the mic to express his dismay about a $350,000 appropriation to “study, plan and design” a trail. Not build, mind you, just study, plan and design. And on the consent agenda at that. Maybe I misheard that part, but if not, I thank Council Member Erickson for pulling it. And, after listening to the meeting to the very end, I thank the Council for voting the whole thing down and going back to the drawing board.

As you might have guessed, I have strong opinions about this trail. I have been hiking — just yesterday, as a matter of fact -– this trail for over 20 years. Initially it was up the well-established “road” that runs up from the east side of Karen Hornaday (a leftover, I believe, from Mike Gordon of Chilkoot Charlie’s fame) and from there up another system of game/people trails on “who-know-who-owns-this-land?” towards my home on West Skyline. The last few years I discovered the “loop,” which goes up from the Karen Hornaday campground to a 10-acre parcel that was donated to the city some years ago, and then across and down the newly acquired Woodard Creek trail/road (thank you Randy and friends). Now that I live in town, it’s a sweet 3-mile or so hike from my house and back, and until I drop down to Karen Hornaday I seldom see another soul.

To be honest, I would have been happy to leave things as they are. I am finally doing my little loop hike on public land, and that’s a good thing. The land belongs to all of us, not just me and a few others who are in on the secret. But I am concerned that the city administration envisions something quite different than the minimalist, relatively unspoiled trail envisioned by Council Member Davis and the purchasers of the Woodard Creek section. The existing RFP, as I understand it, focuses on the old Mike Gordon road bed. “It’s an extreme slope,” is what I think I heard. Something about liability in the future. Well, that’s just a bunch of baloney. The only way any hiker would get to “an extreme slope” would be if they fought their way through the alders and jumped into Woodard Creek. 

The only thing this part of the envisioned loop trail needs is a little gravel or chips in a couple of wet areas, and an occasional trim of the encroaching alders. Mike Gordon, as it turns out, did an amazing job of banking and sloping this road/trail. It’s not going anywhere, at least if motorized vehicles are disallowed. The only significant enhancement that would be worthy of public funds would be to improve the rough track to the beautiful stand of cottonwoods at the top of the trail and erect a bench (think the beautiful benches at the bottom of the Billie Fischer Cottonwood Trail at the Wynn Nature Center). Otherwise, save your (our) money and leave it alone. 

The other branch of the loop, which leads up from a now-abandoned campsite at Karen Hornaday and then crosses over to the Woodard Creek trail, is definitely rougher. But it’s a lovely short hike, climbing up a wooded slope, up through a short stretch of wild roses, grass and pushki, and then across on an already established track to the Woodard Creek trail. Popular with moose and an increasing number of hikers, it is already very doable and it wouldn’t take much work to improve. The slope is reasonable (by Homer standards), and — since it ascends through a wooded area —  the terrain is generally mud and bog free. Some chainsaw work and some gravel or wood chips here and there would go a long way.

We are seriously short of trails on this side of the bay, particularly close to town. The Homer Trail Alliance has done a terrific job of maintaining and improving the trails that lead off from Rogers Loop and Bear Creek Drive, but that’s about it. By acquiring the Woodard Creek property and connecting that with existing city-owned properties, we have an opportunity to develop a 2-3 mile, close to town, loop trail. But it doesn’t need to — and shouldn’t — require a ridiculous amount of “studying” and money. My plea to you on the city council is to expend the minimal effort and funds necessary to create a viable trail while preserving the wilderness aspect that currently exists. And please do not  turn this into another Reber trail, which I fear might be what the city administration has in mind. That is a good connector trail, but is not what we need or want here.

Marylou Burton is a Homer resident.