Foothills Trail
Pierce County, Washington

The Foothills Trail is a 12-Ft. wide non-motorized asphalt trail for bicycles, walking, in-line skating and wheelchairs.  It also has a soft shoulder path for horses.  The Foothills Trail begins in downtown Buckley next to the National Guard Armory on River Avenue and continues down River Avenue toward Wilkeson.  A trailhead is also open at South Prairie, which continues all the way into Orting and to McMillan.  When complete, the trail will extend all the way from Buckley to Puyallup.  Plans are also underway to connect the trail east to Enumclaw.

    The effort to transform what had been a railroad line into a non-motorized pathway began in the early 1980s before the tracks were removed for scrap. Two Buckley residents thought a trail for walking, bicycling and horseback riding would be a nice amenity for future generations who will live in the area.

For certain The Trail will accent the history of the region. Roads weren't of much use in the 1880s. Communities and towns depended on rail service for almost everything: they traveled on it, received their supplies on it and sent the commodities of their labors out to market on it. Beyond farming, most of the settlers of this area mined coal, cut timber or cut sandstone. None of those commodities could be loaded onto a horse drawn wagon and travel across muddy dirt roads to where they were needed.

Coal and sandstone encouraged the Northern Pacific Railroad to lay track from Tacoma to where both of them were discovered in these foothills northwest of the "big" mountain. When the line was opened in1877, it was part of the only railroad in what was called Washington Territory. The N.P. was chartered by the U.S. Congress to build the second cross continental railroad. It was granted land by the federal government for connecting the Great Lakes with the Pacific Ocean.  Laying track to cross the Cascade Mountain Range began in 1885 from a point 1 mile east of South Prairie. That spot became known as Cascade second cross continental railroad. It was granted land by the federal Junction and it will again be a dividing point where trail users can leave the valley floor and head up to either Buckley or Wilkeson. From 1877 until 1900, cross continental trains traveled through Cascade Junction and Buckley on their way to St. Paul, Minnesota. The biggest years for rail traffic were from 1900 to 1925. The rail lines became inactive in the 1980s.  Traveling along the Foothills Trail will be a great recreational opportunity and a chance to imagine what this area might have looked like when riding a train was the way most people got around. Current projections are that the trail will be completed through South Prairie to Buckley by 2005. The branch trail up to Wilkeson and on to Carbonado also will be partially opened or under development during that time.