County will dedicate new Foothill Trails section

The Meeker to McMillin section of the Foothills Trail is complete and will be dedicated Saturday, March 18 with a special tribute to retired Parks and Recreation Director Jan Wolcott. The dedication ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. at the new East Puyallup Trailhead, 13810 80th St. E.

The new four miles of trail winds through trees and farms, extending the Foothills Trail to 15 contiguous miles from Meeker through McMillin and Orting to South Prairie. This is also Pierce County’s first Rails-With-Trail along an active Meeker Southern track.

Event speakers include Lee Fouts of the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition, Ernie Bay of the Foothills Rails-to-Trails Coalition and Wolcott, who retired last year. Also participating will be County Council Chair Shawn Bunney, Councilmember Calvin Goings and Parks and Recreation Director Kathy Kravit-Smith.

The Foothills Trail was constructed on an abandoned railroad right of way for use by pedestrians, bicyclists and equestrians. The McMillin and East Puyallup trailheads are designed to look like miniature train stations. The East Puyallup station features a restroom facility, kiosk, bicycle rack, equestrian hitching post and 23 parking spaces.