Bike trail group focus now on Columbia Falls section
A grassroots group continues work on an effort to create a bike path from Columbia Falls to Glacier National Park, but it won’t happen overnight, they caution.
“This is going to take at least two, maybe four years,” Gateway to Glacier Trail board president Sarah Dakin said last week.
A Columbia Falls contingent has taken over the project in the past few months, as the focus is now on completing the trail from the city to Bad Rock Canyon. The goal is to establish a bike path from Third Avenue West east on U.S. 2, then north on River Road, and then northeast along the Flathead River.
The group has been in talks with Glencore, the Swiss company that owns the aluminum smelter and much of the land along the river, to gain an easement for the path. Nothing has come to fruition yet — the last easement proposal was rejected by Flathead County, Dakin said.
Board members remain optimistic an equitable arrangement can be worked out — it’s just going to take some time. The route, if it stays close to the river, would need cooperation from other private landowners in the area as well.
“We have to take lots of baby steps to make contacts and inform people,” Dakin said.
The trail effort reached a major milestone earlier this year when G2GT signed a contract with Flathead County for $754,757 in federal Community Enhancement Transportation Program funding needed to pay for construction of a 6.8-mile long path along U.S. 2 from Coram to West Glacier.
Spearheaded by Val Parsons and dozens of other volunteers from Columbia Falls and the Canyon, the group raised the $116,988 match needed for the federal grant and $58,000 more for maintenance funds.
Meanwhile, fundraising plans are underway for a Pedals to Paths bike event this spring and the annual Pints for Paths beer tasting event at the Heaven’s Peak Restaurant in West Glacier slated for Saturday, July 12, from 5 to 10 p.m.
For more information, visit online at www.facebook.com/GatewayToGlacierTrail or www.gatewaytoglaciertrail.com.