Arcata Found the Annie & Mary Trail Before Its Ribbon Cutting

The Annie & Mary Trail has been drawing more than 300 people a day before its official opening. Arcata installed trail counters at the Arcata Skate Park and at the Ridge Trail. Even with bridges still missing and temporary fencing still up, more than 300 people a day are using the path, Arcata environmental services director Emily Sinkhorn told the Lost Coast Outpost in mid-October.

The City of Arcata has set the official opening for Friday, Nov. 13, from noon to 1 p.m. It will be held on the trail next to the city's Foodworks Culinary Center at 100 Ericson Ct., according to the Mad River Union's events listing. By then the ribbon cutting will be celebrating a route Arcata already uses. The trail also finishes a job the city has been working toward for years, which is connecting Valley West and the Mad River to the rest of town without a car.

A rail line Arcata waited on for nearly three decades

The trail follows a derelict rail corridor, now held as right-of-way by the Great Redwood Trail Agency. Friends of the Annie and Mary Trail began pushing for a path there in the late '90s, several years after the railway was abandoned. Local governments then studied the corridor and applied for grants. Blue Lake built its own section through town several years ago. Granite Construction broke ground in Arcata last year. Crews finished the segment to Cal Poly Humboldt's Hinarr Hu Moulik dorms first, then pushed on to West End Road, as the Outpost reported.

The city's environmental filing calls the project about 3.5 miles of Class I bike path, which is fully separated from car traffic, with trailhead improvements, running "between Sunset Avenue and Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District's Park 1 on West End Road." The Notice of Determination on CEQAnet says it starts at "the existing northern terminus of the Humboldt Bay Trail at the Arcata Skate Park." From there it serves the Valley West neighborhood, the Aldergrove business park and the Mad River.

So the new path picks up at Sunset Avenue, where an existing bay trail already ends. For anyone who already rides or walks to the Skate Park, the trail adds 3.5 car-free miles to the north.

The route, south to north

Here is what the trail passes, in order, from the Sunset Avenue end. The descriptions come from the Outpost's October report, the city's filing and the Union's listing.

1. Arcata Skate Park at Sunset Avenue. This is the southern start and the site of one of the city's two trail counters. It connects to the northern end of the Humboldt Bay Trail.
2. Cal Poly Humboldt's Hinarr Hu Moulik dorms. This stretch was finished first, and the path runs right past the university's new housing.
3. The Arcata Ridge Trail parking lot on West End Road. The Union described the stretch from this lot south to the Skate Park as "mile-long." So roughly the first mile of the 3.5 gets you from Sunset Avenue to the Ridge Trail, and the second counter sits here.
4. The Valley West spur. The Union's listing describes a spur that connects the Valley West neighborhood to the main trail.
5. Aldergrove Industrial Park. The corridor runs straight through the business park. The Foodworks Culinary Center on Ericson Court, where the ribbon cutting will happen, is next to the trail in this section.
6. Along West End Road. For its last stretch the path runs beside West End Road, heading east toward the river.
7. Park 1 on the Mad River. This is the northern end, a day-use park run by the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District.

The order matters because it shows who the trail serves. The first mile links the Skate Park, student housing and the forest trails above town. The next stretch links a neighborhood, a business park and a river park that, until now, could only be reached by road on that side of town.

What's waiting at the Mad River end

Park 1 is easy to overlook if you've only driven West End Road. According to the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District, its two Mad River day-use areas are open during daylight and close at sunset.

Two details on that list matter more now that the trail is here. With limited parking, the park can only take so many cars, but it can take far more people on foot or bike. And the sunset closing rule counts for more in late October and November, when evenings come early. A walk from Sunset Avenue to the river and back is about seven miles. If you head out after work this time of year, you'll be racing the light.

What's left before Nov. 13

The trail is paved end to end. In mid-October, Sinkhorn listed what was still unfinished: not all of the bridges were installed, permanent fencing still had to go up, temporary fencing had to come down, and the lines still needed painting. She said the whole trail will "likely be safe to use" shortly before the Nov. 13 ceremony. She also asked users to respect workers' safety by staying out of work areas, and said weekend use is preferred, the Outpost reported.

Volunteers have started looking after the trail before the city has formally opened it. The Volunteer Trail Stewards scheduled a workday for Saturday, Oct. 24. The plan was to meet at the Arcata Ridge Trail parking lot and work south along the mile-long stretch toward the Skate Park, trimming back vegetation, picking up trash and clearing debris, with possible brush cutting and graffiti removal, according to the Mad River Union.

The Outpost thanked contributors on Sinkhorn's behalf: Caltrans, Cal Poly Humboldt, the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District and the Yurok Indian Housing Authority.

Why Valley West is the point

The city describes the trail's job in terms of where people live and travel, beyond recreation. Sinkhorn called the trail "a really exciting milestone" and a "key component" of the city's plan to connect Valley West to the rest of Arcata, the Outpost reported. The other part of that plan is a bike lane on Giuntoli Lane over Highway 299.

The Valley West spur gives that neighborhood a car-free route south toward the Skate Park and Sunset Avenue, and from there onto the Humboldt Bay Trail. In the other direction, it reaches the business park and the river. That helps explain the 300-a-day count, since the trail is a usable route for people coming from both ends.

Where the line goes next

There is more planned, though nothing is scheduled yet.

East to Blue Lake. The long-term plan is to carry the Annie & Mary Trail all the way to Blue Lake through Glendale, along the north side of Highway 299. There is no timeline for that project yet, according to the Outpost. Caltrans' Annie & Mary Trail project page describes the Blue Lake to Glendale piece as a proposed path beside SR 299, with two possible alignments and a timeline listed as "To be determined." Blue Lake's in-town section is already built, so what's missing is the middle.

West to Manila. In late August, the Outpost reported that Arcata was seeking funding for a trail out to Manila, also on Great Redwood Trail Agency right-of-way. It would be built in two pieces. The first is a spur through western Arcata through the Gateway District that connects to the Humboldt Bay Trail. The second is about 2.5 miles out to Manila. The agency would maintain the extended segment, and at the time the City Council was about to take up the funding effort. As of that August report, the Manila trail was still a proposal waiting on funding.

If both are built, the rail corridors around Arcata would add up to a trail network stretching east toward Blue Lake and west toward the coast. For now there is one finished link, from Sunset Avenue to the Mad River, and it opens officially at noon on Friday, Nov. 13, next to Foodworks on Ericson Court.

Our office is in Arcata, and new public access like this trail shapes how a part of town works day to day. If you want to talk about the Valley West, Sunny Brae or West End Road side of town, the team at The Land Man Office is glad to share what we know. Contact Us.