- Home
- Parks and Facilities
Whitehorse Trail
Subfacility of Whitehorse Community Park
Please note: trail is designed for hiking, biking, and equestrian use only, no motorized vehicles.
Restoration work on the trail will commence summer of 2018 and is projected to be completed in October. The trail is currently impassible just east of Arlington due to a landslide and will be closed indefinitely until engineers can assess earth movement that is occurring above and below the trail.
Please visit the Project Page for details.
The Whitehorse Trail is a 27 mile-long corridor (totaling 458 acres), between the cities of Arlington and Darrington. Frequently paralleling SR-530 and the North Fork Stillaguamish River, the trail route winds through a series of farm, forest and river environments, and contains several fishing access points and river bridge crossings. The only open section of the trail runs from Darrington going west to the Fortson Mill Trailhead, which is approximately seven (7) miles.
The bridges, trestle and multiple crossings across SR 530 are major safety issues. The remainder of Whitehorse trail remains closed until bridge railings and decking can be installed. Responding to parents' requests, a section at Mile Post 30 is brushed so that school children may use it to commute to the bus stop safely instead of walking on SR 530.
Parks maintenance crews periodically maintain the trail right-of-way so that it is not overgrown by vegetation. The entire abandoned rail corridor and the open-for-public-use section was brushed out last year as part of this regular on-going maintenance. Since this is a closed section of property, it is not patrolled as often as the six-mile trail section that is open (Darrington to Swede Heaven Rd.). The surface is the original railroad ballasts with future plans for gravel. No date has been determined for project completion.
Construction Updates
Restoration work on the trail will commence summer of 2018 and is projected to be completed in October. The trail is currently impassible just east of Arlington due to a landslide and will be closed indefinitely until engineers can assess earth movement that is occurring above and below the trail.
Please visit the Project Page for details.
Description
The Whitehorse Trail is a 27 mile-long corridor (totaling 458 acres), between the cities of Arlington and Darrington. Frequently paralleling SR-530 and the North Fork Stillaguamish River, the trail route winds through a series of farm, forest and river environments, and contains several fishing access points and river bridge crossings. The only open section of the trail runs from Darrington going west to the Fortson Mill Trailhead, which is approximately seven (7) miles.
Trail Conditions
The bridges, trestle and multiple crossings across SR 530 are major safety issues. The remainder of Whitehorse trail remains closed until bridge railings and decking can be installed. Responding to parents' requests, a section at Mile Post 30 is brushed so that school children may use it to commute to the bus stop safely instead of walking on SR 530.
Parks maintenance crews periodically maintain the trail right-of-way so that it is not overgrown by vegetation. The entire abandoned rail corridor and the open-for-public-use section was brushed out last year as part of this regular on-going maintenance. Since this is a closed section of property, it is not patrolled as often as the six-mile trail section that is open (Darrington to Swede Heaven Rd.). The surface is the original railroad ballasts with future plans for gravel. No date has been determined for project completion.