Last year I had a chance to hike the new trailhead at the end of Maiden Lane in Wenatchee named Kenzie’s Landing after the nearby trail of the same name. It is a great alternative trailhead to the ones at Horse Lake Reserve and Sage Hills which tend to see more cars than there is space for. If you are looking for those highly sought after Arrowleaf balsamroot bursts of color this year, it is a much quieter place to access them!
Most people know of Sage Hills for its early spring blossoms. It is a part of the larger Wenatchee Foothills and currently managed by the Chelan Douglas Land Trust. The Wenatchi people are the original inhabitants of this land, however, long before settlers invaded. You can download the Native Land app to learn more about the history of the land you recreate on.
The dedicated parking lots at Saddle Rock and Horse Lake Reserve offer ample parking but the others tend to be the end of neighborhood roads with few parking spaces so it is nice to know there are more options close to town. You can find this trailhead up behind Walmart in town.
The Kenzie’s Landing trailhead has a nice new, shiny privy, parking for about 8 cars, bike racks, an electric car charging station and a covered picnic area similar to the style of the trailhead for Saddle Rock (but smaller).
I arrived sometime close to 7am and there was just one other car in the parking lot. I read about Kenzie, a local young woman memorialized by her family, and studied the map of the trail system. Signage once on trail is minimal so taking a picture would be helpful if you don’t have a navigation app like GAIA or Caltopo.
I made a 3 mile loop up Maiden Lane to Three Trail Saddle, then Coyote Canyon to Gut Saddle and down Jackhammer which has much steeper than the other trails! I think it sees more bikers but I didn’t see any today. When I have more time, I could take the day to explore over to Sage Hills or Horse Lake Reserve. You could wander for hours here.
The flowers are just beginning their show, the Arrowleaf balsamwood of course, but lupine was coming in close behind it.
These trails can get muddy after recent rain but I lucked out that they were dry. Today saw only a handful of hikers and trail runners but no bikes. The parking lot was full when I got back down around 9:30am and more cars were coming in.
The trailhead was easy to find, I just turned at Walmart at the north end of town and followed Maiden Lane to its end. It goes through neighborhood where you want to keep the speed down and watch for kiddos and dogs. You can’t park along the road leading up to the trailhead and it is just residential street parking before that.
After submitting my trip report on Washington Trails Association, I was asked to write up the hike guide description so you can now find that here!
If you are spending time in Wenatchee, I suggest lunch over at Pybus Market where the inside is open year round or dinner at McGlinn’s Public House. The Apple Capitol Recreational Loop along the Columbia also makes a nice stroll in the evening.
You can find out more about the Wenatchee Foothills trail system here. I was also able to pick up a map at the Saddle Rock trailhead on a previous hike.
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