Heybrook Ridge County Park: New ADA-accessible trail took persistence and partnership
It's taken three dedicated organizations, WTA being one, a lot of coordination and hard work over a decade to get Heybrook Ridge County Park to where it is now. Today, it boasts one fully ADA-accessible trail and another steeper trail that leads to beautiful ridge views along Highway 2.
This September, Heybrook Ridge County Park (not to be confused with the nearby Heybrook Lookout) reopened after a months-long closure to finish work on the ADA-accessible Erinswood Trail. Getting the park to this point has been a decade in the making, with a lot of hard work from three organizations: Snohomish County Parks and Recreation, the Friends of Heybrook Ridge and Washington Trails Association.
And, if you’ve ever hiked on Highway 2, you know why having trails here is such a boon to hikers.
Beautiful views on the Levoy Trail to Heybrook Ridge. Photo by trip reporter rubin51.
Heybrook Ridge County Park is right off Highway 2, across the North Fork Skykomish River from Index. It has two trails: the short but steep Leovy Trail to Heybrook Ridge, with gorgeous views of Bridal Veil Falls and Mount Index, and the mellow lowland Erinswood Trail.
All of that, yet it hasn’t been a park all that long.
A brief history
In the mid-2000s, a large clearcut was planned for the north side of the ridge. The Friends of Heybrook Ridge (FOHR) organized to prevent the clearcut. In 2008, FOHR worked with the Cascade Land Conservancy (now Forterra) and Snohomish County Parks (Parks) to buy the land, which is now Heybrook Ridge County Park. FOHR has continued working in various ways to support the park since then.
WTA was brought on board when it was time to build trails in the park.
Hitting the trail (work)
Ann Darlington is on the board of FOHR, and was previously president for 8 years.
“I became president and I knew my focus was going to be about the trails,” Ann said.
WTA crews began working on the Leovy Trail in 2017. Photo courtesy of Ann Darlington.
Ann reached out to Jen Gradisher in WTA’s trails program, for help on the park’s trails. During those years, WTA took our trail expertise to Index, going on scouting walks and trail planning with Parks’ senior planner, Chris Mueller, and FOHR.
Initially, there was only a rough path to the top of Heybrook Ridge. After several work parties in 2016–17 (which included planning and preparation work with Parks), WTA refined the Leovy Trail to what it is today. The work included building rock steps and turnpikes, as well as adding more switchbacks to improve the sustainability of the trail. Many of the volunteers that came to the trail work parties didn’t have too far to drive.
“This felt like a community-centric project. We had a lot of volunteers who would typically show up along the Highway 2 corridor, those community members came out very frequently. Having that ability to have those more localized connections was really powerful,” Jen said.
This project, along with others, provided the bedrock for a strong working relationship between WTA and Parks that persists to this day. WTA hosts work parties at various parks in Parks and works on trail planning with the County Parks department.
The celebration of the Leovy Trail opening in 2017. Photo courtesy of Ann Darlington.
The Leovy Trail — named for an incredibly generous donor that made the initial park land acquisition possible — officially opened to the public in late 2017. The ribbon cutting was attended by folks from all three organizations, including Ann and WTA’s CEO at the time, Jill Simmons.
A more accessible trail
In 2018, WTA began roughing in the Erinswood Trail, a gentle loop just off the parking lot, named after a young woman in Index both with cerebral palsy. WTA was able to finish the loop around the park before COVID. Although it wasn’t yet ADA-accessible, it provided a more-accessible option for hikers seeking something shorter and milder than the Leovy Trail.
The Erinswood Trail was initially roughed in by WTA in 2018. Photo by Bob Adler.
Emily Griffith with Snohomish County Parks and Recreation has been the project manager on the Heybrook Ridge County Park project for the last 4 years.
“WTA has been an invaluable partner in helping ideate what we could do, where the routes might be, what needs to happen,” Emily said. “WTA provides the support to actually get the trails built out here when Parks doesn’t necessarily have the capacity to hire a contractor.”
The pandemic slowed progress down considerably, but this year, Parks was able to pick up the project again. They’ve spent the first half of 2026 building upon the work WTA did nearly a decade ago on the Erinswood Trail.
With Parks’ work complete, the Erinswood Trail is now fully up to ADA standards. And with support from FOHR, the loop has eight new benches, placed every 200 feet along the trail, as well as nine interpretive signs. The base of the park is the site of a 1920s logmill, so there are plenty of artifacts still about, including remnants of a steam donkey.
New benches and interpretive signs await hikers on the Erinswood trail. Photo by Emily Griffith.
Working together
It took a big effort from all three organizations to get the park to where it is now.
It would have been difficult to secure adequate funding without FOHR’s dedicated efforts, which began before the park was even officially created. Parks owns and manages the park. And, of course, WTA has gotten hundreds of boots on the ground on these trails.
“It’s felt like this perfect triad of WTA, Snohomish County Parks and the Friends of Heybrook Ridge,” Ann said. “Together, we’ve created a public space for hikers of all types, wheelchairs, strollers, walkers — making it a unique park for both people in Sky Valley and farther away.”
The Erinswood trail: originally roughed in by WTA, now built up to ADA standards by Snohomish County Parks a decade later. Photo by Emily Griffith.
“It’s really exciting to see something go from concept to complete,” Jen said. “You want these projects to move a lot faster than they do, but life happens, impacts happen, funding support and resources are challenged. The fact that we’re able to actually see this project come to completion — I think it’s a true testament to people keeping it moving in the right places.”
Now that the park is back open, visitors to the park can hike the Leovy Trail to the ridge and the newly ADA-accessible Erinswood Trail.
“I know the community have been strong proponents and we appreciate their persistence and patience in helping get this across the finish line,” Emily said. “We’re really excited to have this open for everyone to enjoy.”
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