A paved portion of the Foothills Trail between Buckley and South Prairie is now open. However, the only access is from the unpaved section at the end of the Buckley trail pavement.

At the end of September, this trail access was damp in place but not muddy. I was able to navigate the entire length on trike with Big Apple tires. I would not recommend trying it with narrow road tires. I was able to maintain about five mph most place, both down and back up. The grade is slight since it was designed for a train. (No access or parking is available on the private road the trail crosses at the beginning of the paved section.

A small plank bridge near the end of the unpaved trail is wide enough for a trike, as long as you can track in a straight line.

The new section of trail is smooth, gradual downhill, allowing a fast descent. I was able to reach 30 mph with only a little extra push.

An interesting feature of this new trail section is its four bridges. All have the blacktop pavement continuing across the bridge deck. Below is the first, the FEMA Bridge.

The second, the Spiketon Creek Bridge, 
has a similar structure, with wood beams and steel supports.

The third is the curved triple arch Lower Burnett Bridge over steep terrain, road, and river. Pictures from under this spectacular structure are shown on the Cascade Junction Bridge page.

A large wetland lies beside the trail between the third and forth bridges.

The river below the last bridge was packed with migrating salmon at the end of September. This view is looking straight down from the bridge deck through a telephoto lens to the water fifty feet below.