South Prairie-Buckley MiniTot--April/XX/2018
Previous Foothills Trail MiniTots and Rides
A MiniTOT is a local offspring of the granddaddy of all Tots--Tater-TOT.  A Tot was originally conceived as a Trike Only Tour, later modified to Trike Optional Tour or any number of other inclusive terms beginning with O.  TaterTot takes place each June in Idaho, with the Tater honoring that state's famous tuber.
The Foothills Trail lies on the railbed of a Northern Pacific line first built in 1882 and abandoned by Burlington Northern a hundred years later.
In 1990, Pierce County established the Foothills Trail linear park, with construction beginning in 1998.  Now 28 miles long, it is officially known as the Foothills National Recreational Trail.
The South Prairie-Buckley segment of this miniTot was completed in December of 2017.
What You Will See
This segment of the trail is often called the bridges section, with five spans plus nearly a mile of pin pile elevated path.  The first bridge is an original heavy steel railroad structure crossing South Prairie Creek.
High Bridge is a steel girder span from the old railroad.  In the fall, you can look down on salmon working their way upstream.
The 650 foot curved triple arch bridge is a showpiece of glulam engineering.
Two nearly identical structures, the Spiketon Bridge and the Switchback Bridge, crossed ravines above the Triple Arch.  However, a huge cottonwood crushed the Switchback Bridge in 2014.  It was replaced by a giant culvert to complete the opening of this trail segment.
About a mile of trail in this section is elevated on a pin pile bridge to leave a minimal footprint on senstive wetland areas.
Some of the original Northern Pacific track is still in place at the outdoor display area of Buckley's White River Museum.  This picture was taken from a local fire tower moved to the site.
The railroad was built because of coal and logging.  Also on display by the trail are a large wheel from an early town sawmill and a burl honoring the hundreds of local loggers killed in the woods above town.
The Foothills Trail terminates after a long, invigorating descent to the White River.  The bridge abutments from the old trestle are still in place. These will likely be used to support a new bridge to link up with the Enumclaw trail.