History on the River
   The Lime Kiln Trail provides access to the historic Robe Canyon from the south side of the river, passing through a young forest near the parking lot, and a ten-year-old clear cut area, and past Hubbard Lake before descending into Robe Canyon Historic Park, 1,000 acres that have been acquired by Snohomish County with assistance from the Cascade Land Conservancy, where the remnants of an old lime kiln is located on the south bank of the Stilly.  Once in the canyon, the trail follows the railroad bed that was built in the 1890's to serve the mines of Monte Cristo.  The Lime Kiln Trail ends where the railroad originally crossed the river to enter a series of five tunnels at the west end of the lost community of Robe.  The eastern end of the Robe Canyon Historic Park, which is accessed from the Mountain Loop Highway, was used by the public unofficially for many years and was acquired by the county in the early 1990s.
   Dean hopes someday the two trails will be connected, possibly with a suspension bridge across the river.
   "But there are a lot of issues to resolve before that happens," Dean said.  Due to a steep drop from the hill on the north side of the river, the trail faces the same hurdles the historic railroad faced 100 years ago.
   "We might have to go up and over the hill," Dean said.
   But for now, the new trail provides a delightful seven-mile round trip hike for families traipsing through a beautiful wilderness, passing signs of human activity that have been lost to society since the early 1900s.
   While the Lime Kiln Trail is now complete, county officials prefer the public hold off until the trail is officially open.  The county's parks department built the trailhead parking lot in June and installed a gate.  The trailhead is in a quiet neighborhood about three miles southeast of Granite Falls, on Waite Mill Road, off the Menzel Lake Road.
   The Snohomish County Parks senior planner who is supervising this project, Pat Kenyon, said he wants to have everything just right before opening the trail to the public.  He plans to meet with the neighbors once more before the opening and hopes to find someone in the neighborhood who would like to take responsibility for opening and closing the gate daily.
   "We're trying to be a good neighbor," Kenyon said.
   "The residents view it [the Lime Kiln Trail area] as their neighborhood.  It's a bit of an intrusion to have public there all of a sudden," Kenyon said.
   He said they are now in the process of designing a sign and plan an official opening once it is installed at the trailhead.
   "We don't want people driving down the neighbors' driveways," he said.
   "I will have more news later about a celebration of the public opening of the trail," Dean said.