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By
ADAM
LAPIERRE
News staff writer
On a mossy, fern-covered hillside, sunlight
breaks through thick trees, casting a patchwork of light and
shadows down on a freshly packed trail that weaves its way
through the forest. It’s a foggy morning, and between the
trickling of Post Canyon Creek below and a few crows hacking
from above, the only sound in the area is the thump, thump,
thumping of dirt being tamped down by flat-bottomed hand tools.
Little red flags trace the path of the new
trail, which, when completed, will be a scenic single-track
through the wooded hills outside the west end of Hood River in
what is now titled the Northwest Area Trail System.
For those who are not familiar with the area,
it’s somewhere between Mount Hood and the Columbia River; for
those who are, the new trail will be a narrow, weaving loop that
connects to upper Seven Streams on the east end and lower
Spaghetti Factory on the west.
For longtime Hood River resident Charley
LaVenture, biking was one activity he was able to enjoy right up
until a month before he passed away; and the Post Canyon area
was one he frequented during his many years in town. His death
from leukemia earlier this month struck the hearts of many in
the community, and as he was spending his final days with family
and friends, a small crew of young men started work on a new
trail in the peaceful forest not far from where LaVenture lived.
When completed, the trail will be named
“Charley’s Trail,” in memory of the outdoorsman, artist and
friend who shared his positive attitude and zest for life with
the community he loved.
“Charley would be so honored to have a trail
with his name on it in Hood River, the town he called home for
34 years,” said Sally LaVenture, Charley’s wife. “He loved
mountain biking second only to surfing, I’d say. He always
wanted to build a trail from start to finish but never got the
chance. He helped work on a few in Post Canyon over the years.
“I can’t think of a nicer present for him
than to have a trail with his name on it. He would be thrilled.”
Jim Thornton,
a trails manager for the U.S. Forest Service, volunteered his
time to help build the trail, and as a friend of LaVenture’s,
Thornton couldn’t think of a better name for it.
“The LaVentures have helped out a lot of
people in this community over the years,” Thornton said. “They
were very much about the community. Something as simple as a
little trail doesn’t really do justice to a guy like Charley,
but it’s a nice touch for the community.”
With volunteer leadership from Thornton, and
funding from a National Park Service Grant — passed down by Hood
River County Forestry — a handful of young men from Hood River’s
WINGS program have been working on the trail twice a week for
the last several weeks. WINGS provides transitional housing and
opportunities to learn job and life skills to young adult males,
many of whom have been through foster care or homelessness.
“It’s a fabulous program,” said Henry
Buckalew, Hood River County Forestry trails coordinator. “We’ve
been in contact with them (WINGS) for about a year with ideas
for future projects; I’m glad to see this come into fruition.”
The county received about $17,000 in National
Park Service grant funding to use for improvements to visitor
services and sustainable trail systems. Of that money, $4,000
was set aside to use as wages for the WINGS workers, who were
happy to take on a $12 an hour job in such a scenic setting.
“We are happy to be a part of the program,”
Buckalew said. “And the young men do great work. We will
definitely hire them again if we have the opportunity.
“It’s hard work, and it’s a little slow, but
I enjoy being out here,” Jaysen Love said Wednesday, with a
flat-ended tool called a McLeod in his hands. “I definitely want
to ride this when it’s done. I have to get a bike first, but it
looks like a lot of fun.”
After a bit of chit-chat, Love and his
co-workers, Logan Anderson, Nick Graves and Stephen Sanchez got
back to work cleaning, scraping and tamping Charley’s Trail into
the hillside.
With winter fast on its way, the crew is
working to get as much of the trail laid down as possible while
weather permits. Thornton said he expects it to be completed
sometime next year, but before then he plans on having a work
party or two where community members can help with finishing
touches.
“We’ll have a ‘Charley Day’ on the trail,”
Thornton said. “Probably sometime in the spring, once the
weather gets better.”
After hearing about the trail, Sally
LaVenture wrote the following letter from Colorado:
“Charley would be so honored to have a trail
with his name on it in Hood River, the town he called home for
34 years. He loved mountain biking second only to surfing I’d
say. He loved bikes in general, working on them, teaching people
about them, talking about them and practicing new techniques to
use on trails. He had his share of bikes over the years, always
wanting to try out a new one, one with more travel, one that was
lighter, one with a different geometry.
“He took care of his bikes so well he never
had any trouble selling them when he was ready for the next one.
Every bike that he passed, whether he was on foot, in a car or
on a bike, he had to check out. He knew the brand and noticed
the parts, the tires, the seat height. He was a bike man for
sure.
“He started mountain biking in the early ‘80s
I think, just tooling around on any dirt road he could find in
the Hood River Valley. Post Canyon soon followed and then he
traveled to Washington and the upper valley for more rides. He
had an epic day on Mount St. Helens with Hood River friends
years ago that he still talked about. Many of his biking buddies
were quite a bit younger than he was but he was a strong rider
and loved being out on a ride with friends.
“He enjoyed a good trail the most; he tried
the stunts in Post Canyon for a while but as they got more
radical he went back to trail riding. He went to Whistler
several times with Hood River friends to go downhill riding
which he loved as well. I am grateful he never hurt himself
doing that.
“He always wanted to build a trail from start
to finish but never got the chance. He helped on a few in Post
Canyon over the years. I can’t think of a nicer present for him
than to have a trail with his name on it. He would be thrilled.
When we moved to Colorado he rode quite a bit, excited by the
new terrain. Just a month before he died he was riding near
Boulder with our daughter Willow, her boyfriend, Adam, and me.
He was always a teacher, getting us to stretch, to try a new
section, to push our limits.
“Even when his back hurt, he would always be
up for a mountain bike ride. He said the adrenaline was good for
his body. He always had a big grin on his face after a ride.
When we have a memorial celebration for Charley in Hood River
this summer we’ll have to have it on the new trail; seems like
it will be good place to spread some of his ashes.”
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