$10K Challenge Match to help complete Lost Valley Trail, boardwalk
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 27, 2026
The Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation has announced a $10,000 Challenge Match by the Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island, to help complete the long-envisioned Lost Valley Trail and boardwalk this summer.
All gifts through June 6 (National Trails Day) will be matched dollar-for-dollar, to $10,000 total, with a goal of opening the trail and boardwalk early this fall, a news release says. To give, visit biparksfoundation.org/build-lost-valley.
The mile-long trail will include nearly 200 linear feet of raised boardwalk to protect the Cooper Creek watershed and its salmon-bearing stream. The boardwalk is the most expensive element of the roughly $180,000 trail project, which will be built by the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District.
Lost Valley Trail crosses 33 acres of public open space, bounded by Wyatt Way/Head of the Bay on the east and Fletcher Bay Road on the west, with connections to neighborhoods along the way. It is the final link in a walkable route from the ferry terminal and downtown Winslow to Gazzam Lake and Crystal Springs. While currently used as an informal “social trail,” the Lost Valley Trail boardwalk must be completed before it can be officially opened this fall, per the release.
Planning of the trail dates back to the 2001 Open Space Bond, when Bainbridge Island voters overwhelmingly approved the purchase of land and easements to make the trail possible. The Parks & Trails Foundation has worked with partners and private landowners to secure additional easements to complete the route.
Lost Valley will be the third major trail completed under the Parks & Trails Foundation’s “Trails Connect Bainbridge Island” campaign. The Arbor Trail, completed in partnership with Bloedel Reserve, and the Sunny Hill to Nute’s Pond Trail opened in 2025.
The Vincent Road to Gazzam Lake Trail, another link in the cross-island trail, opened earlier this year in partnership with the BIMP&RD. These trails were all created through the participation of private landowners, Bloedel Reserve (Arbor Trail) and the City of Bainbridge Island, the release concludes.
