By Brenda Starkey
     The Chronicle
     
     REPUBLIC — A new system of trails will bring motorized and non-motorized recreation opportunities closer to town.
     The Gibraltar Trail will include a new trailhead and 13.5 miles of new trail on U.S. Forest Service land, according to a Forest Service decision.
     The trail complex will be three miles southeast of town, south of state Highway 20 near Quartz, Camel Back and Granite mountains and Ninemile Creek.
     The entrance to the trailhead will be east of Forest Service Road 2053000 and just north of Forest Service Road 2053250. An access road and parking area will require minor shaping with heavy equipment to accommodate a minimum turn radius of 35 feet for vehicles with trailers, forest officials said.
     Trailhead amenities will include a single concrete toilet, information board, rock barriers and entrance signs.
     The non-motorized trail will run nearly 12 miles for horseback riding, use of pack stock, hiking, mountain biking, Nordic skiing and snowshoeing.
     Part of the route will follow closed but existing forest roads. An additional non-motorized spur, the Quartz Mountain Trail, will climb 0.8 mile from the Gibraltar Trail to an area below the Quartz Mountain lookout.
     The new spur will not affect current access to Quartz Mountain on existing roads.
     Forest officials said the project will include approximately one mile of multi-purpose (motorized and non-motorized) trail. Of that, three-quarters of a mile will require new construction while the rest will be on existing but closed roads.
     Motorized trails will link existing forest roads and will include loops.
     The trail came from a cooperative effort of foresters, environmentalists, loggers and government representatives through the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition, according to Steve Anthes, who has worked on the project.
     It will offer spectacular views and new recreational opportunities, he said.
     The trail will link to the campground at the Ferry County Fairgrounds through easements across state and private lands, he said.
     There have been issues involved with linking the motorized trail to the fairgrounds, Anthes said, adding that that might become possible some time in the future.
     The trail is an answer to requests from the Republic community for motorized and non-motorized trails that eventually could be connected to the town’s commercial district via existing municipal trails and private roads, such as the Golden Tiger Pathway, the Forest Service said.