Pine Street Sled Hill ready to create memories, magic

DOVER — After getting the all-clear, they charged up the hill as fast as they could.

Gathered for an informal opening of the Pine Street Sled Hill, area youth kept peeking toward the hill as a ribbon-cutting ceremony marked its return after years of being closed.

"That was what we all worked for," Katie Cox, executive director of Kaniksu Land Trust, said of watching several dozen winter-garbed youths charge their way up the hill, sleds in hand. "That moment, those faces, those giggles and laughter … that was the reason this community came together on this special place."

The opening was made possible by a fundraising campaign that began in March 2022, when KLT supporters financed the purchase of the Weiss family homestead for the land trust and leased it back to KLT for $1 for 18 months.

That gave the land trust the time needed to implement a capital campaign to raise the $2.1 million needed to buy the property outright — and make the necessary immediate improvements to use the property to the fullest extent possible.

The campaign followed an announcement by the land trust in the fall of 2021 that it hoped to purchase the site after learning it would soon be listed for sale. In total, the land trust received more than 500 individual donations as well as from multiple grants and proceeds from various fundraisers, such as Sledfest.

The Pine Street Sled Hill has long been special to the community, with countless families heading to its slopes. Sledding, Cox said, is an activity open to all, from the very young to more seasoned adults.

"I think sledding is the one activity where, when you get on the sled as an adult, you are immediately transported back to being a child."

Watching the youth race through the snow to get as high as they could before jockeying to be the first officially down the Pine Street Sled Hill was magical, Cox said.

"It was so fun to see the kids spill out," Cox said of watching a bus pull up to the sled hill when it officially opened Tuesday. "Just all of the colors that they wore and all of the colors of the sleds against the white hill. It was just a perfect picture of a winter day."

The sled hill is limited to 20 cars as part of its low-impact recreation permit from the city of Dover. However, that doesn't mean the hill is limited to 20 sledders, Cox said. She encouraged families and sledders to carpool to the site to ensure everyone gets a chance to enjoy the fun.

"So stuff those cars as much as you can and bring as many people as you can," she said with a laugh.

Kaniksu Land Trust officials also ask sledders to "be a good neighbor" and not park on Point Street. Tubes are discouraged, and sledders are asked not to go above markers at the top of the hill, which note the spot from which they can safely sled.

If dogs are brought to the hill, owners are asked to keep them on a leash and to pick up after them.

"Most of all, just have fun," Cox said.

The fun isn't limited to those with sleds; to ensure everyone has a chance to sled on the hill, the land trust purchased sleds that will be left on site so that all can have fun.

The community sleds are the result of a suggestion from a KLT volunteer who suggested the land trust hold back one of 50 chairs from the Musical Chairs chairlift donated to the organization by Schweitzer. Proceeds from the sale of that chair were used to purchase sleds so that all who want to head to the hill for some fun can do so, Cox said.

The land trust is in the process of drafting a master plan for the whole Pine Street Woods complex, which includes the sled hill. However, Cox said they and the community were eager to get up on the hill and begin sledding after many years of absence.

Land trust officials expect to have the master plan completed within the next few months, possibly as soon as late spring or early summer. Amenities for the site, which include a 75-car parking lot, are included in that master plan.

But, because they knew the community — and kids of all ages — were anxious to get on the hill, KLT and Dover officials drafted the low-impact recreation permit. That allows the community to get out and have fun, but it also gives the land trust time to get the master plan completed.

The community deserves thanks and recognition for joining with the land trust in raising the funds and saving the sled hill, land trust officials said.

"We just have immense gratitude to the whole community for making this happen and making it happen so quickly that we could open the sled hill back to the community," Cox said. 

It is amazing to think the community came together and quickly raised the money needed to save the sled hill for current and future generations.

"I think there's nothing that this community cannot do," she added. "And saving these special places that hold so many memories for each of us is so important."

With the area's recent growth, saving these special places is critical, where being able to have fun outdoors, is just minutes from the city.

"This will always remain as open space and I think open space is important for our wellness, for our well-being, and for our happiness," Cox added. "This ability to have this really more passive recreation, where it's not a lot of structured play. It's just being in the woods, just walking down a trail. It's just sledding down a hill."

Preserving areas like the sled hill are important for both Dover and the community at large, Dover Mayor George Eskridge said.

"Putting areas like this into conservation and setting it aside for generations to come, there is a value to that," he said. "This will benefit our kids and their kids forever."

The 48-acre parcel of land on which the sled hill sits also includes forests, meadows, a picturesque pond, and historic homestead structures.

The Sled Hill had been the site of a community ski hill in the 1940s prior to Schweitzer's opening in 1963 and later served as a community sledding hill until 2021. With the successful campaign, the homestead site — often referred to by the land trust as the property's front porch — joins the Pine Street Woods, which has become a treasured community landmark since its purchase in March 2019.

While officially the campaign was launched in November 2022, work on what would become the sled hill campaign can be traced to March 2019, when the land trust closed on the Pine Street Woods property.

Four years later, KLT successfully negotiated the purchase of the Weiss homestead property, and friends of the Land Trust financed the purchase, who then leased it back to KLT for $1 for 18 months. This gave KLT the time required to implement a capital campaign to raise the $2.1 million needed to purchase the property and make the necessary immediate improvements that will enable the land trust to use the property to the fullest extent possible.

Information: Kaniksu Land Trust, kaniksu.org, or 208-263-9471

    Local youth and Kaniksu Land Trust officials cut a ribbon to officially open the Pine Street Sled Hill on Tuesday, Jan. 16. The sled hill reopened after the Kaniksu Land Trust purchased the 48-acre site last year after a successful community fundraising campaign.
  

    Local youths make their way up the Pine Street Sled Hill on Tuesday, Jan. 16. The sled hill reopened after the Kaniksu Land Trust purchased the 48-acre site last year after a successful community fundraising campaign.
  

      

    A local youth closes his eyes as his sled gets ready to had down the Pine Street Sled Hill on Tuesday, Jan. 16. The sled hill has reopened after the Kaniksu Land Trust purchased the 48-acre site last year after a successful community fundraising campaign.
  

    A pair of sledders are sprayed by snow as they fly down the Pine Street Sled Hill on Tuesday, Jan. 16. The sled hill has reopened after the Kaniksu Land Trust purchased the 48-acre site last year after a successful community fundraising campaign.
  

    Sledders and community members gather for a group photo at the Pine Street Sled Hill on Tuesday, Jan. 16. The sled hill has reopened after the Kaniksu Land Trust purchased the 48-acre site last year after a successful community fundraising campaign.
  

    Sledders are sprayed by snow as they fly down the Pine Street Sled Hill on Tuesday, Jan. 16. The sled hill has reopened after the Kaniksu Land Trust purchased the 48-acre site last year after a successful community fundraising campaign.