Trail Mix started in the early 1990s as a group of volunteers who loved Juneau’s trails. In 1993, we officially became a nonprofit organization. From the start, we had one big goal: to restore the Treadwell Ditch Trail. It took many years of hard work from hundreds of community members to turn an old mining ditch into a fun trail for everyone.

Trail Mix was created to bring all kinds of people together on the trails. The group was founded by Paul Emerson, Bill Chisham, and Katy McKerney. Their early work helped make today’s trail possible.

In a Trail Report from April 20, 1998, Paul Emerson described the Treadwell Ditch Trail as very difficult to use: “Only major reconstruction or extensive and difficult detours can now make this stretch of the Treadwell Ditch Trail passable… [the trail] is in much greater danger of rapid deterioration… work needed.”

The reconnection of the 13.3-mile trail was made possible by the combined efforts of a record six partner organizations: the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), Juneau Community Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, City and Borough of Juneau, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Restoration Program (Pittman–Robertson Act), and Trail Mix, Inc. These groups worked alongside the Volunteer Trail Maintenance Team, founded by passionate local retirees, and hundreds of community volunteers to bring the trail back to life.

Thanks to the community’s hard work, the trail has been restored for the first time since the 1920s!