Nestled in the woods near Soldotna High School is a Japanese-inspired garden. The Kenai Peninsula Peace Crane Garden Trails has been a work in progress since 2018. It was inspired by a Rotary International conference that highlighted an organization that harvests seeds collected from plants that survived the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima.
Sarah Pyhala was at that conference, and later received ginkgo seeds from the organization. She’s since grown the seeds into living trees and has planted them in the Soldotna-based Japanese garden. Pyhala is also the president of the nonprofit behind the garden trails.
“We are focused on promoting peace by finding inner peace and also creating a space where community members can go to be active in a meditative manner,” Pyhala said.
The goal of the garden is to be spiritually healing. Pyhala says the garden trail is handicap accessible and can be an alternative to nearby Tsalteshi Trails. She says people experiencing emotional or physical distress, including those undergoing cancer treatment, have used the new trail system to calm their spirit.
“There is a psychological benefit to a Japanese style garden that we are trying to bring forth to the community in that it reduces your heart rate and increases mentation, so it increases your alertness to the space around you," Pyhala said. "And ultimately, allows those health benefits to carry over so people who experience a Japanese garden also sleep better through the night.”
The project is currently in its early phases of development. Construction began in 2021. The following year, a bronze-cast sandhill crane sculpture created by an Anchorage artist found its way to the garden.
The nonprofit highlighted recent updates to the Japanese garden at a Soldotna Chamber Luncheon on Wednesday New additions include a 10-foot-tall cedar torii gate. That’s a traditional Japanese style gate that symbolically marks the spiritual transition from the mundane to the sacred. The nonprofit also plans to add a locally-crafted munamon gate near the entrance of the trail system this fall.
“These are transition gates, so you transition from the every day into a calmer headspace," Pyhala said. "As you transition from the munamon into and through the torii gate, you go through the calmer headspace into a more spiritual headspace as you meander through the trails.”
Organizers say their work still isn’t done. Long term, the nonprofit would like to add a tea room, pond, bridge, waterfall and parking lot to the site. They’d also like to finish laying the trail system, and proceeds from the Soldotna Rotary Club’s recent Kenai Peninsula Beer Festival should cover the costs.
Pyhala says the garden has social benefits, but that it may also boost the local economy. She says it’s one more activity for tourists, especially those fishing in the area.
“So having other options of activities for them, like the Wednesday market or something else to take people’s time brings forth that idea of ‘one more day’ and can bring in financial benefits to the businesses of this community," Pyhala said. "Having this Japanese style garden present is hopefully one of those draws that in the future will keep people here for one more day.”
Organizers considered multiple sites before settling on the current space on Marydale Avenue. The property is under a 20-year land lease agreement through the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Pyhala says it’s a convenient and quiet location.
“It just gives an option to people who otherwise didn’t have the ability to experience the woods," she said. "It gets them off the pavement, it gets them into a space where they can move into a different headspace where they can relax their body, relax their mind, and more or less meditate through the space as they go through their day.”
For visitors of the Kenai Peninsula Peace Crane Garden Trails, Pyhala suggests parking at Soldotna High School. For more information or to share your experience with the trail, visit the garden’s website.
