GRAND TERRACE - The trail leading to the top of Blue Mountain, the peak that gives the city its motto - "The Blue Mountain City" - and its eastern boundary, is closed for all but one day each year.

But that hasn't always been the case.

"It used to be open all the time," said Arlene Arthur, who has lived in Grand Terrace for nearly 16 years. "But now it's just once a year."

That once a year was Sunday, and about 600 hikers and bikers from Grand Terrace, Redlands, Highgrove and other parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties came out to take the 1.6-mile trail leading from the foot of the mountain to its peak.

It's the fourth year that the Friends of Blue Mountain, a nonprofit group that wants to see the mountain become the center of a 500-acre wilderness park, have opened the trail for their annual walk. The event was co-sponsored by the city of Grand Terrace and the Foundation of Grand Terrace.

"We're trying to get the city and the county involved," said Denis Kidd, president and chairman of Friends of Blue Mountain, and one of several people who own land around the mountain. "I don't think we can raise the money to buy all 500 acres. ... We need Colton and Grand Terrace and San Bernardino County and Riverside County."

But the group is working on buying some land around the mountain.

Kidd said proceeds from Sunday's event - admission was free, but the group accepted donations and sold hats and T-shirts -

"We're raising money to by 10.5 acres," Kidd said. "That's the first step."

He said it will cost $60,000, and the group has raised $10,000 so far.

While money is tight, especially for the local governments that Kidd and others hope will step in, he said Sunday's turnout - the largest so far - is a good sign.

"It says it's really important to people," he said.

Many of Sunday's hikers remember when the mountain was open all the time. Arthur said she used to hike up Blue Mountain a few times a year, and that her children would go up it seven or eight times a year.

"It's a shame to take away something that's been part of Grand Terrace from the residents of Grand Terrace," she said.

Councilwoman Darcy McNaboe said she hopes the mountain will be preserved for hiking.

"Being out in nature, it's not something you can buy," McNaboe said. "It's a special place. It's something man can't make or create and it's here in our backyard."

And with between 500 and 600 hikers and bikers taking advantage of the single day of trail access, McNaboe said it's clear locals like Blue Mountain and want it to be open.

"You can see how much desire there is for this kind of experience," McNaboe said.

Roland Espinoza of Redlands, who also hiked up Blue Mountain two years ago, said he hopes the mountain will eventually reopen year round and remain undeveloped - though he joked he wouldn't mind a few changes to the sometimes steep trail.

"The year before last, I didn't take so many breaks coming up," he said. "Maybe they'll put in escalators."