When: Sunday, June 7th, 2009
With: BoeAlps BCC Team 7
Goal: Give back, with Trail Maintenance
As part of the BCC class we needed to complete a day of trail maintenance. Although there are trails all over Washington, some trails less than an hour away, we were chosen to help out with a trail 2.5+ hours north, Mt Pugh.
We were told that they gave us the “hard” mountain, that involved us walking up a few thousand feet with our shovels, polaski’s, grub tool, and loppers. Most of these tools were old fire-fighter tools, particularly the polaski—with one side as an axe and the other side having an adze for grubbing. While chopping through routes 4” thick it was quite obvious some polaski’s were sharper than others.
The hike up was at a fast pace, much faster than any of our Alpine climbs! Soon enough we reached the top of the switchbacks and were then divied into groups of WTA members and BoeAlpers as we headed back down the trail to all the nasty spots. For the most part we were doing trail redirection. To avoid an ugly patch, fallen tree’s, etc, many hikers deviate from the real trail. It was amazing how much this changes the trail!
Unfortunately I didn’t really take any before/after photos, I was too excited at each spot to get working that I didn’t think to get out my camera.
With so many volunteers we quickly cleared the mountain. At noon we stopped for a half hour lunch break and were given some candy by the WTA. Refueled, we continued to hack roots, make new trails, rebuild other areas, and get a good workout. I was hoping I’d finally feel sore after an outing (since my arms don’t get as much exercise normally) but I was sadly denied of any muscle pain the next day.
We couldn’t believe how much work we accomplished in a day. We fixed every single problem with the trail!
When we returned to the trailhead we were greeted by the sun peaking out of the clouds and a cooler full of soda’s and juice while we chatted about the day’s work and our ridiculously awesome weather luck. The day started out almost a little rainy, cool and with an overcast (low 60’s). The temperature only warmed up somewhat (to mid 60’s); while working we were completely content with the temperature but if you stopped working you’d become a little chilled, perfect!
Other than waking up at the crack of dawn, this trip was another fun experience. We got a free NW Forest Day Pass, and if we come back for another trail maintenance day (and get an additional NW Forest Day Pass) we could trade in the two day passes for a full year pass (retail $30). Still sounds like a deal to me considering this is volunteer maintenance. Alas, since I have the National Parks Pass, my membership to the NW forests is covered with that and I'm able to hike the state of Washington freely.
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