By Mary Burger
We started off the season with training. Six crew leaders came out to learn how to install steps and drains for the repair work on Bear Creek Trail. Then, on May 15th, we were joined by Trails and Open Space Coalition for our first project of the season, and the skills the crew leaders learned in April were put the test. We installed about a dozen steps and several drains.
We also replaced two of the bridges on the trail, because they were becoming weak. The new ones should last for several decades.
The process of replacing the bridges involved finding just the right trees. Then the Forest Service cut the trees down for us. We then had to remove the bark, install the trees across the stream, and flatten the tops. Most of the work was done by skilled carpenters from Carpenters Local 515, but some volunteers were allowed to try their hand at it.
Other volunteers decided to move a small rock which was sort of blocking the entrance to the trail.
By the end of the day, we had restored about 1000 feet of trail.
We continued work on the Bear Creek trail all summer, on alternate Thursdays. By the end of summer we feel we repaired about half to two thirds of the trail. Much of the work restored the trial to its original character of an old carriage trail but sometimes the width was just no longer available due to erosion of the slope.
In June and again in July, we built the Raspberry Mountain connection to the Ring the Peak Trail. This half mile of trail opens up 14 miles of trail to use, and allows one to hike, or bike from the Crags campground to Cascade.
The trail takes off from across another of our famous bridges, near, but not at, the Crags campground. The Ring the Peak way signs were in before we even finished the trail.
The sign at the trailhead was dedicated July 18th, and the first map of the Ring the Peak Trail was posted. Hopefully, there will be many more portals identified next year
In August, we focused on the Crags to Devil’s Playground trail. Since we have been working on this trail for four years, we are now almost two miles from the trailhead. The forest service was kind enough to transport our tools to the work site for us. And we put them to good use.
We repaired about a quarter of a mile of trail including check dams in the drainages, and steps and drains on the trail. The second weekend scheduled for this trail had to be cancelled due to snow. Next year, we will schedule this work earlier in the season.
The final project of the year was Putney Gulch. This is the next step in the Ring the Peak system. This trail will allow the hiker, biker, etc. to connect from the current end of the Ring, at Raspberry Mountain trailhead, to Horsethief Park, and beyond to Pancake rocks.
We built about 500 feet of trail through some rather thick aspen woods. It is a start. This connection will be about a mile and a half long, and may take all next year to build.
