#trail maintenance

[mountrainiernps]

National Historic Preservation Month - Trails

Did you know that Mount Rainier’s Wonderland and Northern Loop Trails are also considered part of the National Historic Landmark District? The first version of the around-the-mountain trail was completed in 1915, at a lower elevation than the current version. Although it has been relocated in places and maintained and rebuilt when required, the Wonderland Trail as a whole has extensive integrity and is one of the most significant and historic trails in the national park system. The trail’s integrity is thanks to a dedicated and hardworking trail crew that works every year to maintain trails throughout the park. On this dynamic mountain, foot bridges frequently wash out, sections slide way, rocks need to be cleared, and more. The park is also 97% designated Wilderness, so often trail crews are doing this repair work without any equipment besides what they can carry in. Have you seen trail crews at work while out hiking or volunteered with a trail crew?

NPS Photos: Trail crew members rebuild a section of trail that had washed out on the Wonderland near Carbon River. Crews drill rocks along a section of the Northern Loop Trail.  A washed-out footbridge over the Carbon River. A crew member climbs a tree to install a high lead rigging system to lift a log to place it across a river crossing. A section of wood boardwalk at Doe Creek along the Wonderland Trail after 10 years.

[rainiervolunteersnps]

Summer is on the way, and the first volunteer group of the season has already been out on the trails! Last Saturday the Mount Rainier National Park Associates assembled for their first of at least six volunteer projects this year, this time at Carbon River to repair winter storm washouts along the Carbon River Trail. A large group split up into smaller teams to work on spots spread out across the first three miles of the trail, filling in holes and clearing routes through stretches temporarily reclaimed by the river.

For more photos from the event, go to our Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/gp/mountrainiernps/17w4op487X, and to MRNPA’s Facebook page, linked above. Thank you to our friends in the blue helmets for their hard work on behalf of Mount Rainier's hikers!

[pcttrailsidereader]

Wildfire Impacts on the PCT 2018 - 2023

The most recent "Communicator", the official publication of the PCTA, arrived recently. I thought it worth highlighting one of the articles that, to me, addressed the most significant threat to the PCT -- wildfire. The dramatic increase in wildfire along the length of the PCT is symptomatic of climate change and land management issues. The results, as the author Galen Keily observes, are "disrupted PCT adventures, increased trail maintenance and altered ecosystems".

The numbers are staggering. During those five years, 10% of the total PCT burned. The impact of those fires lasts far longer. "Within one to three years post-fire, land management agencies may replant in some areas and signs o nature's resilience emerge with the return of fire-adapted wildflowers, grasses and shrubs. But sometimes non-native specific establish a foothold where they previously couldn't," writes Keily.

Often, sadly, forests return as chaparral or open savannah as diminished rainfall and higher temperatures will not sustain the re-growth of trees. I wrote about my own experience along the Transverse Range in a post from 2020 -- https://pcttrailsidereader.com/post/619922012185542656/by-rees-hughes-i-spent-a-little-time-thinking

Burned trail requires more maintenance "as terrain stripped of vegetation and root systems erodes more quickly." Anyone who has done trail work in the backcountry in recent years can attest to this. I've spent a week each of the past five years working trails in Northern California's backcountry. During the summer of 2022, a team of 15 of us volunteers worked in the Marble Mountains to reclaim a trail burned about seven years earlier. The intense fire left a forest of dead spars that were now falling over the trail like pick-up sticks. At best we could clear one mile in a day of exhausting work. This past summer this same trail was again littered with a new layer of fallen timber, a process that will continue for some years.

Keily notes 33 major fires during this period that closed 1,194 miles of the PCT.

Keily's article is just a two-page spread but the message is much more expansive and critical that each of us who love the PCT (and the planet) take to heart.

[everydayesterday]

Part 1 of 2.  A screed.  

The past few days have been frustrating (I need a more extreme word here) for me, as the city has performed “maintenance” on the park.  Firstly, the field has been razed (first 2 photos).  It was once thistle, tickseed sunflower, heather, boneset, passion fruit, love-in-a-puff and other plants whose names I can’t remember right now.  And now, nothing.  

I understand the idea, and I know that it happens every Fall—keep the forest from encroaching on what’s a beautiful, but unnatural, attraction (the field in bloom) for humans to enjoy—but it still saddens me, as there is no care taken in the process.  What of the remaining songbirds, the rabbits, the snakes, the mice, the turkeys and deer that could walk unseen?  With any hope they were able to escape the industrial machinery.  There were even old bat boxes that had fallen over, and those were simply run over—sheets of wood with rusty old screws were sent flying around; I was amazed at the radius of which they had been cast (we’re talking metres; I actually spent a half hour gathering the wood, as rogue park maintenance).  No care for what was being cut.  

So now, it is barren.  It will grow back, but for now, barren.  

Secondly, speaking of things done without care, I take great issue with the clearing of branches (for safety reasons, such as eliminating branches at risk of falling) and detritus wood from the larger trails.  Once again, I will make the assumption that this was done with humans in mind, but also once again, done with no regard for quality.  To understand the brutality of the cutting that was done you should know what the machinery is called—terminator slasher/slasher saw.  It is a horror film.  Despite the goal of human safety, it has left many branches 3/4 cut, dangling, waiting to fall, with a number of trees cut vertically, sure to die and present future danger.  I haven’t mentioned the aesthetics; this doesn’t seem like a pleasant place to walk; there are jagged tree stumps littering the edges of the trail.  There are also 20-ft. nooks where the cut branches and brush have been pushed aside into the healthy forest.  

Terminator slasher saw.  My mind cannot handle this.  I should do some yoga to calm my nerves.

[russianyaz]

Shimano Trail Born: 10millones para 10 años en ayudas a la construcción de senderos

Pues sí, lo que has leído, Shimano acaba de crear un fondo llamado “Trail Born Fund” a través del cual donarán 10 millones de dólares americanos durante 10 años para iniciativas por todo el mundo para la construcción y mantenimiento de caminos, lo que se conoce como “trailbuilding”. Este dinero también servirá para dar visibilidad y seguimiento a estos proyectos para dar a conocer cada destino…

[onlyhappyvibes]

[biggest-gaudiest-hobbitses]

[squidinu]

wolfman in search & rescue

[fatherdmitri]

regional boss said i cant get a logging certification for chainsaw usage because it would be a " liability " and " potentially dangerous " brooooo ive been using a chainsaw since i was 13 just trustttt meeeeeee

[tally-ace]

I am cool and fine 👍 <- RUNNING AT BREAKNECK SPEED THROUGH THE ENDWALKER PATCHES BECAUSE I DECIDED HILDEBRAND UFO MOUNT WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FINISHING THE STORY IN TIME FOR DAWNTRAIL

[rrover]

looking forward to seeing the "let me in" meme getting posted tomorrow during maintenance

[myrmonarch]

I can't believe I'm literally leaving for 6 months next week... I'm so excited.

[moonshynecybin]

i hath whacked back the bush!!!!

[russianyaz]

En Defensa de los Senderos: videos varios sobre trail building

Como ya he comentado otras veces, voy muchas veces mirando videos que marco para luego compartir, quizás añadir una breve reseña de la historia que nos cuentan. En este caso te dejo varios videos relacionados varios con la construcción de senderos o “trail building”. En este primero, en la zona de Los Ángeles, California, que todos conocen por sus playas, Hollywood y como la sede de grandes…

[quaranmine]

occasionally you find things in your research that were just in your blindspot for months. in this week's news, it's "why didn't i look up the difference between a forest supervisor's office and a district ranger office back in like, february, instead of now"