July+August 2009 » Trails www.wta.org WTA At Work Trail Maintenance »

Volunteers work on the Iller Creek Trail near Spokane. WTA is expanding its work party schedules in eastern and south- west Washington this summer. Pictured, left to right: Lynn Smith, Denise Beardslee, and WTA crew leader Jane Baker. Photo by Karen Jurasin East By Southwest WTA expands its trail work schedule in Eastern and Southwest Washington Washington Trails Association has long of- the greater Puget Sound area, nearly doubling fered weeklong Volunteer Vacations on the east our single-day and weekend trail maintenance side of the Cascades. In fact, this is where I parties in locations such as Spokane, Winthrop, first encountered WTA in 1999 while working and Wenatchee. for the U.S. Forest Service on the Chelan Ranger This year we’ve partnered with the National District. Have you always wanted to volun- Forest Foundation to help develop a stron- teer with WTA to help maintain some of your ger volunteer trail maintenance presence in favorite hiking trails, but felt that a weeklong northeast Washington. This summer we will Volunteer Vacation was out of reach for you? Or work several weekends, from July 18-19 through Diane that driving to North Bend, Darrington or Quil- September 12-13, on the Methow Ranger Dis- cene was too far a drive for a single-day WTA trict on the Lone Fir Loop out of the Lone Fir Bedell work party? WTA has been working on our long Campground. This 2-mile trail offers one of the WTA Trails Program term vision of expanding volunteer opportuni- few wheelchair-accessible trails in the Methow Director ties across the state and this year we’re offering Valley. The first 0.8 miles is a paved interpretive [email protected] more day trips than ever to locations outside of trail, however the last 1.2 miles is of native soil www.wta.org www.wta.org2 » WTA at Work July+August 2009 » Washington Trails WTA At Work «

tread and becomes less accessible. We will be replacing one of four log stringer bridges on the Join a WTA trail and completing general maintenance. In addition, we are hosting Friday and Saturday work parties on trails in the Methow Valley Trail Work including Blue Lake and Maple Pass among others. In all, we have 16 one-day work parties Party scheduled for the Methow Ranger District. Our members in the Spokane area will be July 5 Sunday Glacier Basin pleased to learn that WTA is building a new July 7 Tue - Thur Perry Creek Trail trail in the Iller Creek Conservation Futures July 9 Thursday Olympic Peninsula Area managed by Spokane County Parks and July 10 Friday Cougar Mountain Recreation. Iller Creek Conservation Area cov- July 10 Fri - Sun Glacier Basin ers 876 acres and provides an important ripar- July 10 Fri - Sat Kelly Creek ian wildlife corridor between Turnbull and the Natural July 10 Friday Denny Creek Area. The Conservation Area is home to 163 in- July 11 Sat - Sun Yellow Aster Butte vertebrate species, 86 bird species, 15 mammal July 14 Tue - Fri Perry Creek Trail species and 2 amphibian species. We are con- July 15 Fri - Sun Glacier Basin structing approximately 5,000 feet of rerouted July 17 Fri - Sat Kelly Creek trail on the Iller Creek Trail to help reduce erosion occurring on steep and deeply rutted July 17 Fri - Sun North Bend Area trail segments. This spring, 70 volunteers have July 18 Sat - Sun Lone Fir contributed more than 530 hours constructing July 18 Sat, Sun Yellow Aster Butte new trail for the Iller Creek project. July 23 Thursday Olympic Peninsula On National Trails Day, June 6, we have July 24 Friday Cougar Mountain wrapped up our spring season at Iller Creek, July 24 Fri - Sun Glacier Basin but WTA will be offering four more weekend events this fall in the immediate Spokane area. July 24 Fri - Sun North Bend Area During the summer months we are shifting our July 25 Sat - Sun Damfino focus to trails on the . July 31 Fri - Sun Glacier Basin The weekend of July 11-12 we will be working Aug 1 Sat - Sun Lone Fir on trails on the Kettle Crest, on the Republic Aug 1 Weekend Indian Racetrack Ranger District. If you have never spent time in the Kettle Crest area you’ll experience expan- Aug 1 Sat - Sun Skyline Divide sive meadows where wildflowers flourish in the Aug 7 Friday Cougar Mountain summer, geologically intriguing rock outcrops Aug 8 Sat, Sun Heliotrope and views into the Kettle, Curlew, and Colum- Aug 8 Saturday Glacier Basin bia River drainages. Join us for a day or the full Aug 8 Sat - Sun Clara and Marion Lakes weekend. Aug 15 Sat - Sun Lone Fir Do you hike on the Salmo Loop Trail? How about the Shedroof Divide or Crowell Ridge Trail? Or maybe you haven’t had a chance to explore the Salmo- Priest Wilderness area yet. WTA has five weekend events scheduled (including one Back Country Response Team) to help maintain these premier hiking trails in the Salmo-Priest. We’ll be doing a lot of cross- cut log-out, fixing sections of poor tread, and improving drainage on these trails. You can volunteer for one or both days, and get a great For a complete schedule camping weekend out of the deal. On the week- end of September 5-6 our crew will be hiking in approximately 3.5 miles on the Slate Creek visit www.wta.org Trail, into the west lobe of the Salmo-Priest Wil- To sign up or find more info » This is a se- derness. We are scheduled to tear out a failing lection from our extensive list of volunteer bridge and replace it with a stream ford. This opportunities. To find more trips, and to project requires a full weekend commitment as sign up, visit our website at www.wta.org we’ll be backpacking in and setting up a camp and click on “Volunteer.” No experience is close to the work site. necessary. Sign-ups close two days before If you live in Wenatchee you can join us a work party, and work parties often fill August 8-9 for either Saturday, Sunday or both up quickly, so reserve early. Trip dates and days. We have begun work in the Colockum locations are subject to change. » WTA At Work July+August 2009 » Washington Trails www.wta.org

Wildlife Area and plan to do some general WTA’s trail maintenance program has been maintenance on the trail to Clara and Marion looking for additional opportunities in the Lakes, not far from Mission Ridge. Our volun- Gorge and we will be working teers have already been busy in the Greater with land managers to identify projects on the Wenatchee area this summer and have worked Catherine Creek and Cape Horn projects, which on the Chiwaukum Creek and Twin Lakes are currently in the planning stages. Check Trails. We offered two weekend work parties our online calendar of work parties this fall at in June, and we’ll have additional volunteer op- www.wta.org to see what we have lined up. portunities available in this area throughout the But until then, we have several weekend summer and into the fall. Check our website at work parties scheduled on the Gifford Pinchot www.wta.org for trip dates and details. National Forest. On July 11 and 12 you can join In total, we will be offering 45 one-day or our southwest crew on the Dry Creek Trail on weekend work parties on trails near Colville, the Mount Adams Ranger District. This will Winthrop, Spokane and Wenatchee this summer be an opportunity to expand your trail main- and fall, a substantial increase over past years. tenance skills as we work on a bridge project. Our trail maintenance program continues to We also have a project scheduled on the Indian grow and increase its effectiveness in south- Racetrack Trail, on the edge of the Indian west Washington as well. We are offering more Heaven Wilderness, the weekend of August 1. one-day and weekend work parties in the south- This is a great little trail that is chock-full of western corner of the state this summer. Much historical significance. Native families gathered WTA volunteers in of our time lately has been spent constructing in the nearby open meadows during the late Little Pend Oreille a new trail at Beacon Rock State Park. While summer berry season to celebrate the harvest Wildlife Refuge. WTA we hope to have the Hardy Ridge Trail roughed and to prepare for the coming winter. There are is adding a number in by National Trails Day in June, we will be some wonderful views along this trail, and the of trip in eastern spending a good deal of time putting the finish- meadows long ago served as one of the most Washington this ing touches on this project throughout the sum- competitive horse racetracks in the Northwest. year, including the mer. So, if you have ever thought that ripping So as you can see, we have something for ev- Kettle Crest, She- stumps out of the ground with a grip-hoist, or eryone, whether you live on the east side of the droof Divide, and the “double digging” a trail bed sounds like fun, state, or only have a day or two to contribute. Colockum Wildlife then we’ve got great opportunities for you to We are working hard to keep the Washington Area. help us out on the Hardy Ridge Trail. in the Washington Trails Association. 