[pct-l] North cascades maintenance

[tokencivilian at yahoo.com]

Sweet news from the PCTA:  the north cascades region is acquiring two more brush saws.

This last year, with one saw, a handful of volunteers and a relatively late start, over a mile and a half of trail was brushed south of Snoqualmie pass.  

The 40 or so miles of the PCT between Government Meadows / Camp Ulrich and Snoqualmie Pass go through the checkerboard of clear cuts.  In these clear cuts, the brush (mostly huckleberries) is bad, fully over growing the trail waist to chest high in places, resulting in a miserable experience on a damp or dewey day.  The upside is that access is good to this part of the trail so that we can get to the brushy spots with relatively short approaches.

The 2011 maintenance season should get under way a full month earlier compared to 2010 -  late June to mid July at the latest.  The only thing that will limit the progress on reclaiming the trail from the brush is the number of volunteers.  With 3 saws, if we had 8 to 10 volunteers (12 - 15 would be better still), a half mile of trail could be cleared a day.   This summer, the volunteers were clearing between 450 and 1100 feet a day with a crew of 3 - 5 and a single saw.

Contact the PCTA and ask to be put in touch with the north cascades regional representative if you're interested in helping out.  All tools and hard hats are provided.  No experience necessary.  The goals are to be safe first, have a fun day second, and finally to do a bit of maintenance.  

TC 
'06



Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry