[pct-l] Kick off, or is that TSC Weekend?

[Barry Teschlog]

I hear it rained in So Cal....well, I can say from first hand experience that it POURED in the Columbia River Gorge at the low point of the PCT, Cascade Locks, this TSC weekend.  But that didn't stop the hardy souls from the trail crew crowd from coming out in large numbers to learn those skills necessary for taking care of the trail.  


I met people there from Castle Crags, Bend / Redmond, Ashland, Portland, Seattle, Yakima, Vancouver, and Stevenson..... Stevenson, now THERE is a long commute to Cascade Locks ;-).  I'm sure there were folks there from a lot of other places as well.  The northern 900+ miles of the trail were well represented.  The PCTA was well represented as well with their Trail Operations Director and Volunteer Coordinator in attendance, as well as the Columbia Cascades Regional Representative, while Washington Trails Association was there with the excellent leadership of their SW Regional Manager.  And many thanks go out to the Mount Hood Chapter of the PCTA, the able volunteer crew that covers a long stretch of the PCT on either side of the Columbia River, for hosting the event and all their support.  And of course, the Back Country Horsemen fed us EXTREMELY well from dinner on Friday night through breakfast and lunch on Sunday - thank you for the great eats.


Next weekend will be a repeat performance in a way, with the Wind River Saw Training where students will be certified or re certified in chain saw and cross cut sawing.  Many folks were taking the preliminaries this weekend (First Aid / CPR, Cross Cut Saw Intro, Chain Saw Intro and Chain Saw Practicum).  


On our volunteer crew, the North 350 Blades (White Pass / Hwy 12 to Canada), one of our regular volunteers was in the First Aid Class on Friday, the cross cut intro on Saturday and the chain saw practicum on Sunday.  He's going for an initial certification with chain saw next weekend - the First Aid / CPR is a prerequisite, while the practicum enabled him to polish his log evaluation and saw handling skills before "going for score" next weekend.  Meanwhile, another of our volunteers was teaching the First Aid / CPR classes on Friday and Saturday.  Next weekend, he's being recertified on chain saw on Friday, then going for an initial certification on cross cut on Saturday and Sunday.  Another volunteer was in trail design Friday, tread reconstruction Saturday and new tread construction on Sunday.  We also had a couple more of our volunteers instructing - the two day intro track course, plus saw classes. 




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>To: PCT L <pct-l at backcountry.net> 
>Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2014 12:08 PM
>Subject: Kick off, or is that TSC Weekend?
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>While many current, former and future PCT hikers gather at Lake Morena this weekend, the dirt digging, cross cut saw carrying and brush slaying trail crews of the PCT (at least in Oregon and Washington) will be gathering at Cascade Locks, Oregon for the 6th Annual Columbia Cascades Trail Skills College.
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>http://www.pcta.org/volunteer/trail-skills-college/
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>The trail fashions will be a far cry from the Morena crowd - Carhards, 10" high all leather "logger" boots and helmets will be the predominant dress, instead of shorts, running shoes and floppy hats.  "Ultra light" has a different meaning -  a 5 foot long cross cut saw in lieu of the 26" bar chain saw.
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>While the herd is heading north, sawyers are being trained and certified to clear the way for them.  Tread crews are learning how to smooth the way or repair and rebuild land slide destroyed tread.  New crew members are learning the basics of scouting, brushing and tread work, while current and future crew leaders are being trained on crew and project management.  People are learning about grip hoists, drilling and breaking rock, using traditional tools in Wilderness construction, gabion construction, first aid / CPR, and working with pack stock, to name some of the classes.
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>Having done trail crew since 2009 and thinking back to the thru hike several years before that, it's truly monumental that there is a trail 2600+ miles long and that over 80,000 hours were put into maintaining it last year.  
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