Happy National Trails day! Our work party was organized by the Everett Mountaineers, local citizens and the Darrington Ranger District to maintain and repair the White Chuck Bench trail. We began with the overview of the tools that we would be using which for me is always a good deal since I want to come back off the trail with all of body parts intact, the same amount and condition I began the day with. We also had a welcoming by Darrington mayor, Dan Rankin and congressional representative Susan Delbene. Now that Hwy 530 is open it is a sobering drive through the slide zone as we were escorted by pilot cars on the one way section of he road. The work is a part of a continuing effort to repair the entire trail. We began about an eight of a mile from the east trailhead removing duff and roots to get down to the mineral soil to make a firm, durable tread. I some locations that meant going down nearly a foot on the existing layer to get to something solid and then leveling off with mineral soil. This is a great trail for hiking through the forest with views from time to time of the White Chuck River and a particularly nice view of Sloan and Bedal peaks.

Because of the weather report I thought I would hike the decommissioned White Chuck Rd 23 to the White Chuck trailhead. Took me an hour and a half to drive from Mount Vernon to the start of my hike, arriving a little after 9:00am. The blowdown and log debris I found on the first mile of the road last year had been cleared out and made this part of the road quite a bit easier to hike than the last time I was here. The culverts have been removed but I found no problem with the numerous creek crossings. This was an easy road hike following the White Chuck River and views of Mount Pugh. A little ways after crossing the Owl Creek Bridge there were views of Glacier Peak directly in front of the road which slowly disappeared behind the trees the closer I got to the trailhead. There was a great open area right before the trailhead that would be ideal for camping. Arriving at the trailhead I continued on for almost a mile before being blocked by debris from the 2003 mudslides and floods. This area is so close to Glacier Peak it would be great if these trails were repaired so they could be enjoyed again. An area on the other side of the river looked like the badlands in South Dakota, I'm guessing from mudslides. I tried to get some pictures of it thru the trees. This was an easy hike with spring in full bloom and one area of the road opened up to some great views of the river and Mount Pugh. This is a nice area that does not seem to see many visitors.

If you are curious about what a WTA work party does, take a gander up this trail. You can hike in about 2 miles to the work site, a nice hike along the river as far as it goes. It was washed out several years ago and now is being rerouted. Since I worked here last year, one switchback has been completed, and now the next one is being built. You can see tread being carved out of the hillside and stumps in the process of being taken out to make room for the trail. Stump removal is hard work! There is lots of sawing and digging, but there were lots of old timers helping today that had stories to tell and were having as much fun playing in the mud as any two year old. This will be a beautiful trail someday!

Finally, I was able to see what western Washington really deep duff looks like while on a trail work party on the rainy side of the state. Actually, everyone told me that this duff was nothing. It still seemed deep to me, drysider that I am. For a relatively small work party, we were able to accomplish a lot during our day out in the woods. This is new trail construction on a very steep side slope. It was fantastic to watch the steep side-hill transform into easily hikeable full bench construction over the course of the afternoon. We also stopped frequently on our hike in to admire how last year's work has held up so well. Once complete, this will be a fantastic trail. Maybe I'm supposed to keep this part a secret, but I hear that there is pretty much every imaginable edible wild berry along this route in the late summer. In case anyone needs a reason to check it out... Don't wait until late summer, though! I hear that there are several more work parties planned over the course of the next couple months. While driving eastward following the work party, I saw a roadside sign that read "If you throw dirt, you lose ground." It's true, we were really admiring the quality of the dirt we were throwing (if only we could move it to places where the dirt wasn't so great!), but in losing dirt we gained a really great trail!

This trail has been on my mind to do for several months now. Being a lovely November morning I headed out. The trailhead is easy to get to. Just follow the Mountain Loop Hwy from Darrington for 9miles, turn Left at the White Chuck Boat Launch sign, cross the bridge and follow the road up for about .8 mile. You will come to a sign and a small parking area and off your go. There is nothing hard about this hike. The tread is easy to walk on and today, being freezing, was a little frosty and crusty. You never stray far from the river and you never feel closed in. Views of the surrounding mountains are plentiful. You can hike in about 2.5 miles or so before the trail peters out, but the signs of recent trail work are obvious with tape flagging the way for more. This will be a great trail when the work is complete. I may just have to join a work party.