East Fork Lewis River — Monday, Jun. 19, 2017

WTA volunteers have been hard are work restoring this trail since last year. The first mile is a old abandoned road and like many road-to-trail conversions the default path is straight down the middle. Alder trees, salmon berry and other such early colonizers grow in from the edges and what you end up with is a long straight tunnel of green.

Taking a cue from trail guru Troy Scott Parker we re-aligned much of the trail to have a mix of curves and squiggles (all within the old road bed) to give the route a more natural shape - see his excellent book Natural Surface Trails by Design.

In addition to break up the long straight sight lines, we occasionally bent the trail to the road edge so you get a peek at the river, a vista out onto the forest below, or a better soundscape of the water when the river is beyond sight.

We also incorporated drainage features into the new alignment so that former stretches of long straight trail now have dips and curves where water is allowed to drain off the trail.

The river crossing at 0.8 miles in remains high water so I don't recommend trying to ford it. We will be back this Thursday to continue our work, but then put the project on hold until later in the summer when it is safe to cross.

(2017 project work on this trail supported by a Matching Awards Program Grant (MAP) from the National Forest Foundation)

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/29468641@N04/albums/72157682227346254
• http://www.natureshape.com/