Lena Lake — Tuesday, May. 9, 2023

WTA work party repairing, stabilizing, and improving the trail.  There are many, many hours of labor that go into keeping the trails hikable!  It's a lot of fun participating in these volunteer crews, and interesting to learn how trails are created and maintained.  We're in the process of replacing the rotting out curbing at the trail entrance to keep the trail edge from collapsing.  Since no trees can be cut, the first task is to find a suitable downed tree, then remove all branches and strip the bark, and finally rig the massive thing into place.  There are also areas in the switchbacks where erosion is taking the tread, so large rocks must be found, hauled, and then firmly dug into place to stop the soil from washing away.  How about all those stone steps on the way up?  Unfortunately, the glaciers didn't just happen to drop them in the right place for a trail, so after searching for and carrying them to the trail they are dug deeply into the ground in order to take the pounding of thousands of bootsteps for years to come. No experience is necessary to join a work party, in fact there was a first-timer having fun out here today!