Meet WTA's Backcountry Pro Crew

Since 2017, our Lost Trails Found campaign has been working to keep remote trails on the map and ensure hikers can continue to enjoy our state's spectacular backcountry for generations to come. And this summer, we're excited to pilot our first professional, backcountry trail crew to work in some of those notoriously rough — yet stunning — backcountry locales! 

From left to right: Zachary Toliver, Zachary Sklar, Blake Harmon, Kathryn Conley, Ginevra Moore and Anna Pree. Photo by Jen Gradisher.

Backcountry trails are a beloved feature of Washington's public lands, making it possible to enjoy wilderness and solitude for days or weeks at a time. But the remote nature of those backcountry trails comes at a price: These trails don't usually see as much maintenance as their close-in counterparts. The hikes to the worksites are long, and the often high-country locations of these trails means the work season is short. As the years go by, this lack of maintenance adds up to create lost trails — brushy overgrowth obscures the trail, tread fades away, fallen trees block the path and structures wash away.

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The new six-person pro crew will spend the next few months addressing that lack of maintenance within three stunning wilderness areas of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest: the Pasayten, Glacier Peak and Lake Chelan/Sawtooth. They will focus on trails with a large backlog of work to be done, many of which have fallen victim to wildfires or storm damage over the years. The crew will also be working a mix of 4-day and 8-day trips to allow for more quality time in the deeper reaches of these wilderness areas.

The crew recently returned from the Teanaway where they practiced saw skills ahead of their first trip. Photo by Austin Easter.

As the name implies, the pro crew holds a wealth of trail maintenance skills and knowledge — many of the members have worked and volunteered with WTA before. Zachary Toliver, a crew member of WTA's first Leadership & Inclusion Crew, will lead the new backcountry crew alongside assistant crew leader and former youth volunteer vacation participant Kathryn Conley. Rounding out the crew are Blake Harmon (former youth volunteer vacation participant), Ginevra Moore, Anna Pree (former youth ambassador) and Zachary Sklar. 

The crew met up last week for training before the official start of their season. They spent a few days in the Teanaway to get to know each other and practice crosscut saw skills. And this week, they embarked on a 4-day trip to Emerald Park near Lake Chelan, where they will be restoring damaged trail tread through an old burn zone and logging out fallen trees from the trail.

Funding for this pro crew was made possible by the Region 6 Forest Service and the Great American Outdoors Act (which was passed by Congress last summer thanks to hiker advocacy!)

Sawing will be a large part of the crew's work as they clear former burn zones. Photo by Austin Easter.