Volunteers Tackle Ten Trails on National Public Lands Day

One day, 10 trails, 140 volunteers

One hundred and forty volunteers recently joined Washington Trails Association trail work parties in celebration of National Public Lands Day. Working on 10 trails across the state, volunteers put in 1,226 hours building and repairing hiking trails in one single day.

WTA volunteers give back to trails all year long, but on National Public Lands Day, they were joined by thousands of other volunteers across the country in a national event that has been going on since 1994.

The largest work party took place on the Wonderland Trail near Sunrise in Mount Rainier National Park, where 28 volunteers helped with essential maintenance of the popular trail. One work party took place as part of a week-long Backcountry Response Team trip on the Duckabush River Trail, continuing repairs on the now-open trail. It closed after a wildfire last year. Another work party took place at Holden Village, where a crew of Volunteer Vacationers spent the week in annual repairs around the backcountry community.

Before heading out to build the new Ape Cave Viewpoint Trail, volunteers get a safety briefing. Photo by Ryan Ojerio.

Give back and hike the improved trails

Sign up for a fall trail work party and hike the newly-improved trails:

• Heather Meadows area trails: Mount Baker Ranger District: Nine months of snow takes a toll on the trails at Mount Baker each year, and volunteers used the short window of opportunity to tackle maintenance issues.
• Pacific Crest Trail, Stevens Pass: Volunteers gave the PCT some love as it heads south from Stevens Pass through the ski area and beyond.
• Pacific Crest Trail: Windy Pass: Another crew of volunteers worked on the Windy Pass section of the PCT.
• Taylor Mountain, King County Parks: Families restored habitat and did trail work on the beloved Taylor Mountain in partnership with the Cedar River Watershed.
• Upper Big Quilcene Trail, Olympic National Forest: The trail to Marmot Pass runs through towering old growth forest that gets plenty of rain nine months of the year. Volunteers helped with drainage projects on this stretch of trail.

  

  Volunteers Ken and Squid working on the Duckabush Trail. Photo by Nutmeg.

• Frozen Lake – Wonderland Trail, Mount Rainier National Park: Thousands of hikers took to the trails around the Sunrise Visitor Center this summer, which is why the great volunteer turnout on National Public Lands Day was so welcome.
• Ape Caves Viewpoint Trail, Mount St. Helens National Monument: Volunteers broke ground on a brand new trail that will lead to a viewpoint of the volcano. Read more about the new trail and sign up to help create it later this month.
• Liberty Lake, Spokane County Parks. Volunteers created some major improvements to this lovely 7.5 mile loop trail a half hour outside of Spokane.
• Duckabush River Trail, Olympic National Forest: Read Trip Reporter and long-time volunteer Nutmeg's first-hand account of the work on the Duckabush.