Trailkeepers of Oregon Work Party - Douglas Trail
Posted: October 24th, 2011, 6:19 am
Thanks to all the volunteers who joined up with TKO to work on the Douglas Trail on Saturday. We opened up the first 1/2 mile so you can see the trail now. The colors were fabulous and the weather was perfect for diggin' and loppin'.
The day had a dicey start at the Eagle Creek "trailhead" we came upon a carload of young men with automatic weapons. Luckily my Obi-wan Jedi mind trick worked on them "this isn't the shooting range you are looking for...move along" Actually they were polite and once they realized there was a trail there they packed up and left saying they didn't want to endanger anyone.
After hiking down the old road that is the start of the Eagle Creek trail, we started work on the Douglas Trail. For the first 50 ft. we did a clinic on tread reconstruction using the pulaski and McLoed to restore the outslope so water doesn't run down the trail.
Then we kicked it into lopper mode to brush out the corridor.
TKO had a work party here three years ago, its amazing how quickly the vegetation has grown back. Walking through the brushy sections when the leaves are wet is like going through a car wash.
Before
After
A typical brushy section of the trail
We used a grass whip to cut back the Oregon grape, salal and sword fern were it was crowding over the tread. Its nice to be free to look up the Eagle Creek valley off in the distance rather than having to watch your feet for hidden trippers.
Thanks everyone for a fun and rewarding day!
The day had a dicey start at the Eagle Creek "trailhead" we came upon a carload of young men with automatic weapons. Luckily my Obi-wan Jedi mind trick worked on them "this isn't the shooting range you are looking for...move along" Actually they were polite and once they realized there was a trail there they packed up and left saying they didn't want to endanger anyone.
After hiking down the old road that is the start of the Eagle Creek trail, we started work on the Douglas Trail. For the first 50 ft. we did a clinic on tread reconstruction using the pulaski and McLoed to restore the outslope so water doesn't run down the trail.
Then we kicked it into lopper mode to brush out the corridor.
TKO had a work party here three years ago, its amazing how quickly the vegetation has grown back. Walking through the brushy sections when the leaves are wet is like going through a car wash.
Before
After
A typical brushy section of the trail
We used a grass whip to cut back the Oregon grape, salal and sword fern were it was crowding over the tread. Its nice to be free to look up the Eagle Creek valley off in the distance rather than having to watch your feet for hidden trippers.
Thanks everyone for a fun and rewarding day!