Coyote Wall - Upper Labyrinth Rerouted

[Ryan Ojerio]

If you are hiking out in the Coyote Wall area note that we're in the process of constructing some reroutes. We recently finished the top section of the Upper Labyrinth Trail (formerly known as Jeff's Trail).

The Washington Trails Association (WTA) partnered with a local mountain bike club, the Columbia Area Mountain Bike Advocates (CAMBA) to design and construct the reroute in accordance with the Forest Service trail plan for the area.

We specifically worked hard to put the trail on a side slope where it could shed water better. Side hills also corral hikers onto the tread so trail braiding is less of an issue. Working with the mountain bike community we tried to design it to be a fun ride, but still a trail that keeps their speed in check naturally with curves and grade reversals wherever possible.




The junction at the top at Atwood Rd. was moved 50 yards to the west. Note the evident cupping on the old tread - it would soon braid into multiple lanes as is so common on flat, meadow terrain.



The new route sticks to the contour to shed water across the slope. Trail users also stick to the narrow tread on a sidehill so braiding isn't an issue. Plus on a sidehill we could design the trail to roll up and down to naturally check mountain biker's speed.



The old trail runs straight down the fall line, the new route traverses across this photo. Note the old route is being decompacted to speed restoration.





This project was supported by a National Forest Foundation Grant and is part of a 12 month effort to upgrade user created trails in the Coyote Wall and Catherine Creek Areas.

[bobcat]

@Ryan: It will be interesting to see the final product. Thank you for all the work you and the other volunteers have put in. Ditto on the labors at Cape Horn.

[mileagemike25000]

Ryan - I want to thank you and the other volunteers from the WTA and CAMBA for the great work you are doing. My wife and I had the pleasure of meeting a WTA group in the Catherine Creek area a few weeks back, and had a great conversation with a few of them!

[drm]

I hiked a Labyrinth / Coyote Wall loop this morning (partly cloudy and nice with lots of puddles on the trail) to check out this new trail work. I noticed that the actual trail construction stuck to the sloping areas and where the trail crossed flatter terrain, it was mostly just flagged and the footing had not been cleared. Over time people and tires will do that for you if work crews don't get around there soon.

I do wonder when that really steep section near a waterfall down below will be constructed. You told me once that you were awaiting FS approval of the flagged line, which I have decided to hike on anyway (the established route is almost unhikeable when soggy). Maybe it will be partly established that way.

And note to everybody: the creeks and waterfalls are running full in the area now. It took some time for the rain to recharge the groundwater so that more could run down the creeks. That has happened and the water is flowing well now.

[Alpine Annie]

We had the pleasure of running the trail last weekend. Thank you for the trail work!

Incidentally, does anyone know why the lower trail (the part that starts at the old cattle chute) was closed? The mountain bikers all seemed to think it was closed just to them and not to runners or hikers. We wanted to be respectful and not use it unless it was clear. It's a shame not to be able to run the loop, though...

[drm]

We had the pleasure of running the trail last weekend. Thank you for the trail work!

Incidentally, does anyone know why the lower trail (the part that starts at the old cattle chute) was closed? The mountain bikers all seemed to think it was closed just to them and not to runners or hikers. We wanted to be respectful and not use it unless it was clear. It's a shame not to be able to run the loop, though...

I heard that the majority of the trail in the canyon is on private property and the Forest Service could not get an easement or some other form of permission from the various landowners. Although past conflicts were more with bikers than hikers, my understanding is that it is now closed to all.

[Ryan Ojerio]

drm is correct about the closure on the trail at the base of the cliff, it is closed to all people. I suspect that even if it was Public land, the Forest Service wouldn't put an official trail through there. The oak woodlands are home to several types of animals that are sensitive to human presence. Even on the sanctioned trails where we are trying to design reroutes to reduce erosion we've been instructed to stay as much out of the oaks as possible.