You'll notice that the reroutes aren't as direct as the original lines, they cut across the slope and make more curves and switchbacks. This is to try to shed water off the trail. The other tools for managing erosion are hardening the trail (gravel or asphalt) and waterbars.
Started at the trailhead - we put the trail on the sidehill to the left. Note how wide the original trail had become as people walked to the side of the rut avoiding the slippery exposed bedrock with ball bearing bits of rock.
Then the route dips into this forest on the left briefly - the dip is added technical challenge for mountain bikes - the intent is to make it technically challenging while also keeping the speeds lower.
Passing by these rock pillows adds visual interest to make the slightly longer reroute more natural and less contrived.
Volunteers work to decompact the soil and restore the original trail section that was becoming quite wide.
Further up the trail at the waterfall we built two switchbacks to replace a steep section of trail known as "the Plunge"
Continuing on past the bridge where the trail crosses over to the east side of the creek...we enter "The Grotto". This picture shows one of the original trails (center), the trail that formed as people avoid the rut (left) and the new reroute (right)
Breaking up the soil so new grass could flourish was hard work. We got a native grass seed mix from the Forest Service.
The trail bends up the hill to the right here, again to shed water more effectively, but also to make it more challenging and thus reduce speeds for mountain bikers.
Here we elongated the corner where the tail went straight down the fall line. These high school students from White Salmon decompacted the rut, filled it with soil and transplanted sod plugs to decomission it.
Finally, pink flags at this spot mark a possible reroute location for a future work party.
- Thank you to the many, many volunteers who worked on these projects! Ryan
