Partner Accomplishments July 7

Our friends and partners have been active in the Methow as the field season really gets moving along. This is the time when folks are way in the backcountry, sawing logs and cutting brush in the day and camping out in the evening. Here’s a list of what we know folks have been up to.

USFS: The Forest Packer has been all over packing for our crew, the PNTA, and even a quick trip for the Park Service. He doesn’t eat, he doesn’t sleep, he only packs ponies and rides them into the sunset. The Forest Service also sent a team up the PCT to cut out from Rainy Pass to Harts Pass, where we’ve had reports of several large diameter trees across the trail. Their efforts are valiant, effective, and efficient. The USFS saw team carried a chainsaw 33 miles from Harts Pass to Rainy Pass along the PCT to log out the trail and tackle some impressive deferred brushing.

Washington Trails Association: WTA had two successful volunteer vacations in the Methow Ranger District over the past month. Both trips were based up Twisp river, where they finished logging out Twisp Pass and brushed the trail corridor to the Wilderness boundary, finished logging out within 0.75 of Libby Lake, and made it 3.5 miles up the West Fork of the Buttermilk (the slide at 3.5 miles and beyond remain untouched). WTA also hosted a Back Country Response Team volunteer trip. On this trip, a volunteer crew finished logging out and brushing the Robbinson Creek trail to Robinson Pass.

Backcountry Horsemen of Washington: Members of the BCH spent the 4th of July opening up trails in the heart of the Pasayten wilderness. They cut out from Billy Goat trailhead all the way to Larch Pass, then over to the base of Bunker Hill where Dean Creek crosses the Boundary trail. Then, the crew headed East on the Boundary trail to pay their respects to wildly log- ridden Ashnola. The hard-working volunteers connected with the river, rode out, and then spent a day logging out the long-neglected Drake Creek trail. To call it a strong effort is an understatement, and Pasayten-loving recreators thank them.

Pacific Northwest Trail Association: Kicking off their season, they sent a few crews in the Pasayten. One up the Chewuch Trail. The PNTA pro crew spent their next pay period working Westward on the Boundary Trail and cleared from the Irongate trailhead, working towards the Ashnola River.