Summer is Here, Highway 20 Work Week

With the arrival of the summer season and Highway 20 opening after WSDOT emergency repairs were completed in mid-June, it was a great time to host MVTC’s annual Highway 20 Work Week Event to give back to the popular trails along the highway corridor up there.

The work that was accomplished over the week was impressive, with a steady group of volunteers showing up each day to help MVTC staff give some TLC to our trails up there. I’ll give a brief rundown of work accomplished from east to west. We generally ran into snowline around 6,300 feet, melting out quickly under the strong late June sun.

  • Lone Fir Loop trail has been logged out.

  • Cutthroat Lake trail has been logged out to the Lake and up to the Pass.

  • Blue Lake trail is logged out.

  • Copper Creek trail is logged out to Copper Pass.

  • PCT is logged out from the Bridge Creek National Park Boundary up to Rainy Pass.

  • PCT Rainy Pass up to Cutthroat Pass is logged out.

  • Maple Pass Loop and the Rainy Lake/Lake Ann Spur trails are logged out, with some tread/retaining work mixed in, and along with 3 large rocks getting micro-blasted that were impeding the trail.

  • Easy Pass trail is logged out 2 miles in up to the scree fields.

  • East Creek trail is logged out 4 miles in to the Gold Hill Mine site.

MVTC staff and a volunteer install a tread retaining structure on the Maple Pass Loop trail.

Long time Forest Service and MVTC ally Joe cutting peeled logs for the timber retaining structure on the Maple Pass Loop.

Finished product. Timber crib retaining structure on the Maple Pass Loop.

Long time MVTC friend and volunteer Alan, logging out the PCT from Rainy Pass up to Cutthroat Pass.

MVTC’s Director Allen, in the process of drilling and micro-blasting a large rock that was obstructing the trail leading up to Heather Pass.

MVTC staff logging out the Copper Creek trail.

It was gratifying to see how many volunteers wanted to take part and give back to our trails up the highway corridor during the work week.

Now that summer is upon us, MVTC is rolling at full steam into the field season opening up and improving trail miles all around our Methow District.

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