Trail Work Party - Washington Trails Association
On a bright sunny day on Friday the 23rd of June, eleven of us rendezvoused at the trailhead for Lake Serene/Bridal Veil Falls just off Hwy 2 before crossing the Skykomish River at Index. Five CAI members, Clarence Elstad, Toni Williams, Kendra Wanzenried, Derek Brown, and Joanie Pryor joined Crew Leader, Josh Orendorf and Assistant Crew Leader, Brandon Tigner of Washington Trails Association (WTA), and Jordan to work on the Bridal Veil Falls Trail continuing work previously started on a rock staircase. We were also joined by Gina, Tracey, and Natasha, for all of whom this was their first experience doing trail work. The rest of us, except Kendra, had prior experience working on trails ranging from Toni’s over 200 projects, Derek’s 100, don’t remember Clarence’s, and Joanie’s 15.
We were graced with perfect conditions: a warm sunny day, shade the whole day long, beautiful views up and down the trail, delicious salmonberries for the picking, appreciative comments from the myriad of hikers who passed along, gracious, curious, hard-working teammates, and terrific crew leaders. I don’t think we could have asked for a more perfect day.
Below is Josh’s description of what we accomplished. Clarence & Brandon were on the rock bar most of the time moving HUGE rocks. I mean HUGE rocks about 1/3 the size of a 50-gallon barrel. Joanie helped a little with this work as well as visualizing best rock placement, setting side rocks and adding fill. Natasha worked on excavating the space in front of the staircase to make a ‘landing’ area. Toni & Kendra dug out fill material and transported it to the work site. I believe Derek, Tracey, Jordan, and Gina helped Josh set up a zip line that would be used to transport fill material to the site from up the trail a bit and from an abandoned mine up the hill a bit.
From Josh: “We started the day by getting to know each other a little better with an ice breaker card game at the trailhead, and then hiked an hour up to the work site. I was definitely winded after that, but all seemed in good spirits! After a tool orientation, some of us set out to set up a rope zip line system to carry rock fill material down the trail. It took some adjustments, but right before lunch we pulled great tension on the line making it ready to haul buckets of fill all afternoon. The rest of the crew focused on continuing our rock staircase and was able to set a fourth stone, which we all know is no fast or easy feat! The best part of the day for me was seeing the pride and enjoyment I saw on folks faces who got to do something new or a bit out of their comfort zone! Thank you for all for your efforts, and for bringing joy to our community. I hope to see you all out on the trails again soon.”
Submitted by Joanie Pryor