— from Kayleigh Horton, with Mary Gropp —
This week the OIYCC teamed up with the Washington Trails Association for a fun week of fixing up the trail around Mountain lake. To start out the week we did some tool training and met some of our new team members! We were joined by 4 adult volunteers, plus a WTA Crew Leader.
After some introduction we started our hike to the first place along the trail that we would be working at. We cleaned out some culverts and the ditches near them to let water flow through better. Don’t want them clogging up! While some did that others started cutting back the hill to widen the trail. Just to inform you along the trail on the right side (towards the water) a tree fell during last winters’ snow storm, and took half the trail with it! So while we were there we moved a log and used it for a support, so we could make the trail wider. Where the trail was too steep we leveled it out some, to make it safe for hikers.
The next day we continued our work on the trail by working to make a really muddy part of the trail surrounding the first bridge. To do so we put in a culvert to help it drain but if we were to do this we had to dig some ditches! While some people worked on this others were hauling buckets and buckets of gravel to raise the level of the trail, and cover up all that mud!
Arlen Bogaards, WTA Crew Leader, said “It’s truly amazing that a chronic wet area, historically muddy and soupy for many years, is now repaired and high and dry. How many buckets and wheelbarrows of soil were moved and the great attitudes while doing it was a true feat, and the results were astounding. Two culverts installed, almost 100 feet of ditches dug down and a whole bunch of trail widened as well as brush cut back and culverts cleaned.”
If you are ever hiking that trial make sure to look around you and see if you can tell what we did. Thank you for supporting OIYCC!
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Thank you a OIYCC and WTA for all the hard work!!! Your efforts make a huge difference on our trails and to our visitors and park staff! Kudos all around!! Michel Friends of Moran
I know the exact two areas you improved, since I have been on that part of the trail often this summer. I look forward to seeing your hard work and enjoying the fruits of your labor next time I head out to Mountain Lake. Thank you OIYCC for the great work you are doing here on Orcas. I’m proud to be a part of this incredible community, where our youth have the opportunity – and desire – to collectively learn and work together.