Camping, Hiking and Trail Maintenance in the Olympic Mountains
June 26-28, 2009
My wife Trish and I, along with Tim and Stacy Kern, led ten teenagers from our church on a work weekend in Sequim, Washington. We volunteered with the Pacific Northwest Trail Association, repairing hiking trails in the Olympic Mountains. Our goal was to provide a learning experience for our youth group, labor hours for trail maintenance and a bit of recreation over the weekend for all of us. We also wanted to provide an opportunity for our kids where they could give thanks all the wonderful gifts that our society has showers upon them.
Our campsite.
Our volunteer weekend was the last weekend in July. We camped at Sequim Bay State Park. It was a lovely campground; our tents were nestled in among the large trees and the shore was only a few hundred feet away. The campground was clean, well maintained and quiet at night. There were bathroom and shower facilities close by. The Kerns prepared wonderful meals at our campsite on a Colman stove. The weather was pleasant with the exception of Saturday night when it rained hard after we were in bed. Overall, the camping experience was fun and the kids seemed to enjoy it, but the experience would have drastically changed had it rained hard during meal times or earlier in the evening.
On Saturday morning we met Daniel Collins, Regional Coordinator for the Pacific Northwest Trail Association. According to their website, “The 1200 mile Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail (PNNST), running from the Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean, ranks among the most scenic trails in the world. This carefully chosen path is high for the views and long on adventure. It includes the Rocky Mountains, Selkirk Mountains, Pasayten Wilderness, North Cascades, Olympic Mountains, and Wilderness Coast. The trail crosses 3 National Parks and 7 National Forests. “
We cleaned up the Gray Wolf Trail which was located just south of Sequim in the Buckhorn Wilderness. Dan led us to the trailhead where he instructed the kids on the use of all the hand tools we’d be using. Dan said we were working in the wilderness where no power tools were allowed. So we cleared a swath of weeds, grass and brush eight feet wide and six feet high with tools like pruners, snips, shears and a heavy adz like tool called a Pulaski. At the end of an hour our entire crew had only cleared five-hundred yards or so. My son, Garrett, who was used to a gas-powered weed-eater, instead cleared weeds by swinging a scythe-like stick back and forth. Garrett said, “It was amazing how much effort it took to accomplish such little work.” We all realized it must take an army of volunteers to keep the all the trails cleared in the Olympic Mountains.
On Sunday after we struck camp we hiked in the Dungeness River watershed to the ghost town of Tull City. It was a pretty easy hike until the last mile which was steep and rocky. We saw an abandon mine, the site of the old mining town and most exciting to the kids, the wreckage of a crashed World War II bomber. After the hike, we stopped for burgers at Fat Smittys and drove home in separate cars.
Hardworking crew!
In summary, the teenagers and adults from my church all had a great time during our work party weekend. We experienced the outdoors and we contributed to a good cause-keeping the trails cleared in the Gray Wolf River valley. It was great to see our kids, that aren’t normally out in the woods, enjoying themselves. A volunteer vacation has many benefits. I’m confident that there are many more groups like us who would be interested in a volunteer vacation on the Olympic Peninsula.
I asked Tim Kern his opinions about the trip. Tim said, “You know, the trail work strikes me as something you could build a promotion around, especially in attractive areas like Sequim and near other parks/wilderness areas. The whole eco-tourism thing, with the idea of volunteer vacations is growing.” Tim was right. Volunteerism and community service are fast becoming standard business practices in many corporations. According to Daniel Collins, there are a number of volunteer-based trail organizations on the Olympic Peninsula who would love more volunteers:
- The Peninsula Trail Coalition-This group maintains the Olympic Discovery Trail. This trail is a level-grade walking and bicycling trail along the Old Milwaukee Railroad right-of-way. The ODT passes right in front of our new Holiday Inn Express. Wirta Hospitality Worldwide is already member of this organization.
- The Pacific Northwest Trail Association-Dan says that the PNTA, “ Stages volunteer work parties outside the National Park but anywhere else on the PNT on an ad hoc basis. Much of this work is springtime trail clearing. We often work with other groups to get the low country trails open by summer so that hikers can get into the alpine terrain (my true love). We have an enormous supply of tools to stage these efforts.”
- The Gray Wolves – Dan says that the Gray Wolves, ”…are Sequim volunteers predominately, who clear trails and build structures where needed. They are very active all year, with much esprit de corps. They are highly skilled craftsmen. During the spring months, they stage weekly work parties ranging from 1 to 4 days in length but generally 1 day trips until the high country opens up. They are led by Don Stoneman and Rod Farlee. I’m a member but cannot participate in summer months because of my youth crew needs. Their area of Influence includes the Gray Wolf and Slab Camp trails, the Dungeness River and the Dosewallips River.”
- Washington Trails Association (WTA) – Dan says that, “This very large volunteer organization, so large in fact that they have created splinter trail groups, stages trail work in front country and backcountry. They stage volunteer vacations that are typically 7 days. They had one above Buckhorn Lake the week before we met and currently have one at Boulder Shelter off of the Dungeness. The group is also very active with daily work parties sometimes as large as 15 volunteers; much of this is local however. Their area of Influence includes the Dungeness, Tubal Cain, Gold Creek, Quilcene Trails.”
- Backcountry Horsemen (BCH) – this group has chapters on the Peninsula who service volunteer groups on pack-in and also do trail work often in combination with other groups like the PNTA, WTA, and Gray Wolves.
- Olympic National Park Trail Crew- According to Gary Huff, avid hiker and climber from Sequim, “There are not a lot of opportunities to do volunteer trail work with the National Park. The National Park trail crew can barely handle the volunteers that it has now. Our group has been doing this for 6 years and they have gotten used to us and we don’t take much supervision. But it can even be hit and miss with us. Most people who want to do volunteer vacations do it through the WTA (Washington Trails Association.) WTA does a couple in the Olympics every year.”
- The Sequim Lavender Growers Association – Lynn Johnson who is an active member in the organization says, “The Sequim Lavender Growers Association actively seeks out volunteers for the Lavender festival but doesn’t really have any organized effort to do so the rest of the year. However, every grower I know is always short-handed, especially during the summer, so I think that there may be a fair amount of interest in a program like this.”
A cool break after hot trail work!
