The tree across the trail is big, maybe 4 feet in diameter, and it sits a foot or so above the pathway, requiring a bit of gymnastics to climb over it. A little way up the trail is another tree just like it. And another. And another.
And all the way in between the fallen giants are branches, boughs and saplings in various states of disarray. In short, the trail is a mess.
The windstorm that ripped through southern King County blasted its way through these foothills around Issaquah and left a repair job for the ages.
Scott Semans of Issaquah surveys the damage. He lives nearby and often walks the trail and cleans it up. He also was on the crew that built the trail in 2000.
"It wasn’t this messy when we built it," he said.
Steve Drew, president of the Issaquah Alps Trails Club, said this storm is the worst he’s seen.
"I was active when we had the Inauguration Day storm (in 1993)," he said. "It was nothing like this. It was just uncanny," he said of the recent storm, "We had some gusts that must have been 80 mph."
While the Issaquah Alps — Tiger, Cougar, Taylor, Rattlesnake and Squak mountains — aren’t rocky spires like Mount Index or Mount Baring, they are prime wintertime hiking destinations. That’s especially true this year, since October’s floods damaged several of Snohomish County’s low-elevation hikes.
So getting these suburban trails back in action as soon as possible is important. That’s why, on a wet, dark Saturday a week ago, a group of volunteers from the Issaquah Alps Trails Club set out to clear a section of trail on Squak Mountain.
They armed themselves with folding saws, gloves and rakes. In this area, crews from King County will eventually use chain saws to remove the bigger trunks, or hire loggers to take them out, but it’s up to volunteers to repair the path and haul the wreckage away from the trail. In other areas — the Issaquah Alps are a patchwork of state parks, county parks, city parks, and Department of Natural Resources land — volunteers will do everything themselves.
"What we’re doing is the real trail restoration," Semans said. "Our mission is to clean up the trail and to get (the debris) as far off the trail as possible."
The volunteers attack everything from six inches thick on down. Vast armloads of small debris need to be heaved into the woods, while bigger branches and trees are hauled away. It’s tough work — everything is wet and trees and limbs are twisted into vast knots.
"When we came through here the first time, you couldn’t even see the trail," Drew said. "There are some sections over on the east ridge where more of the trees are down than up."
Nevertheless, over the course of the morning, progress is made and the volunteers eventually dig down to the trail. Craig Jackson of Bellevue puts the finishing touch on the path with a heavy rake, and this part of the trail is looking like new.
This is only a small stretch of a dozen miles of trails on Squak Mountain, though. And much of Tiger Mountain is even worse, although Cougar somehow escaped the brunt of the winds.
In some places, the trail will need to be rerouted to go around downed logs. A bridge that cracked when a tree fell on it will have to be rebuilt. In one spot, where an entire hillside of trees seems to have fallen, the trail may need to tunnel under the downed trees.
"Come spring, they’ll hardly know what’s happened," Jackson said.
The Issaquah Alps Trails Club and the Washington Trails Association are planning weekly trail work for the foreseeable future. Drew advised that hikers remain cautious until the trails are shipshape again.
"All of the difficulty ratings are just out the window," he said. "You’re going to get dirty, and it’s not something you can take kids on. The conditions of all those trails are a little sketchy."
Drew expected most of the trails should be ready for hiking by February or March, barring more storms.
"It’s been a very interesting year as an observer of Mother Nature," Drew said.
"It shouldn’t be over, either. Fasten your seatbelts."
Reporter Andrew Wineke: 425-339-3465 or wineke@heraldnet.com.
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