DARRINGTON — Young people from throughout the region helped rebuild portions of the Pacific Crest Trail this fall.
The trail, which runs 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada, is one of only 11 designated national scenic trails in the country.
Since 2003, flood damage had made it nearly impossible to reach the 45 miles of the trail on the south end of the Glacier Peak Wilderness, said Renee Bodine, spokeswoman for the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
With the help of federal economic stimulus funding, U.S. Forest Service crews were able to make repairs to the trail about 25 miles southeast of Darrington.
Dawn Erickson, trails specialist for the Darrington Ranger District, hired 16 young people from Darrington, Arlington, Oso, Concrete, Mount Vernon and Seattle to do the work.
“This was a really good crew. It was nice to finally get in there and hit these areas hard,” Erickson said in a press release from the Forest Service. “The project provided decent-wage jobs to students and other young people.”
Washed out roads and trails, and several river crossings made access to the area difficult for the crews.
Bryce Boyd of Darrington worked as a crew leader, leading seven workers 14 miles to Vista Creek and Vista Ridge, a hike that took almost five hours. They cut away roughly 200 logs clogging the trail, work done by hand using crosscut saws. It took Boyd’s crew six days to clear logs off five miles of trail. The logs were left by windfall and had accumulated over the seven years since the Suiattle trail, road and bridges washed out, keeping crews from accessing the site, Bodine said.
Boyd grew up hunting and fishing outdoors around Darrington, and thought he knew all the trails and scenic spots. But he said camping and working nine days at a time in the backcountry gave him a deeper appreciation for the beauty of the area.
Crew leader Catherine Austin spent 20 days out with her 9- person crew in the Milk Creek area on the northwest side of Glacier Peak, 25 trail-miles south of Suiattle River. At 35 miles from the nearest trailhead in any direction, they were delivered to the area by helicopter.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
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