By Jim Haley
Herald Writer
STEVENS PASS — Sandy Evans knelt in the soft dirt, digging the earth away from the big root that fed the Douglas fir. A swath of mud streaked her forehead.
Her husband, Dennis Evans, traipsed back and forth along the 1,000-foot section of mountain trail that was well under construction but not nearly complete. He carried a camera, a business-like expression and a firm idea of what work should be done that day.
He happened to be the straw-boss, the crew leader on this particular group of a dozen volunteers helping to construct a scenic and easily accessible segment of the Iron Goat Trail near here.
The Evanses are two of a couple thousand folks who have given up their time, sweat and knowledge to help the U.S. Forest Service and the group Volunteers for Outdoor Washington develop a trail designed to give just about everyone a good taste of the great outdoors.
At first it was a matter of love for the trail for the couple, both Marysville residents. Then it was love on the trail.
They met in the early 1990s working for Ruth Ittner, who for more than a decade has been coordinating development of the trail along an abandoned railroad grade.
They fell in love and got married at the conclusion of a trail work party. The bride wore work clothes and some grime.
Each has spent hundreds of hours a year on the project, which has produced a mix of moderate and easy trail grades to satisfy most outdoor tastes and requirements.
"It’s sort of like church," Sandy Evans, 56, said about her labors over the years to gradually open up segments of the trial. She said one can draw whatever meaning one wants from that statement.
"It’s an opportunity not afforded everyone," the technical writer said. "You really appreciate what is provided for you in the outdoors. The labor is incidental."
The trail itself was spawned in the late 1980s when someone had the idea that a historical trail would be a good thing to develop in concert with the state’s centennial in 1989.
Just the planning and coordination for it took longer than expected. Ittner said there were hurdles aplenty, including the fact that nature had overgrown the area that was once a relatively gentle railroad grade. Even an environmental assessment was required.
The trail has historic significance because it is a route the old Great Northern Railroad used to use before the bed was abandoned in 1929. Remnants of the old railroad days are in evidence along the trail, including tunnels and bumpy ground where ancient railroad ties decomposed.
The Wellington trailhead is near the site of the nation’s worst railroad disaster in 1910. That’s when nearly 100 people were killed when an avalanche swept down Windy Mountain, carrying two trains into the valley below.
The disaster gave impetus to construction of a nearly eight-mile tunnel to avoid the most dangerous avalanche country.
In addition to some history, large chunks of the nine miles of trail are nearly level and accessible to wheelchairs.
Ittner, 83, has continued to be the driving force behind the trail, helping to secure grants and working with the Forest Service. Altogether, when the third and final trailhead is complete (at Scenic) and the last of the trail carved out in 2005, she expects the total cost will be around $3 million.
Trailheads at Wellington and Martin Creek are now open.
A lot of the work is on the backs of people like the Evanses. So far, volunteers have donated something like 65,000 hours of work to the project, Ittner said.
It’s a quest she continued after some of her friends who helped start the project died, and because, "I feel this is something God’s given me to do and he will provide the resources for me to do this."
Why does Dennis Evans return week after week to toil?
"We both love the outdoors," the computer technician said of his wife and himself. "This is a way to be outdoors and accomplish something worthwhile at the same time."
He likes the fact this trail is closely connected with the history of the area, and the easy sections allow universal access. It’s really a network of trails, including cross-over paths between the different grades.
Sometimes it’s tough to rise at 5 a.m. in the pouring rain, even in the spring and summer months when the work is done. "You still manage to do it," said Dennis Evans, 58. "It’s fun. It gives you a sense of accomplishment to come back year after year and see what you’ve done."
You can call Herald Writer Jim Haley at 425-339-3447 or send e-mail to haley@heraldnet.com.
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