West Tiger Mountain
Fulfilling a Mountaineers stewardship requirement, I participated in a trail maintenance day at West Tiger Mountain, organized by the Washington Trail Association.
We met at the trailhead at 8:30 AM for a briefing from our leader, Jay Schram. After being issued a green WTA hard hat and making introductions, we headed up the trail under steady rainfall.
Tranquil trail
Reaching the tool cache approximately 2 miles up the trail, the assistant leader, Scott, reviewed tool function and safety.
Assembling the tools
Our objective was to reroute a segment of the trail prone to collecting water and put in a switchback on another steep section. I stayed with the smaller group rerouting the short water-prone section while the rest of the group headed downhill to begin work on the switchback.
Beginning the re-route
The rain mixed with clay soil made for quite a mess on the trail and mud soon found its way to our gloves, clothes, backpacks, and anything else we touched. Despite the mess, our spirits were high as we enjoyed trading stories and being serenaded by Pete singing “Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go!”.
Muddy Johanna and Pete
Rain skirts for the win!
Mud is my middle name
WTA gettin’ it done
After about 2.5 hrs of shoveling a new trail, sawing a few roots, rolling a few large rocks (one we named the Pete/Greg/Johanna rock) and transplanting several ferns, we were done.
The finished product
We headed back down the trail to help the crew on the switchbacks. They had already made great progress by the time we arrived, even constructing a retaining wall out of large rocks. We helped grade the upper part of the trail so that water would flow off. Soon we were finished and heading back to the trailhead, wet, tired, muddy, and happy.
Homeward bound
Starting elevation: 512 ft | Elevation gain: 1,348 ft | Distance: 6.7 mi
