National Trails Day

June 2nd: Give back to our nation's trails!

Hosted by the American Hiking Society, National Trails Day (NTD) is a nationwide effort to celebrate and give back to out nation's trails. Activities range from scouting, to guided hikes, and to construction and repair.

As I've mentioned before on this blog this winter there has been a great deal of flooding damage done to our state's trails. We have only just begun to assess the full extent of the work needed but, as you can see from this picture, our trails are in desperate need of repair.

Cascade Tunnel view of walkway that volunteers predict was picked
up and carried "down stream" from flooding of the tunnel.

Two Sites

For NTD we have two sites this year: The Iron Goat Trail and the Ira Spring Trail. As always for VOW work parties no experience is required and we will provide free snacks and water.

Free Food

At both sites we will be having a barbeque afterwards (bring your own lunch) and there will sure to be lots of free donated goodies you can take home for your efforts.

Sign Up!

For more information on the event and to see what other events are going on visit www.americanhiking.org and to volunteer sign up on VOW's event calendar. See you on the trail!

-Sean Bulthaup

I-90 Corridor Work Parties

My first work party in the I-90 corridor took place at the Gold Creek Pond Trail this past fall.


As you can see it was a beautiful day on this beautiful trail. We arrived around 9 AM and after a short safety talk by crew leader Harold Buresh it was time to get to work. Our focus for the day was cutting back invasives like napweed, clearing vegetation from a picnic table, and thinning trees along the trail corridor. The latter is of particular importance on this trail because it is barrier free meaning that it is wheelchair accessible.

A few weeks later I again joined Harold at the Tinkham Discovery Trail. We spent the first few hours installing a new sign for the trail.


Our focus for the rest of the day was "winterizing" the trail, or preparing it for the flooding and snow that comes during the winter months. So, we spent our time examining and repairing spots on the trail where water, the trail crew's enemy, can collect and cause damage to the trail. It is a constant battle for groups like VOW to construct and maintain trail in Washington State during the spring and summer months only to see the winter months undo much of the work that has been done.

This has been especially true this year with the flooding that happened in November.


So come out to our I-90 corridor projects at Tinkham Discovery Trail, Gold Creek Pond Trail, and the Ira Spring Trail. This weekend, April 21st, we will be having our first work party at Tinkham. Check out our calendar for more dates and information.

-Sean Bulthaup