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

Iron Goat Trail Season Opener

You Are Invited

IRON GOAT TRAIL SEASON OPENER
Wednesday April 18, 2007 6:30—9:00 p.m.
The Mountaineers Building, 300 Third West, Seattle

Sign the 2007 Release Form and pick up the 2007 Iron Goat Trail Organization Chart and Work Party Schedule

Make the sandwich of your choice at the Sandwich Smorgasboard and enjoy meeting other volunteers.

At the Meeting hear about:
WSDOT plans for opening the new Iron Goat Interpretive Site.

See special power point presentations:
Construction of the Windy Point Hiker Trail
Maintenance plans to handle the tremendous amount of Winter Storm Damage
Volunteer work needed on the 1951 Great Northern Caboose

Help distribute the 2007 Iron Goat Brochures

Be sure to Sign Up On-Line : www.Trailvolunteers.org or Sign Up by phone: 206-517-3019
Indicate the type of sandwich you would prefer to make for yourself at the Sandwich Smorgasboard:

Beef, Ham, Tuna, Turkey, or Vegetarian

MARTIN CREEK TRAILHEAD DISCOVERY HIKE
See where we will be extending the Iron Goat Trail in 2008 & 2009
Saturday April 14, 2007 10:00 a.m.

Jim Mattson , Great Northern Railway Historian will show you the abutment and footings of the 165’ high trestle and the abutment of the upper trestle over Martin Creek as well as the switchback route used before the Horseshoe Tunnel was completed. It is important to go on this trip as soon after snow melt as possible so you can see where you put your own feet. Vegetation grows rapidly and obscures your view of the footings. You are fortunate to have a knowledgeable guide to tell the story about these fascinating remains of railroad structures.

Bring lunch, beverage and extra clothing in pack. Wear boots and appropriate clothing for the weather.

Be sure to sign up with Sheridan and Richard Botts 425-227-0431 to arrange time to meet and transportation from Bothell Park and Ride.

Interlaken Park

In case you are new to Volunteers for Outdoor Washington, the main focus of our group is maintaining and constructing trail. While our volunteers are often found working up in the I-90 corridor and on the Iron Goat Trail we also devote a fair amount of our time (especially in the winter months) to urban trail projects in Seattle.

From 2004-2006 VOW worked at Golden Gardens park, completing over 58 work parties and many miles of trail restoration.

This year we have partnered with the City of Seattle: Department of Parks and Recreation to help restore trails at Interlaken Park.

Interlaken Park is one of our original "Olmsted" (An early landscape architectural firm responsible for many prominent park designs through out our country, such as Central park N.Y) designed parks in Seattle. It is a hidden gem that is made up of 51.6 acres of forest habitat.

Since November 2006 at Interlaken we have had 13 work parties and 172 volunteer days for a total of 1010 work hours. As you can see from a few of these pictures our work so far has ranged from re-grading the trail so that it is more durable to heavy rains, removing harmful invasives such as Ivy and Holly, and planting new natives such as Ferns and Hemlocks.

Volunteer work parties will continue at Interlaken until the end of June. Join us Saturdays from 9:30 to 2:30. To sign up visit our events calendar. See you on the trail!

-Sean Bulthaup