Thanks Northwest Youth Corps for your Timberline Trail work!

[Waffle Stomper]

Today when hiking on the Newton Creek trail we ran into a group of young men who were spending two weeks there doing trail maintenance. They've been there for a week and did a fantastic job of cleaning up the debris along the trail and rebuilding section of the trail that was dangerously close to the edge after much of the nearby ground had been washed away a couple winters ago. They will be working on the trail all the way to Timberline Trail.

It is so encouraging to see our youth involved in caring for our wilderness areas. A big thank you goes out to them!

I checked out their website to see what they were all about. What a great way to encourage stewardship for our forests and communities. http://www.NortwestYouthCorps.org

[Excursionista]

At least once a year for the past few years, I hike to Elk Meadows and up to the Timberline Trail, then back down Newton Creek Trail. Parts of that trail are pretty sketchy - sometimes right at the edge of Newton canyon and on very unstable ground. A fall would be life-threatening, and the loose rock, gravel and sand that make up the trail is easily eroded and undermined. I can see how Newton Creek would eat away at the trail every winter.

So, on a geological note: is the ridge that Newton Creek trail climbs an ancient moraine?

And on a note of gratitude: thank you, Northwest Youth Corps. Great trail, and great work! Now to that Eliot Glacier crossing on the Timberline...

[Splintercat]

(note to Waffle & Jason -- I missed your earlier topic, so have merged these)

If you were up on Mount Hood over the weekend, there's a good chance that you ran into one of three Northwest Youth Corps crews camped on the mountain for a three-week trail reconstruction blitz. I wanted to post an official tribute to their work. Here's a little photo essay on the Wy'East Basin crew...

First, the slick Northwest Youth Corps van and trailer (Trailkeepers, take notice!) parked at the Vista Ridge trailhead was a sign of good things to come:





The evidence of their hard work started at the junction of the Vista Ridge Trail with the Eden Park loop - check out the awesome tread work and brushing out!



Looking back from the shoulder of the Vista Ridge moraine traverse, just below the Timberline Trail junction, you can see more outstanding tread work, plus some major brushing out, including a fair number of TREES that were encroaching the trail:



Their camp at WyEast Basin was empty when I passed through en-route to Elk Cove, but I followed more excellent trail rehab all the way to the cove. Here's a nice section just below Barrett Spur, east of the Pinnacle Trail:



Around the horn and heading into Elk Cove, proper, more great tread and drainage work plus logging out here and there:



Still further down the Elk Cove descent, a MAJOR improvement to this very rough section of trail -- lots of brushing out, including overhanging trees, plus excellent tread work and drainage all the way down to the Elk Cove Trail junction:



On the hike out, I visited with the crew camped at WyEast Basin -- here their cool Northwest Youth Corps logo, as shown on the back of a vest...



...and the hoodie version...



...and finally, a few crew members posed for the old dude with the camera:



This crew had come from Idaho for the project. These guys are tough, buff and professional about their work. They had already endured a week of heat wave, followed by a week of rain, and were getting ready for a final week of heat as they wrapped up their projects on the mountain. Their work extends toward Cairn Basin and Eden Park -- I hiked a portion of that, and it was truly impressive!

The crews earn education stipends for their outstanding work, and are rewarded bonuses for safety, dependability and finishing the program. Clearly, Trailkeepers of Oregon needs to follow up with this organization, and look into some partnerships in the future.

But mostly, I wanted to post this in order for the local hiking community to give these guys a REALLY BIG SHOUT OUT! These are among our favorite trails here at the Portland Hikers community, and I wanted the crews to know how much we appreciate their hard work... so chime in, everyone!

Tom

Note to the Northwest Youth Corp crew: here are the large versions of your portrait shot for downloading:

Group Photo 1

Group Photo 2

Group Photo 3

Thanks for posing!

[anna in boots]

Them there are some nice-lookin' trails, guys! Well done and thank you!

anna in boots

[airdrum]

Wow, when you posted those photos I was envisioning a crew of 12 people at least, but when your photo showed just 6 I was shocked! That is some heavy duty work they are doing, I can't believe those pulaskis are still in one piece the way they have been swinging them. I definitely couldn't keep up with any of these guys.

Even more impressive may be the weather they endured. The heat plus the rain would be about as demoralizing as can be I would think, bravo to the team for sticking it out in style!

Thanks to the NYC team, you guys rock!

[jeffstatt]

Nice looking tread guys! Great job

[Waffle Stomper]

Thanks Splintercat for the photos. They were camped just off of the Newton Creek Trail when we were there and had done an awsome job to that point with plans of going as far as Timberline Trail. When we were there they told us there were 11 of them on the crew. What an awesome group.

[Yeti]

I was up in Mt Hood this past weekend and saw them in the McNeil trail. They were doing an amazing job. On our way down they were already gone but had cleared a big portion of the trail and opened several channels for water to run off. Great work

[Ryan Ojerio]

Yeah NYC!! Those pictures bring back good memories of my years working for them. I first picked up a pulaski at field staff training in 2002. Nice to see them getting some work on Mt. Hood. I've head that the Mt. Adams District is hosting a crew or two on the Soda Peaks Lake Trail in the Trapper Crk Wilderness.

[Splintercat]

Hey, that's cool, Ryan..! You're an alumnus..!

Tom