Hitch-4 Wynoochee Lake Shore Trail Re-Route@ Trout Cr

We came back to the Wynoochee area to complete our first major project of the season - the first re-route at Trout Creek on the Wynoochee Lakeshore Trail. We came to a spot on the re-route where the trail was coming really close to an old-growth cedar tree and decided that it would be better to take our re-route in a new direction. The roots of old-growth trees travel far away from the tree and they can be very succeptible to diseases when they are scarred and lose their protective barrier. We did not want to be using our tools near the roots because the tree can become infected and die. We like old-growth trees for their majesty and wisdom and do not want to see them get hurt, especially from our own doing. So, we scouted the forest and found a better way for the trail to go. We all decided that changing our course was the best thing to do and continued breaking ground on the re-route. By the end of the hitch, we completed the re-route's new course, spent a day doing a project using the cross-cut saw on a 50" log, and broke ground on the second re-route at Trout Creek. It was a busy hitch, but we were excited to have completed our first huge project and make the trail that had been washed out more complete. Our work was finally starting to show something for itself and we were proud of our hard work.