Hitch-6 Wynoochee and Mildred Lakes Wilderness Project

The sixth hitch was divided into thirds by our intended projects.

The first three days were spent on the Wynoochee Lakeshore Trail, completing brushing from the stream ford to a reroute, and then finishing the reroute up to the 100 road. This entailed brushhogging approximately 1/2 mile of existing trail, and then clearing the thick salmonberries, as well as placing a 12' log retainer on the steepest section of the reroute. Finally, we finished about 1000 feet of treadwork along the existing trail, placed maps and signage at trail junctions on the west side of the lake and river, and returned to Hoodsport to prepare for the second portion of work.

On Friday, we drove up to the Hamma Hamma valley, to the Mildred Lakes trailhead, and began hiking in tools for some trail maintneance and backcountry campsite monitoring with a Forest Service employee. Because the trail is located in the Mt. Skokomish Wilderness Area, we had to use a crosscut saw, and no mechanized tools of any sort. The trail is also very loosely maintained--various descriptions included "rustic", "unsafe", "rough", "rugged", and "tumultuous". We helped improve that somewhat by cutting out 9 logs, monitoring 14 campsites, and packing out more than 25 pounds of garbage.

Lastly, we spent three additional days at the Wynoochee area, completing a reroute we had planned since the first hitch, on the east side of the river. This included clearing the corridor and establishing 1000 feet of tread over the three days. We also packed out 20 pounds of trash from a dispersed campsite and the trail.

1 log retainer
2000 feet of tread
45 pounds of garbage removed
9 logs cut out
14 campsites monitored
447 total service hours