Hitch Three

Hitch number three put us in the Wenatchee National Forest, just Southeast of spectacular Mt. Ranier, near White Pass, Washington. We were also finally made a complete crew by the addition of Alex Aaker, an SCA alumna an seasoned outdoors-woman. We rode the chairlift to the top of Pigtail Peak and set up camp right under the chairlift terminal. We were then introduced the world of check steps: structures that run perpendicular to the tread and retain soil thus mitigating the effects of erosion and elevating the height of the tread, making travel much easier. We were assisted by some fine US Forest Service people in the falling of trees and then set to work debarking and bucking them up into 6-8 foot lengths. We dug anchor points into the slope on both sides of the trail, making sure they were deep enough to prevent water from seeping underneath. We back-filled them with rock and capped them with soil, packing and tamping them down all the while. We had our first volunteers of the season as well as our first rain... no connection of course. We also had two days off in the middle of our long hitch and made an overnight trek into the Goat Rocks Wilderness. It was another fantastic time in which we furthered our construction skills and our connection to the land.