Hitch leader: Lisa Weidemann
Member: Erica Madden
Hitch 6 was a partnership with Idaho Trails Association (ITA) and the Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation. Three SCA folks and two ITA volunteers were going to work on the Gant Ridge trail in the Bighorn Crags. Unfortunately, both ITA volunteers were not able to attend. Undeterred, our crew took on the extra work with enthusiasm. We camped at Cathedral Lake, an oligotrophic body of water created from the last glacial recession. It was lovely. We fell asleep to a trickling melody played by the small creek near camp each night and awoke to sunlight filtering through Engleman spruce every morning. After oatmeal and coffee, we hiked out to the worksite and tool cache, stretched, and began working. The trail certainly needed our help. In some areas, the trail was indiscernible from the rest of the forest, in others, switchbacks had completely washed out. In eight days of leonine effort, we were able to repair 1630 feet of tread, realign 115 feet, create 9 drainage structures, clean 2 water bars, and place 6 stepping stones. Safe to say the trip was a success but much more work is needed on the Gant Ridge Trail.
Work Totals:
Tread repaired: 1630 ft
New tread: 115 ft
Drainage structures: 9
Waterbars cleaned: 2
Stepping stones: 6
Trees logged: 12
