PCTA Technical Advisor Heidi Brill sent in this report from one of the many projects she helped with this season. The crew’s work on culverts near Grand Meadows, Wash. will pay dividends for years to come. Those who are deeply immersed into the trail maintenance world tend to talk in lingo, numbers and stats. We sure do. They tell the story of the work that’s done. Without further ado, here’s the report from our recent project in Section H (Cascade Locks to White Pass).
PCTA maintainers hanging out at Mosquito Lake.
Our crew worked to address drainage issues over two miles of trail, focusing on rehabilitating exposed and poorly functioning culverts, mitigating uphill seeps, clearing and reforming drainage dips, and de-berming tread. The crew dug 2 inside lateral drains to catch uphill seepage, for a total of 31 linear feet. One rock stepover was constructed, with 6 square feet of cribbing installed. 19 drain dips were cleared and reconstructed to bring them to the proper angles and grades. 708 feet of tread was de-bermed. 126 feet of tread was realigned in the interest of approaching culverts properly. 62 feet of tread was recrowned to improve drainage and bury culverts. 3 culverts were armored with rock for a total of 10 square feet of cribbing, and 5 culverts in total were cleared of obstructing vegetation (and in one case, 5 large sections of cut log) with settling basins re-established. Additionally, 2 reassurance markers were installed at the junction of PCT & FS 8851, and 2 “No Bike” stickers were placed; one at the FS 8851 junction, and one at the FS 88 junction.
– Heidi Brill