Aaron's Dream

Aaron has a dream, and it's a mighty challenging one.  He dreams of riding his mountain bike from the Ape Canyon Trail up to Windy Ridge, connect with the Boundary Trail head east and then ride down the Quartz Creek Trail and then finally connecting to the Lewis River Trail to finally arrive at the Lewis River campground, a soft air mattress and a much awaited beer.  That is a very big challenge, which definitely has some potential to it!  Who knows, maybe it could become an official ride called the Aaron's Challenge!

On August 7, 2009 Aaron and I headed up to the lower Quartz Creek trail to do some trail work in a first step on the long trail to help Aaron realize his dream.  This was my first trip on this trail.  I didn't know what to expect, but I was willing to organize a work party on this trail since it is, because of Aaron's interest, on NWTA's list of trails to work on this summer in this part of the Gifford Pinchot.

We started off, on foot, with two grub hoes, a bow saw and two loppers.  We encountered a few rough spots and some downed trees that met the teeth of the bow saw.  We made it up about three miles on this very scenic trail.  We came to the conclusion that Susan and Stevil would enjoy riding up the trail and meeting people on their way down, although because of the steepness of some of the grades it probably won't see any beginning mountain bike traffic.

Another work party (or two!) will be held on the Quartz Creek before season's end, so keep checking the Calendar and come on out and help Aaron realize his dream!

There were about 10 trees in this blockage.

Three trees - high enough to walk under - were left!

rough spot

It'll take something bigger than a bow saw to remove this one...  but then a detour would be easier!  This was the biggest tree that was down across the trail.  Sad to see a giant like this on the ground, but it is part of the life cycle of a forest.