Events & Work Parties
Saturday April 18, 2009
The Skagit Chapter, under the direction of Trail Bosses Debbie Lowe, Daryl Riedell and Debbie Webb conducted trail maintenance on Josh’s Hollow, Tennis Shoe trail, Fern Gully, Connector trail and Kick The Dog trail. There were 14 workers that attacked portions of Josh’s Holler installing four water bars, cleaning/brushing andmoving rock and logs by hand. The trails were located on Department of Natural Recourses (DNR) land north of the Les Hilde trail head. There were two youth volunteers logging hours for community service, a big thanks to Justin and Nick Temple.
On Sunday, under the direction of Trail Boss Debbie Lowe, a group of riders mapped nine miles of trails, located on private timberland owned by Sierra Pacific. This is part of the ongoing efforts to map the Les Hilde trail system under the guidelines of the DNR. To date there has been over 30 miles of trails mapped and identified for DNR by the Skagit Chapter. Most of the trails north of the trail system have been mapped, along with trails around Cowboy Camp. There were several folks camped, riding the trails. I made contact with Buck Hammock who was camped with his wife and family, he was using a GPS to track his ride, and he sent the data from the trails to the chapter, which will be used to fill in the trails that need to be mapped, “thanks Buck.”
Before the work party Debbie Temple, Rob DeBoer, and Anita Weidkamp cooked breakfast and prepared lunch after the work was done. Don’t miss the meals next month.
Please see the photos below:
A Day in March
Seventeen Skagit Chapter members gathered at the Les Hilde Trailhead on Saturday, 21 March, to learn how to use a GPS. It could have been a lot worse for March weather, kind of cold, a slight breeze but no rain. No worries, we had coffee and someone built a fire.
For some time, we have attempted to get the trails in the Harry Osborne State Forest mapped out. Much has been done and we had our ups and downs but the project has not seen completion.
One barrier to our success is the difference in map programs and GPS systems. The DNR has a computer mapping program that they use and it requires a certain GPS system for the correct data input.
Dave Temple coordinated with the Northwest Region DNR to set up the training for us volunteers so we would almost know what the heck we were doing. Heidi Stephens, a "techie" from the Olympia DNR office, brought some GPS units for us to use for practice. She was patient with us, showed us what buttons to push and with Rick Foster's and Dave Temple's help, most of us managed not to break our little hand-held satellite receivers. Heidi explained what data the DNR needed to have collected when we are using the GPS, she even had a practice sheet with a trail laid out so we could get the idea.
When a trail is plotted on a compatible unit, the DNR can download it in their mapping program and one day we will have a hard copy(paper) that can be used on the trails, after you have a map reading class of course!
Now all we need is for the trained volunteers to check out one of the GPS units from Rick Foster (rick.foster@dnr.wa.gov 360-856-3500), at the Sedro-Woolley office and go ride up the mountain. Thanks to Heidi Stephens and Rick Foster for your assistance and Dave Temple for ramrodding the whole thing.
Author Larry Lowe
