Zigzag Ranger District in September

In the month of September fires broke out all around Oregon, including Mt. Hood. Smoke filled the valley's. We continued construction of the Timberline to Crosstown bike trail in the smoke and dust. One day was spent sweeping hikers of the PCT near one of the fires. One day was spent participating in "Pioneer Days." Each of us had our own station. I talked to groups of kids about churning butter for the day... We tore out a boardwalk on the Salmon River Trail and installed a new one in its place. As per usual we also logged out a number of trails. I went out one day with Mckenzie to learn about bridge inspections. She is depicted here giving me a "you're taking a photo of me?" look. Finally, I snapped a few photos of our crew constructing one of more than a dozen embankments on the new Timberline to Crosstown mountain bike trail. The embankment photos are actually from the month of October, although most of the work we did there was during September.

Ross Lake Natural History Trip

On the morning of Sunday, August 28, my crew plus a couple NWSA staff members, an NWSA intern, and one tag along crew member left for Ross Lake in the North Cascades. Near Ross Lake, we met with Julie Stone, an NWSA intern working at the North Cascades Institute. She joined us on our trip, providing endless entertainment and relevant information on the geological and human history in the area. We spent 5 days on the Lake. One full day was spent hiking 7.5 miles up from Ross Lake at 1,500 ft to Desolation peak at 6,000 ft, then 7.5 miles back down again. It was an incredible adventure with beautiful views, pleasant weather, and the best of company.