Over 2,122 Logs and Counting: The PNTA Performance Crews Are Hard At Work
With four hitches down and a few more to go, our performance trail crews are still working hard on the PNT. From clearing over 500 logs in a single hitch to maintaining hundreds of feet of tread, our performance trail crews continue to preserve and maintain the PNT for trail users this year and in years to come. Here’s an update on their most recent accomplishments along the PNT.
In Eastern Washington, two trail crews joined together for a short stretch. They started out the hitch on the Red Bluff trail near Sullivan Lake to complete a puncheon project. The earlier puncheon had been completely eroded and torn apart, and the crews worked together on clearing the rotten pieces of wood and packing in fresh cedar to create a studier puncheon for the future. The puncheon spanned over a stream and will make traversing the wet section more efficient for trail users, and improve water quality in nearby aquatic ecosystems. After the puncheon was completed, one of the crews moved towards Deer Creek on the Kettle Crest, where they spent the rest of their time clearing 537 logs from the trail. The other crew headed from the top of the trail and worked their way down into the canyon — clearing 296 logs in the process!
The Western Pasayten Crew spent 8.1 miles logging out Holman Pass to Devil’s Pass. They cleared 76 logs and brought a five mile stretch of trail back up to a scenic hiking condition — spending their time realigning and restoring the tread after months of damage from erosion. The crew also brushed several sections of the trail as they cleared out the logs. The Back Country Horsemen helped them out with a resupply so they could continue whipping through logs and clearing the trail. Over in the North Cascades, the performance crew spent time working on tread repair in the burn scarred areas. On this hitch, the crew widened 122 feet of tread to accommodate stock and recapped a 17 foot section of turnpike near the cable car junction.
The Mount Baker Crew completed a 245 foot reconstruction on the South Fork Nooksack around a washed out section of the PNT. In that section, they built turnpikes and similar structures with wooden cribbing to hold rock and dirt fill — reestablishing an elevated, durable walking surface, one that would ensure that the new trail would last longer through the elements and drain properly. In the previous hitch, the crew cleared 65 logs and maintained 3103 feet of tread on the section of the PNT near Pioneer Camp, up towards the junction of Elbow Lake and Bell Pass. We’re grateful for their dedication to making sections of trail that last!
How You Can Help:
PNTA performance crews are traditionally paid for through a variety of funding sources including federal funding that is received through agreements with the Forest Service. Funding freezes, staffing cuts, and new bottlenecks in the approval process at the Department of Agriculture have resulted in significantly reduced federal funding for PNTA crews this year.
Our primary federal allocation for 2025 trail operations was drawn down to $0 by early August. Continuing to keep our crews operational through the end of September is now dependent on the generous support of people like you. We’d like to do everything we can to keep the trail maintained despite new challenges with federal funding, and we don’t want to lose our hardworking and dedicated crew members any sooner than we have to. Help to fund one more hitch here!
