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Scorpions Trail Crew, Pleasant Hill, OR (2025)

08/29/2025

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summary

Thursday August 28th – Eleven Scorpions returned to do some postfire trail restoration at Black Creek in the Waldo Lake Wilderness Area. This was our third trip to this trail since it was severely damaged in the Cedar Creek fire in 2022.

We drove into the TH at the end of road 2421 with permission from the Forest Service since all the roads into the Cedar Creek burn zone on the west side are closed to the public. The drive was longer today since road 24 was closed for extensive road work. We drove on a winding detour through the cedar creek burn zone to bypass the road construction. The detour climbed to about 3000ft offering some interesting views through the forest of burnt snags. We could see the developing smoke plume over the ridge from the Emigrant Fire. The air quality and visibility on our side of the ridge was good as we dropped back down to road 24. That detour took about another 20-minutes. We finally arrived at the TH and broke into three saw teams and a tread crew.

We hiked in about a mile climbing about 400 ft and arrived at the big sap loaded log that we started working on last week. We left a crew of 4 here to continue working on that log which required more chopping and chunking with Pulaski’s that cutting since the sap rendered the saws useless after just a few minutes of cutting. This week they came armed with extra solvent for saw cleaning and big chisels to help with chunking and chipping.

The rest of us hiked in for another 10-minutes and began working on the tread and the next section of logs. One crew tackled a large 3 plus ft diameter log that we previously cut. The fire caused the log to slide down and close the gap on the trail pinning itself against the lower cut section. It brought piles of rock and dirt with it burying the lower part of the log.

The remaining saw team went on and managed to buck up or move 3 or 4 logs before arriving at the next monster project log. This was a log on a very steep side slope with root ball attached and nestled behind a large snag. It took them most of the day to safely make the two cuts and remove the cut section off the trail.

The air quality was getting much worse as the day progressed and by about 1:30PM we decided it was time to go. Both logs previously mentioned are still a work in progress waiting for our return next week.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next Projects:
Thursday September 4th - Black Creek XC-logout and tread restoration
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/3w1jx

Saturday September 13th - South Waldo Lake Trail XC-logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/ceua4

08/23/2025

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summary

Thursday August 21st – Twelve Scorpions returned to do some postfire trail restoration at Black Creek in the Waldo Lake Wilderness Area. This trail was severely damaged in the Cedar Creek fire of 2022 and we have not been permitted to work it until now. We last worked the trail just a few days before the fire started.

We drove into the TH at the end of road 2421 with permission from the Forest Service since all the roads into the Cedar Creek burn zone on the west side are closed to the public. Once there we formed 3-XC saw teams of 3-each and a 3-person tread and brushing team. We hiked roughly a mile to where we stopped working a week ago. We were hoping to make it another mile today but that was not to be.

Two saw teams started work on a large log we prepped for bucking last week. Two cuts could be safely started at the same time. We will call this the sappy log for reasons that will be clear shortly. The third saw team scrambled over the sappy log, not without difficulty and marched about another 100 ft to the next large complex log on a steep side slope complete with a large root ball 100 ft above the trail on the steep slope resting against a snag that was leaning over the trail between the saw crews. Two of the tread crew started brushing from the TH to the Wilderness Boundary to try and get rid of the ceanothus bushes that can quickly grow into a dense forest. Once done they would hike in and join the rest of the crew. The third tread crew member started benching the tread from where we left off last week. This trail is mostly in steep side sloped terrain and without maintenance and traffic gravity just pulls the soil, rocks and postfire debris off the slope onto the trail. Plus 3-years of fire following plants have taken root in the original tread.

The teams on the sappy log were excited to get the two saws quickly singing. Unfortunately, it was an abbreviated overture. After getting an inch deep one of the saws struck a water and sap vein and the log started spewing out sappy water enough to drench the pants on one of the sawyers. The second saw was also picking up thick deposits of sap which trapped the wood shavings and bound up the saw. Someone had a small bottle of Purell which helped to dissolve the sap from the saws. That plus Wash and Dry wipes kept them going for another half hour or so until they couldn’t saw effectively. They decided to abandon the two-saw approach and just cut narrow parallel kerfs and chunk it out with a Pulaski. One saw team eagerly marched ahead leaving the one crew reinforced by some of the tread crew to continue to chunk up the log.

Meanwhile the other saw team about 100 ft away worked on the large log that was severely top bound. Every wedge in sight was driven into the kerf as far as it would go. It took a while to get the first cut close to the release point. They switched to the Katana-650 to finish the cut but before doing so they cleared away the sappy log crew from the trail since they were in the line of fire of the leaning snag if the root ball shifted and knocked it down. It took another 20-minutes to complete the cut and fortunately the root ball was motionless. The sap log crew got back to chunking. After lunch the second severely end bound cut was done and the log segment was rolled down off the trail. But not as easy as it sounds. Two pry bars, lots of legs pushing and some colorful language was required to convince it to go elsewhere.

The other saw team, that escaped from the sappy log, also encountered large argumentative logs in full sun just a short way up the trail. By 2PM the temperature was getting in the mid-80’s and we decided to call it a day. We made good progress although we only cleared and rebenched about 300 feet of the trail.
Viewing the trail further up we saw quite a few large and complex logs awaiting our return. The sappy log is still a work in progress and will also be there for us.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project: Black Creek trail #3362 in Waldo Wz, logout and post fire tread restoration - Thursday August 28th
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/5vxkn

08/15/2025

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summary

Two crews out last week, here are the summaries.

Tuesday August 12th – Brian and Garrett braved the heat and returned to Pat Saddle Trailhead to make one more push on Olallie Trail #3529. We hiked up the trail, passing the jct with Olallie Mountain Trail #4100 and started work about 1/2 mile beyond the jct (where work was left off last time). We would describe the down log load as "front loaded", meaning lots and lots to do in the next 1/2 mile or so. A good 24" log made for a fun time, and just beyond was a 26" broken in pieces on the trail. After lots of pushing and levering (and a final cut) we were able to get all pieces off the trail. After lunch we continued, making it past the old guard station location where the log load finally calmed down to a more "leisurely" pace where we could actually put our packs on and hike for a few minutes! Finally made it to the jct with Park Trail #3530, took a quick break, and started the hike back. Lots of huckleberries provided our fuel to make it back to the car in the heat. Thanks for the great (and hot) day!....Garrett

Thursday August 14th – It’s been a long 3-year wait but we finally got approval from the USFS to work on one of our favorite trails that was severely burned in the 2022 Cedar Creek fire. Black Creek trail #3362 (aka Lillian Falls) is in the Waldo Lake Wilderness Area and starts at the end of road 2421 and ends 4-miles and 2050ft of elevation gain later on the west shore of Waldo Lake. We last worked on this trail on July 26th, 2022. The Cedar Creek fire started August 1, 2022. Since this area burned at high intensity, we were prohibited from working there until now. Please note that all the roads entering the Creek Burn zone from the west side are still closed to the public due to hazard tree logging and road work. We have permission to enter from the USFS only on specific days.

On Thursday August 14th, 12 Scorpions trail crew members drove in three vehicles to the TH at the end of road 2421. We had to be cleared through several check points and waited a few minutes for heavy equipment to be moved so we could proceed on the road through tall canyons of stacked logs. But we made it to the TH with minimal delays.

Once there we formed 3-saw teams each with a 5 or 6ft XC-saw and one tread work team of 3. We headed up the trail which was clear and unburned up to the Wilderness boundary kiosk which survived the fire. From there we started entering the burn zone. It was mild at first but progressively got worse. It’s been 3-years since the fire so fireweed and ceanothus growth was heavy. The Ceanothus can grow quickly into an impenetrable forest so the tread team tried to take out as many as they could growing in and beside the trail. They also rebenched much of the trail tread and filled in many burnt root holes with rock and soil.

The saw teams encountered plenty of logs, many were very dry, difficult to cut and of course in full sun. They leap frogged each other and crossed several burnt puncheons before hitting two large and complex log jams shortly after lunch about 1-mile in. All 12 of us were now at the same spot and worked on these logs for the next hour and a half. We each took turns on the saws while others rested up in the limited shade before jumping back in. One of the large logs was bucked up and moved off the trail, not without a fight. The second complex set of logs was partially cut, and the remaining logs were prepped for cutting. It was about 3PM before we started back to the cars for the trip back home. We will be back next week to continue.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project:
Black Creek trail #3362 in Waldo Wz, logout and post fire tread restoration (continued) - Thursday August 21st
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/7c5z9

08/09/2025

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summary

Two crews out last week, here are the summaries.

Tuesday August 5th – Garrett and Jeanette B. hiked 2.2 miles in on Olallie trail #3529 from the Pat Saddle TH and began logging towards the old guard station. Slow going with lots of logs down, we made ½ mile further in.

Thursday August 7th – Nine Scorpions (Sig, Mike K., Mike S., Mike C., Tom B., Jeff, Doug, Alex F., and Eric) returned to French Pete trail #3311. There were three specific projects to tackle. The first was a big complex log 2-miles upstream from the TH on HWY 19. This log has been there for several years but since we have been putting a lot of work in clearing the deeper sections of this trail, we decided finally to take it. The second project was repairing a slide that took out about 10 ft of trail in a very steep section close to the big log. The third project was to cross French Pete Creek at the log and aggressively brush the heavily overgrown trail for another mile before the next creek crossing.

We arrived at the TH a little before 9AM with very welcomed drizzle coming down. The roads were quite wet on the drive up. We gathered up our tools needed for the three projects and hiked in. French Pete is a beautiful trail and follows French Pete Creek for much of the way. It burned in 2017 but much of the burn was beneficial, clearing brush and thinning trees providing great views of the cascading creek.

Once we arrived at the creek crossing Mike K., Mike C., Eric, Alex and Doug tackled the big log. They had a 7 and 6ft XC-saw and since this log was severely top bound they carried in 2 under bucking tools. After a careful assessment they started prepping the site and the log for bucking. They started cutting from the top as far as they could before the top bind would pinch the saws. Then the under bucking tools were hammered in and the under bucking commenced. We knew this would be an all-day project and at about noon the first cut was completed and the log dropped onto another log we cut and positioned so we would have enough space below the log to do the second under buck cut. By about 2PM the second cut was done, and the large log segment was rolled off the trail but not without a fight.

Meanwhile Sig and Mike S. dealt with the slide which also took us to about noon. It was on a very steep section of trail and there was very little hard tread left to stand on. We cut into the hillside removing many yards of soil, rock and organics before we started to get some firm tread width left. We tried to use rocks to crib the outside edge of the tread, but the side slope was so steep this was only marginally successful. The only way to recover a reasonable amount of firm tread width was to cut further into the steep hillside. By about noon we got it done.

Jeff and Tom B. were on the far side of the creek brushing thick stands of thimble berry, vine maple and other fast-growing brush that made the trail hard to find and difficult to plow your way through. They made it about 1-mile upstream and returned to the log crew at about 2PM when we all started hiking out.

Next week's projects:
Tuesday August 12th - Olallie XC-logout (continued)
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/3umvr

Thursday August 14th - Black Creek XC-logout and tread restoration
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/lb7xo

08/02/2025

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summary

Three crews out last week, here are the summaries.

Saturday July 26th – On Saturday July 26, an eight-person crew (Christoph, Keiko, Dale D, Mac, Sig, Doug, and welcome to new Scorpions Jeff R. and Rich) logged and brushed the French Pete Trail #3311 from the Pat Saddle Trailhead to a half a mile or so from the Aspen Creek crossing. We did some brushing and cut or moved 20+ logs. There were several interesting log problems involving p***y outer layers (so wedges were of limited use) pitchy inner layers, and multiple binds. After lunch, we entered territory that, to our knowledge, had not been logged since 2017. It was temperate earlier in the day, heating up for the ~1400-foot climb out to the cars….Doug

Thursday July 31st - On Thursday, Garrett Turner, Brian Roddy, Alex Fodor and welcome to first time Scorpion Alex Schwarzkopf returned to French Pete Creek Trail #3311 to push further up from the road 19 east TH. It was cloudy and very humid, eventually feeling like we were working in the tropics. We had a long hike up to where we left off last time, made longer by several new logs to cut out (and one root ball that needed to be wrestled off the trail). After all the pre-work and making the creek ford, we finally arrived at our start point about 11am. We cut and moved logs and debris, along with some brushing in many areas to make the trail obvious to follow. This section of the trail is very wild, remote, and very scenic as it threads its way up the canyon moving along the creek in spots. We finally turned around about 3pm to start the long and muggy hike back.

After re-fording the creek, we did some quick tread repair to a small slide area to make it more easily passable. To our surprise, as we were moving a few rocks, we found a scorpion! Our crew namesake just watched us as we finished moving dirt and then we continued on, finally reaching the cars tired but satisfied with the day's work. We managed to get about a mile further up the trail, so we are now about 4.25 miles total further in from the bottom TH. Whew…Garrett

Thursday July 31st – A hardy crew of 12 Scorpions (Sig, Mike S., Mike K., Tom B, Mathew, Eric, Jean, Ron H., David K., Dale, Jeff and Chris) returned to Rock Pile in the Diamond Peak Wilderness Area. This trail was severely burned in the 208 MF fire last year. We previously logged and completed tread repairs on the 1-mile lower section heading up from the road 2160 TH. On this trip we enjoyed our previous work as we hiked up through the burn about1-mile to the jct with Diamond Peak trail. From here our work began.

The trail continues for another .8 miles up to a ridge at about 6300ft and then down to the jct with Marie and Rock Pile Lakes trail on the east side. We formed three saw teams of 3 each and a tread crew of 3. We logged our way up the trail and the tread crew worked behind us repairing sections of severely damaged tread. Much of the trail was just soft ash surrounded by many charcoal snags. We lost the trail at one point about halfway up. We spread out about 6 ft apart and walked up following an old GPS track on my GAIA mapping app looking and feeling with our feet for some hard pack under the ash which would be the original trail tread. We finally found some and flagged about 300ft of the original trail so the tread crew could recover it when they reached that point.

We made it to the ridge by noon which was out of the heavy burn zone and had lunch enjoying views of Summit Lake and Mt. Thielsen surrounded by thunder clouds. After lunch we started down the east side and bucked up about 4 more difficult logs while listening to distant thunder and watching the speed and direction of cloud movement. We reached our end point at the jct of Rock Pile and Marie Lake Lakes trail by about 2PM and headed back to the TH.

Thanks to all the crews that helped on these Diamond Peak west side trails. After 4 trail workdays with 42 volunteers and 398 trail work hours Rock Pile, Pioneer Gulch and Diamond Peak trails are all logged out and the tread reworked to about a mile north of the Diamond Peak /Pioneer Gulch jct…Sig

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project:
French Pete trail, logs, tread and brushing - Thursday August 7th
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/sqysd

07/26/2025

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summary

Thursday July 24th - Eight Scorpions (Sig, Tom B., Jeff, Chris, Brian R., Jean, Ron H. and welcome to first time Scorpion Mathew) drove about 2-hours to get to the south Diamond Peak TH on road 2160-380. Once we finally arrived, we were greeted warmly by the mosquitoes. Most of us applied various types of mosquito cocktails and or head nets before hitting the trail. Forming 3-saw teams we headed up the 1.8-mile-long trail which climbs about 600 ft to the jct with Rock Pile trail where we have previously worked.

This section was scouted about a month ago, so we knew there were logs waiting for us every few hundred feet including a complex log tangle. Fortunately, the first mile of trail was out of the MF208 burn form last year, so we had mostly shade.

We climbed up the trail leapfrogging each other bucking up and moving logs as we stumbled onto them. There were several nice small lakes in the first half mile and once we got beyond them the mosquitoes mostly disappeared. We cleared a very messy tangle of small firs and then arrived at the complex 3-log side by side pile up including root balls and a text book spring pole. We took some time to assess and decide on a cut plan. Two saw teams worked together on them and the logs yielded without an argument in about a half hour.

A short while after that we entered the burn zone about a mile in. We had lunch in the last shady spot and then continued bucking up bone dry logs that looked like charcoal. By 2:30 we arrived at the junction with Rock Pile. Having completed the 1.8-mile section, we started the hike back to the mosquitoes who were patiently waiting for us. We were on the road back home at about 3:30.

A great day with a great crew. Next up is the upper section of Rock Pile.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project: XC logout and tread work on upper Rock Pile trail in Diamond Peak Wz - Thursday July 31st

Sign up link: https://bttr.im/690ih

07/19/2025

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summary

Another busy week for the Scorpions with 4 crews out. Here are the summaries:

Monday through Thursday 7/14-17: Garrett joined a Wilderness crew from the McKenzie River Ranger district on a 3-day back country logout of Horse Creek trail deep in Three Sisters Wilderness Area. There was no shortage of logs to buck up including some obstinate ones that chewed up three wedges.

Saturday July 12: A five-person crew (Brian, Mark, Alan, Sig, and Doug) logged and brushed the Quaking Aspen Swamp trail #3332 and the section of the French Pete trail between the junction with Quaking Aspen and the Pat Saddle Trailhead. We did considerable brushing, mostly vine maple thickets, and cut or moved 20+ logs. There were several interesting log problems requiring excavation and multiple cuts. It was hot and humid but, mercifully, we were in the shade most of the time. We left one two-large-log tangle for the French Pete crew on the 26th ,arrived at the Pat Saddle trailhead around 3:00, and shuttled back to our starting point and headed home….Doug

Thursday July 17th: Four of us (Jean, Jeff, Mike S., and a warm welcome to first time Scorpion Ron H.) returned to Lowder Mountain on Thursday. We logged out the trail (mostly pushed off logs, although we did some sawing), brushed out the rest of the lower trail including the part where the trail switches back, did some tread work, and filled some holes. Over the last two weeks this trail received more brushing than it has had in many years. You can actually see the tread and the many Mt. Beaver holes through the meadows which were covered with Thimbleberry. We know it will grow back in a year but enjoy the open trail while you can….Mike

Thursday July 17th: Five Scorpions (Sig, Alex, Eric, Brian R., and Chris) returned to the Olallie Mt trail #4100 to hopefully complete logging it out to the summit. Last Thursday we logged out the Olallie trail #3529 from Pat Saddle TH to the junction with Olallie Mt trail and then about a half mile up the Mt trail before turning around. This week we hiked in from Pat Saddle 2.7 miles to pick up where we left off.

The weather forecast called for a cooler day which we were all looking forward to since this area burned heavily in 2017 and is in mostly full sun. Unfortunately, that was not to be, it took us about an hour and a half to hike in with our tools and by the time we got to the first log it was already toasty. We formed two saw teams with a 5ft and a 6ft XC saw, Pulaski’s, axes and two pry bars. We made good progress for the first hour as the logs were pretty spread out. We had an early lunch since we were in a rare shady spot at about 11:45 about a third of a mile from the summit. We started to think this was going to be a mercifully early day. But as we started the last climb toward the summit we were slammed by a constant stream of logs and debris. We were in a forest of snags and the logs were all fire and sun dried making for slow cutting. We made good use of both pry bars (thank you Alex for insisting on bringing the second one even though it was pain to carry out). We tried to move as many logs as we could off the trail to avoid the full sun sawing. We even surprised ourselves a few times thinking there was no way this log would move, but we were motivated. It’s amazing what can be moved with two pry bars, a strap and some strategically placed log rails to reduce friction.

We finally reached the 5700ft summit by about 2PM. It was slightly hazy, presumably due to the fires in eastern Oregon, but we still were able to enjoy the views from Hood Mt. to Diamond Peak. We had one more log to cut that we skipped on the final climb to the summit. Brian, Eric and Chris bucked up this last log on a steep side slope as we went down. It was about 24” in diameter but was a little rotten so it cut quickly. They enjoyed watching the bucked round tumble down the steep side slope perpendicular to the trail. It was about a 2-hour hike back to the TH. Olallie and Olallie MT trails are now clear all the way to the former lookout site. Go and enjoy the views.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:
Thursday July 24th - Diamond Peak Trail XC Logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/pfr5f

Saturday July 26th: French Pete XC Logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/47hv2

07/12/2025

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summary

Three crews out last week. Here are the summaries:

Friday July 4h – Sunday July 6th: A crew of 4 hardy Scorpions did a back country backpack trip to logout a difficult to reach section of Separation Creek trail #3536. Garrett, Sam M., Scott M., and Josephine B. hiked 5 plus miles to set up camp. Over the next several days they logged out the remaining section of trail between Separation Creek and Horse Creek trail #3536. This combined with previous work earlier this spring results in the Separation Creek trail being cleared of logs for the first time in 2 years.

Thursday July 10th: Eight Scorpions (Garrett, Chris, Tom B, Brian R., Peggy, Alex, Sig and Eric) started a logout on the popular Olallie Trail from Pat Saddle Trailhead. Many hikers use this trail for the popular hike up to Olallie Mountain, with amazing views of the Three Sisters and surrounding area. We had a bit of a head start since a few logs had been cut by the Wilderness Rangers the previous Monday, but we soon found plenty of work to keep us busy. We formed three saw teams and leapfrogged up the trail. We had a slightly later lunch at the jct with the Olallie Mountan Trail, and then continued up the mountain for a few hours more. With the afternoon heating up, we called it a day about a half mile up the Mountain Trail. Based on what we encountered, it will be another full day when we do the final push up to the top. Thanks to all for a great day on a popular trail!...Garrett

Thursday July 10th: Four of us (Brad, Doug, Keiko, Mike S.) worked on Lowder Mountain cutting out the brush where the trail crosses several meadows in its first 2 miles. It was a good day to be on hands and knees cutting out the thimbleberry and blackberry that will be back over the trail in another year. The treacherous animal holes in the trail are clearly visible as are the rocks. We also worked on a few other wooded areas of the trail where it was being overgrown….Mike S.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:
Thursday July 17th: Olallie Mt trail XC-logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/gqrh9

Thursday July 17th: Lowder Mt trail brushing and XC-logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/5s9pp

07/04/2025

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summary

Thursday July 3rd – A crew of 12-Scorpions returned to Diamond Peak Wilderness area to continue trail logout and post fire tread restoration after the MF208 fire last year. Last week we made it a little north of the Rock Pile trail and Diamond Peak trail junction. This week we were planning to continue from there north towards the jct with Pioneer Gulch.

We made the 2-hour drive to the TH and left a shuttle truck at the Pioneer Gulch TH and drove the rest of the cars a bit further to the Rock Pile TH. We all gathered our gear and hiked up Rock Pile which we completed work on a week ago. Roughly 1-mile and 1000ft of climbing later we reached the point where we left off the previous week. We had three XC-saw teams formed with 8 crew members (Alex, Doug, Chris, Eric, Jean, Dave C., Dave M., and Jeff) plus a tread team of 4 (Sig, MaryAnne, Brian R. and Alan). We were still in a heavy burn zone with considerable tread damage. In addition to numerous fire hardened and nasty top bound logs there were many small trees 2-3” in diameter bending over the trail presumable due to the winter snow load. We cut these out with hand saws to open the trail corridor. We kept leap frogging each other for about 1-mile until we reached the jct with Pioneer Gulch about 1-mile from where we started working at about 1PM. Remarkably the trail junction sign at Pioneer Gulch was still intact. We continued on DP trail towards Corrigan Lk trail for another half mile before calling it a day.

We never really got out of the burn zone although we passed through some areas that had some green growth and needles on the ground but most of the trail burned very hot with no signs of growth but great views of Diamond Peak as well as Mt. Bailey and Thielsen peaks to the south.

We hiked back down Pioneer Gulch trail to the shuttle truck. As we headed back we were passed by two trail runners heading down at considerable speed sporting big smiles. They quickly passed us shouting how nice it was to be ale to see the trail.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:

Thursday July 10th, 2025 – Olallie Trail #3529 - Wilderness Crosscut Logout Sign up link: https://bttr.im/aow90

Thursday July 10th - Brushing on Lowder Mt trail #3329
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/uxxjz

Saturday July 12th: Quaking Aspen Trail #3332 - Crosscut Logout and Brushing Sign up link: https://bttr.im/xu251

06/28/2025

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summary

Thursday June 26th – A crew of 10-Scorpions returned to Diamond Peak Wilderness area to continue trail logout and post fire tread restoration after the MF208 fire last year. Previously we completed work on Pioneer Gulch trail. This time we tackled Rock Pile since these are the two most popular trails for summer climbers heading to the 8000ft summit.

We split up into two crews. A logout crew headed by Garrett with Mike K., Alex, Brian R and Chris. Plus a tread crew headed by Brian M. with Sig, Eric, Jeff and Mike S. After a 2-hour drive we arrived at the TH on a beautiful morning. The mosquitoes were there to give us a hardy welcome. After the usual pre-trail work orientation and calling into dispatch we started marching up the trail.

The areas around the road and TH were severely burned. No brush on the side of the trail or road but plenty of dead snags. There were great views of the Summitt of Diamond Peak right from the start, a small benefit from the fire. Surprisingly the wilderness kiosk and permit box survived. The two 4x4 posts supporting it were slightly charred but it still looked sturdy. The tread work began right at the beginning, lots of burnt roots across the trail leaving 1 ft or deeper pits that had the be filled with rock. All in all the trail tread was in better shape than we saw at Pioneer Gulch. But every hundred feet or so there were sections that had to completely rebenched and have drain structures added. The logout crew had plenty of work to do as well. We expected them to be well ahead of us since tread work tends to be slow moving, but the logs kept coming and we ended up leapfrogging each other on the way up to the jct with Diamond Peak trail where we arrived just before noon.

At the jct we were still in a heavy burn zone. This is a 4-way junction with Rock Pile trail continuing up over a ridge on the south side of Diamond Peak to Rock Pile Lk and eventually the Pacific Crest Trail. Diamond Peak trail #3699 continues north towards Pioneer Gulch and Corrigan Lk trails and south towards road 380 which heads towards Summit Lk. Our priority was to continue north towards Pioneer Gulch, But before we did we split up and scouted the three trails from the jct for about 15 minutes to see what condition they were in. There were logs blocking every path at the jct. Rock Pile trail continued climbing steeply in a very heavy burn with significant tread damage and log debris. Heading south on Diamond Peak there were 5 logs in the first 15 minutes but the tread was in better shape and the edge of the burn zone was visible. Heading north towards Pioneer Gulch the trail was again heavily damaged and we lost trace of it after about 10-minutes. We all returned to the jct for lunch.

The logout crew bucked up all the logs at the jct and then proceeded north. The tread crew continued restoring the trail tread which was barely visible. One of us went further ahead with a GPS and flagged the trail route using pre-fire saved GPS tracks. There were a number of large logs on this stretch and just about every foot of trail needed rebenching. By about 2PM the tread crew ran out of steam and headed back to the Rock Pile TH, the logout crew remained to work a few more logs and headed back about an hour later. We made it about 1000ft towards Pioneer Gulch from the jct with Rock Pile. We will be back next week to pick up where we left off and hopefully make to the Pioneer Gulch jct a little less than a mile from where we left off.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:
Thursday July 3rd - Diamond Peak trail XC-logout and tread restoration https://bttr.im/tmg89

Saturday July 12th - Quaking Aspen XC-logout and brushing
https://bttr.im/xu251

Scorpions Trail Crew

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