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Scorpions Trail Crew, Pleasant Hill, OR (2026)

01/23/2026

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

Tuesday January 20th – A small crew of 2 (Doug and Sig) returned to Clark Creek trail to try and complete construction on series of steps heading up a steep grade. It was a cold icy morning, but we were soon warming up as the sun burned off the fog. One step was already completed from the previous workday. All the cedar boards were previously cut with lap joints for assembly of the remaining steps. So, we made rapid progress and got the remaining 5 additional steps in.

Thursday January 22nd – A big crew of 13 arrived at Fall Creek on a very cold and foggy morning. A crew of 5 gathered the power tools needed to work on Puncheon construction on the Clark Creek trail. The rest of us followed them up the trail with 8 more 4x6x5ft cedar deck planks in hand that were needed to complete the puncheon decking.

After hauling the deck planks up 8 of us returned to the cars leaving the puncheon crew on their own. Our task was to log out the Dolly Varden section of the Fall Creek trail. The windstorm last month brought down quite a few more trees on this 3.4-mile section. We split into two groups of 4. On crew started at the Dolly Varden TH and worked their way up stream. The rest of us started where we parked and worked downstream. We were also planning to restore some sections of tread that needed work. Unfortunately, the ground was so frozen that tread work was quite difficult. But the log out went smoothly, about 20 logs were bucked and the crews met roughly in the middle of the trail. We will have to come back to complete the tread work when the ground thaws.

Meanwhile the puncheon crew enjoyed working in full sunshine. They had to cut and transport several more cedars to complete the stringers and have enough material for the bull rails. They got everything leveled and squared, the stringers pinned with rebar and the decking laid out to be sure there was enough. Next time they need to spike down the decking attach the bull rails and the project will be complete.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:

Thursday January 29th - Winberry Tie logout and brushing
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/pbhxz

Thursday February 5th - South Willamette Trail brushing and logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/ee7zv

01/18/2026

Here is a copy of our Annual Trail Work Summary for 2025.

Link: https://1drv.ms/b/c/da70c8eac6c834bb/IQCyayRRLm8kQ6hXmJ_vyWh4AYfpgg18Ulys3q_CHxlkrro

01/17/2026

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

Saturday January 10th – A crew of 5 Scorpions joined forces with a 5 member Camas crew to logout Rebel Creek trail #3323. The recent wind event brought down numerous logs. Arriving at the TH there was a dusting of snow and downed logs were blocking the parking area. They got their chain saws buzzing and started bucking up logs. By the end of the day, they cleared all the way to the Wilderness boundary about 1 mile in.

Thursday January 15th – Another big crew of 13 Scorpions returned to Clark Creek. We had previously completed logout and tread recovery on the 1-mile loop trail damaged in the 2023 Bedrock Fire. Today we began rebuilding a 21ft long puncheon and a series of steps leading up a steep grade. A split off team of two worked on the Dolly Varden section of the Fall Creek trail to chip away at a rock wall to widen a narrow section of trail. We all arrived at the TH just as the thick fog was trying to lift and were looking forward to some sunshine.

There was a big load of tools to carry into the work sites, plus about 20 more 4x6x5ft cedar planks, rebar and 8” spikes that still need to be carried in. We loaded up and trudged to the work site with the tools and materials. It took a half dozen round trips to get everything where it needed to be. Luckily, the worksite was just a third of a mile from our parking spot.

We all helped haul previously cut cedar logs to the puncheon site which would be used as mud sills and stringers. We then split into a puncheon and a step construction team. Both teams had to first remove the remaining burnt pieces of the structures. Some pieces were very reluctant to be extracted. We cut off any old pieces of rebar and spikes and carried them out at the end of the day.

Following lunch in the sunshine, both crews commenced site preparation for the puncheon and steps. Considerable effort was required to properly level and square each area before the start of construction. By day's end, the first step had been installed and all mud sills for the puncheon were in position. The rock chipping crew successfully beat back the rock wall and gained another 8” or so of tread width. A great job by all and we will be back next week to continue.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:

Tuesday Jan 20th - Step construction at Clark Creek
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/z2gl7

Thursday Jan 22nd - Puncheon construction at Clark Creek and logout plus tread work on Dolly Varden
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/lkfd5

01/10/2026

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

Thursday January 8th – Fourteen super volunteers helped kick off the 2026 season for the Scorpion Trail Crew at Clark Creek. We had a little bit of everything today including a beautiful dusting of white snow that created a sharp contrast to the charcoal blackened logs left over from the 2023 Bedrock Fire.

We split into two groups. One group of 7 started work near the Clark Organizational Camp. There was about 200 yards of trail paralleling the road into Clark Camp that still needed to be cleared of logs, brush and then tread restoration. This trail segment was invisible when we first started working here, completely swallowed by blackberry and raspberry vines. We spotted traces of it a week earlier while working the trail loop higher up and found the junction where it intersects the main trail. Clearing this segment eliminates the need to walk on the short road leading to Clark Camp. One barrier to clearing this segment was a big ugly 40” log right across the trail in a drainage with seemingly nowhere to go. It was uphill on both sides of the log. More on that later. Several in this crew also split off to harvest about 100 ft of cedar for use in rebuilding the burnt puncheon (low to the ground bridge).

The second crew of 7 drove a few minutes further up the road in Fall Creek to where a short spur trail intersects the main Clark trail loop from Fall Creek trail #3455. We had a truck and trailer overloaded with 4”x6”x10ft cedar planks that will be used to rebuild the burnt puncheon. First, we had to cut them in half and transport them roughly a third of a mile climbing about 200ft to the puncheon work site. Two of us worked on cutting the planks to 5ft lengths while the others started restoring the tread on the spur trail. Once we had a good stack of planks ready several crew members dropped their tread tools to start playing mule and haul the planks in. The weight of the planks varied considerably but were probably between 60-70lbs on average. We all took turns playing mule and by the early afternoon all the planks had made it at least partially to the worksite and the tread on the spur trail was restored.

Some of us returned earlier to the other group to help with the tread and the big ugly log but mostly to get a break from hauling deck planks. We started work on the log originally intending to just cut a big notch in it to make a stepover. But as we cut from both sides using a 32” bar the anticipated strong end bind due to the slope did not materialize. We decided to try and cut all the way through it. We cut a wide notch about 2/3rds of the way through the log wide enough for the power head of the saw to fit in. We then gradually nibbled our way through the bottom third of the log trying to avoid getting the bar stuck if the end bind reared its ugly head. We started feeling some strong pinching in the last 6” of wood. But gradually finally got through and the log dropped. Now that the log was severed, we cut several small rounds off the remainder so we could move them up and then off the trail. This was a two tank of gas log.

We all returned to the cars at about 2PM. The sun tried to poke out a few times during the day but never quite made it. We had a few light drizzles, and the dusting of snow that greeted us in the morning was gone by the end of the day. Thanks to the great crew, especially for those impersonating mules, for making this a great way to start the 2026 trail-work season.

Happy New Year and we hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project: Puncheon and step construction at Clark Creek - Thursday January 15th
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/1x0b4

01/03/2026

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

Tuesday December 30th – Another super crew of 11 Scorpions returned to Clark Creek trail #3456 for more post-fire trail recovery. This was our fourth trail workday there not counting scouting trips. With a large crew of 11 we made a great deal of progress and completed restoring every inch tread around the 1-mile loop. We also bucked up a few new logs that recently came down and identified a number of cedars that can be used in rebuilding the 21ft puncheon. The day started cold and foggy but that burned off by about 10:30 and we enjoyed a beautiful crisp sunny day. Next time we will start preparing to rebuild the fire destroyed puncheon and a series of 7-steps up a steep rise. There are also a few short trail spurs we still need to recover.

Wednesday December 31st - A large log that was very difficult to get around was reported down on Goodman Creek trail close to Eagles Rest Rd. After discussing it with the ranger it was decided we should quickly buck it up before a user trail gets established around the log on this trail. A Scorpion strike team of 2 headed up on New Years eve to deal with it. We drove up through very thick, cold valley fog but once we arrived at the Eagles Rest TH at 2600ft we were in bright sunshine. The log was less than a minute walk from the road. We got there to find it was buried under a huge pile of limbs and debris from neighboring trees it struck on its way down. It took over an hour just to clear our way into the it from both sides. The log was reported to be about 24” in diameter but was closer to 34” and it took some time to cut through it with our 20” bar. Once we got a segment bucked up we quickly realized we would have to cut it into smaller sections to move it off the trail. It was just too heavy and there was not enough slope to roll even with the log rails we carefully placed under it. After another 45 minutes of making saw dust and pushing the trail was clear once more.

These last two adventures will wrap up our 2025 trail work season. Notable achievements in 2025 include organizing 80 trail workdays, with participation from 75 unique volunteers who collectively contributed 5,242 hours of trail work to our National Forests. Altogether we worked 137 miles of trails including 45 miles in federally designated Wilderness Areas. We were also finally permitted to begin post-fire trail restoration in the Cedar Creek and Bedrock burn zones.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project: Clark Creek trail restoration - Thursday Jan 8th
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/u8bc2

12/24/2025

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

Tuesday December 23rd – A small but motivated crew of four Scorpions (Sig, Hal, Alex and Jean) continued work on post fire trail recovery at Clark Creek trail #3456. We had just completed logging the trail out the previous Tuesday but expected a new crop of logs to be down after last week’s wind event. When we arrived at the TH, Alex conducted a quick survey around the 1-mile loop trail to see how many new logs were down while the rest of us grabbed tread tools and continued working the tread. The tread is heavily overgrown with grass and vines. The trail was previously brushed so we could concentrate on scraping the organics off the tread to expose the mineral soil, repairing damaged sections and restoring a decent out slope for drainage. This is slow, tedious and hard work but the result is something that looks like a trail again.

Alex returned from his short survey hike and reported only 4 logs down over the trail. A tangled mess of 3 were just at the beginning and then another larger log about ¾ of a mile around the loop. Hal and Alex tackled the log tangle while Jean and I continued working the tread.

The weather was cool but dry until about 1:30PM when it started to drizzle. We got about another quarter mile of tread restored and Hal and Alex made the tangle mess of logs go away. We packed up and headed out around 2PM just as the heavier rain was starting. We will be back next week.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project: Fall Creek Trail Restoration - Tuesday Dec 30th
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/z1uqw

12/18/2025

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

Tuesday December 11th – A crew of 12 Scorpions continued post-fire restoration work on the Clark Creek trail #3456 in Fall Creek. A crew of 4 with two 32” bar chainsaws headed in to buck up 4 large logs we left from last week. The rest of us continued working restoring the tread. We were all lucky to have a beautiful sunny day for trail-work.

The logout crew got the remaining logs bucked up but it took most of the day since they were all large (up to 45”) and of moderate to high complexity mostly on steep slopes. The tread crew worked sections of the tread around the 1-mile loop. We widened, repaired or restored drainage structures and removed organics from the tread. We also took some time to measure the fire damaged puncheon, bridge and a series of steps that all need to be replaced.

By about 2:30PM we wrapped up and headed home. We will be back since there is still lots to do. I would like to thank the crew for great work as usual and extend a warm welcome to first time Scorpion Roy. We hope to see you again on the trail soon.

Saturday December 13th – A crew of 3 Scorpions joined forces with 6 others from the Camas and Salamander crew to continue work on the Rebel Creek trail #3323. The Camas crew has been spearheading a multi-year effort to restore this 11.5 mile loop trail (Rebel Creek 3323 and Rebel Rock 3324) which burned in the 2017 Rebel Fire. Tread work, brushing and of course logout was the theme of the day.
Two of us rattled our brains with the power brushers beating back the low growth (vines, ferns, Or Grape) to open up the trail corridor for the first 1 plus miles. Two forged ahead with a chain saw to buck up the new logs that were down in the first mile. The rest worked on widening and repairing the tread which was long overdue. It was a beautiful cool and dry day to be out on the trail.

Tuesday December 16th – Four new logs were reported down on a winter trail section of the PCT at Pengra Pass. The report said that these logs would be very difficult to get around on skis or snowshoes without 3-5ft of snow. A team of 3 Scorpions headed up on Tuesday to take advantage of still snow free roads to try and drive close to the logs from Gold Lake Sno-Park. We were able to drive directly to Pengra Pass and hiked east on the PCT to buck up the four logs all conveniently located within a half mile of where we parked. We were very lucky to have an unexpected dry and partly sunny day. The next morning the Willamette Pass road cameras showed fresh snow on the roads.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project:
Fall Creek Tread restoration - Tuesday December 23rd
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/85e4a

12/05/2025

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

Tuesday December 2nd – A crew of 9 Scorpions started post-fire restoration on the Clark Creek trail #3456 in Fall Creek. This trail severely burned in the Bedrock Fire in 2023. The trail is a short 1-mile nature loop starting and ending at Clark Organizational Camp on FR18. Although the trail is relatively short it took over 3-hours to scout it before the trail work day. Heavy post-fire brush growth and lots of large logs obscured the trail and made it very difficult to follow. Using an old GPS track we were able to mark the 1-mile trail with ribbons so it could be more easily followed.

We split into three work crews. A crew of 4 headed off with two 32” chainsaws to tackle the mostly large logs that littered the trail. Fortunately, all the logs were on the lower half mile of trail close to the road. But some were complex jackstraws that took quite a bit of time and thought to clear. A crew of 3 started brushing out the heavy blackberry and shrub growth. The final crew started recovering the tread which was overgrown with organics and damaged from burnt roots, root balls and slides.

By about 2:30PM the brushing crew completed almost a half mile of trail, the tread crew recovered about one third mile of tread and the logout crew bucked up about a dozen logs leaving 4 big ones for next time. We will be back at least two more times before we get the 1-mile loop completed.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next Week's Projects:
Thursday Dec 11th - Clark Creek brushing, logout and tread-work
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/2pxx8

Saturday Dec 13th - Rebel Creek-work and brushing
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/fvd3v

11/23/2025

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

Monday November 17th – A crew of 10 from Arclin Industries in Springfield joined 2-Scorpion leaders for a day of trail work on Fall Creek trail #3455. Arclin has been coming out with us two times a year for the last three years for some corporate giving. After a tailgate safety session at the TH we split up to form a brushing team and a tread work team. It was misting slightly as we started work but there was no wind and it was good temperature for working. Starting from the TH close to road 1821 we headed downstream. The brushing crew led the pack with 2-power brushers and two swampers with rakes to clear the cut debris. This trail was burned over by the Bedrock fire in 2023 and fire following growth like thimble berry, raspberry vines needed to be tamed. The brushers made it a little over a mile downstream.

The tread needed significant widening and organics removed. This is tough work, but the Arclin gang made it look easy. We skipped a few sections at the beginning so they could mostly work with a view of the beautiful Fall Creek with its deep pools and deep channeled basalt underwater channels. By about 2PM it started to drizzle a little more steadily and we called it a day.

I want to thank all the Arclin volunteers for joining us in our efforts to restore the Fall Creek trail. There is lots more to do here and we will be returning frequently over the winter months.

Thursday November 20th – Another large crew of 10 Scorpions returned to continue work on the Fall Creek trail. This time we started at the Dolly Varden TH. A brushing team of 2 (Brad and Jean) headed upstream with the power brusher to continue brushing from where the Nov 6th crew stopped. The rest of us with tread tools and loppers continued widening the trail tread and restoring drainage structures. We all made 1.7 miles upstream to where the trail is blocked by several logs with root balls on a very steep slope. You can climb up and around the blockage. We are waiting for USFS guidance on how to repair this section. The soil is very unstable and a reroute may be required. There is about a half mile left to work on the upstream side of the slide. We will get to that after Thanksgiving.

Friday November 21st – On Friday Doug, Mike N., Steve and Brad traveled up to the Marilyn Lakes trail in Mike's truck. Arriving at the trailhead around 9am it was a crispy 28 degrees with a light layer of snow. Steve and Brad started at the number 2 trailhead while Mike and Doug started at the Gold Lake trailhead. Both teams arrived at the trail junction about the same time and continued logging to the south end of the Marilyn Lakes. We managed to clear 28 trees from the trails making this winter smooth sailing for the skiers and snowshoers.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next Project: Fall Creek brushing, tread work and logout - Tuesday December 2nd
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/pxy53

11/15/2025

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

Thursday November 6th - A crew of 7 Scorpions started post Bedrock Fire trail restoration on the Fall Creek trail #3455. They started from the Dolly Varden TH on road 18 and worked on widening the tread and brushing for roughly a mile upstream. Big thanks to the crew for a great start. There is a lot more to be done and we plan on working on this trail through the winter months.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project: Fall Creek trail work continued - Thursday Nov 20th
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/enxs6

10/25/2025

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

Tuesday October 21st – A crew of 5 Scorpions (Sig, Brad, Brian R., Garrett and first time Scorpion Brian Mi.) headed up to start a logout of Grasshopper trail #3569 between Grasshopper Mt and the west TH at road 19-1927. The trail was scouted several weeks prior so we knew there were about 150 logs down on a 4-mile segment of the trail between Grasshopper MT and FR1927 TH. We drove up to the TH on FR1919 and hauled 2-chainsaws and associated gear 1.8 miles up the connector trail and across the meadow towards Grasshopper Mt climbing 1000ft before the fun began.

It was a beautiful crisp fall day with great visibility. It was about 40 degrees when we started hiking but the climb warmed us up quickly and we all shedded layers on the way up. Once we arrived at the first log we split into 2-chains saw teams and started making lots of noise and saw dust. The logs came one after another so each team would skip a half dozen or so we had room to work without constantly leap frogging each other. We got to enjoy some pretty great views of the Sisters, Broken Top, Bachelor Butte, and more. At about 2:30 we finished the day by cutting out a large argumentative log that was situated in a spot of the trail that made it difficult to move. We eventually convinced it to go away and started the hike back after bucking up about 60 logs in .6 miles. We will return on Thursday to continue work on this trail from the west end. Welcome to the crew Brin Mi.it was a pleasure to work with you.

Thursday October 23rd – A super crew of 12 Scorpions headed up to the west TH of Grasshopper on FR1917. We formed 2 chainsaw teams and 3 XC teams. The chainsaw teams hiked in a little over a mile and left the first 20 logs or so for the XC teams. We all proceeded to buck up logs as we climbed the trail about 1300 ft to the ridge. In the early afternoon the XC teams caught up with the noisy chainsaw teams. Fortunately, there were no unpleasant altercations between the XC and chainsaw fanatics. We continued cutting until about 2PM and then headed back after enjoying the views from the ridge.

We ended up clearing another 3 miles of the trail towards Grasshopper MT and bucked up about 70 logs. There remains about a half mile to logout before reaching the stopping point of Tuesdays crew. Those last 40 or so logs will be under snow after this weekend. A big thanks to both crews for some hard work and some great progress to clear this trail. Next year we will get it all done after the snow melts

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next Project: Fall Creek Trail restoration - Thursday November 6th
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/x22rm

10/17/2025

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

Thursday October 16th - A lovely fall day in the woods for eleven Scorpions. We arrived at Fingerboard Prairie TH to sunny clear skies and cool temps, great working weather! Plan was to finish up the last section of Deer Butte Trail (in the Mt. Washington Wilderness) from the TH up to jct with Benson Trail. With eleven folks, we had plenty of saw and brushing teams. Logs across the trail ended up being very light and we made it to the jct before lunch. We enjoyed our lunch with a view of beautiful Prince Lake. After lunch we took some extra time to do more brushing and work on an overhanging log that was long overdue for removal. It required three cuts in total to remove safely and ended up being a fun project. Great to have the last section of the trail finished just in time for the winter snow. Thanks to all for a great day!....Garrett

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:

Tuesday October 21st - Chainsaw logout of Grasshopper Trail
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/rwtrw

Thursday October 23rd - Chainsaw and XC logout of Grasshopper trail (continued)
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/emahp

Scorpions Trail Crew

01/23/2026

01/18/2026

01/17/2026

01/10/2026

01/03/2026

12/24/2025

12/18/2025

12/05/2025

11/23/2025

11/15/2025

10/25/2025

10/17/2025

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