Stewardship - Church Creek–Satsop Lakes

Participants can carpool, meeting at 7:00 am at Haggen's, West Olympia, or, if coming from the north, at the fish hatchery parking lot on Skokomish Valley Road near US 101 at 7:30.  Driving distance is about 25 miles from Haggens to the fish hatchery, and about another 25 miles from there to the trailhead at the end of Forest Road 2361-600.  Details will be emailed to registered participants a few days before hike.   No pass or fee is required for parking at this trailhead.  Trailhead parking is limited, and good ground clearance is needed.  For info on good carpooling practices and how to contact other participants for carpooling, please see this Mountaineers article on "Carpooling and Mountaineers Activities/Courses": https://www.mountaineers.org/blog/how-to-opt-in-for-carpooling

Regina Robinson and Mike Forsyth led stewardship trips on this trail last September and on June 1 this year.  This time, we plan to continue some of the work we started on our June 1st National Trails Day project. We will be hiking from the east end trailhead, starting at 1,870' elevation. It's about two miles to the top of the divide, with about 1,380' elevation gain.  The topography is rugged, but made manageable by a series of well-designed and constructed switchbacks, with the trail overlooking near-vertical drops into the Church Creek gorge. The middle part of the trail passes through open areas with berries and wildflowers in season, and then a small alpine meadow by a dramatic rock face. The upper section continues from there to the top of the divide on switchbacks through forest. 

Our high-priority work is in the upper section, working on rebuilding a switchback turn in the trail at a little over 3,000' elevation.  That will involve crosscut saw work on fallen logs, setting some curb logs and retaining wall, and digging some drainage and moving some dirt and rock fill.  There are a few other saw jobs which might be done after the cuts are made for the switchback project.  If we have enough crew, we will have one or more teams working with loppers, corona saws and grub hoes or Pulaskis, brushing and re-benching the trail in the upper and middle sections.  We will probably have one brushing and re-benching team doing moderate work and about half the distance and elevation compared to the rest.  We may cache some tools at the upper worksite to make for an easier morning commute Sunday.

We will be car-camping near the trailhead, so we can indulge in some luxury in a convivial camp-out on the first full weekend of Fall.  Sunday we expect to finish the switchback turn project, do re-benching and brushing as time allows, and leave the trailhead by 3:30 and return to Haggens by 5:00 pm.

We will be looking for assistant leaders for the brushing-re-benching teams, the saw team, and a Sunday day-tripping assistant leader to meet other day-trippers at Haggens Sunday morning and organize the caravan to the trailhead and the hike up the trail to meet the camping crew on the trail. If you are interested, please register as a "participant" and let the leaders know what you would like to do.  We will adjust the roster as needed.  For more information, please email Mike Forsyth at <adktripper@earthlink.net> and/or Regina Robinson at <reginaprobinson@yahoo.com>.

CAUTION: There is an active nest of ground bees or yellow jackets next to this trail in the upper section. If you are allergic, bring your epi-pen. Please let one of the leaders know if you have an insect sting or other potentially serious allergy or a medical condition which might become an issue during the trip. In general, if you have a medical condition for which you wear a medic-alert bracelet, you should inform one of the leaders or the designated first aid lead before leaving the trailhead.