This past Friday through Sunday, the Oregon Timber Trail Association (OTTA) hosted a Willamette Tier stewardship event in partnership with Salem Area Trail Alliance (SATA), Willamette National Forest and Cascade Volunteers. On a rugged section of the Old Cascade Crest trails along the spine of the Oregon Cascades, a group of 29 people and three dogs completed miles of benching and brushing, totaling over 400 hours and valued at $12,000! The terrain is steep and raw, through majestic old growth and high mountain lakes. These grades present their own challenge to keeping a trail open and enjoyable. Constant slough from the hillside above, growth from rhododendron and other vegetation on the sides, and erosion on the downward slope all conspire to narrow the trail significantly over the years. With steep exposure, maintaining a wide and well-graded trail is critical.

This past weekend, July 1st - 4th, the Oregon Timber Trail Alliance got back down to the Fremont National Forest to work with a group of volunteers to log 480 volunteer hours valued at $12,480. We worked primarily in the Bear Creek section, finishing a reroute that had been planned since last year. It was incredible to see the continuation of work that was begun at the first stewardship event in May. Also notable was the amount of trail that got cleaned, widened, and rebenched. The transformation that occurred in one afternoon of work was mind-blowing. As Michael Norris stated - “ I've been riding these trails for the past seven years and so much work has been done, and we can finally see the vision taking shape. This trail can be world-class!”

This past weekend, June 10th - 12th, the Oregon Timber Trail Alliance had a chance to get back down to Paisley to work with a small but mighty group of volunteers. The Avery Pass section of the Timber Trail was and still is in need of tread work and rehabilitation from the damage caused by the Brattain Fire of 2020.

Over the memorial day weekend we had an amazing group of volunteers show up from OR, WA, NV, and CA.This crew logged approximately 470 volunteer hours towards our RTP match. We still need about 200 hours, and should reach that goal with Watson #2 event. Nate Crabtree, our dedicated Forest Service representative brought Will and Nick. We were bucking out downed logs on a section of Bear Creek when the first thru riders of the Season rode up. Stacey Nieder and Tony Allen of Anchorage had braved many slippery miles on Crane Mountain and had been riding for six days by the time they met us. Volunteer Missy Simula came down from Seattle area, and she’ll also be attempting the OTT in a few weeks. We promised to stay in touch so we could learn about her ride as well. Mark Shafer, volunteer from Bend is looking to ride the whole trail in August. We’re inspired by everyone’s plans to ride and are working hard to provide detours throught the fire closures.

The trails we ride are built and maintained by real people, not trail fairies. When we join trail work parties, such as the Oregon Timber Trails Stewardship events, it deepens our connection to place and to the community of riders who use the trails. As the child of parents who run a mountain bike tour and shuttle company, my daughter has been taken along on trail work parties since she was little. Sometimes she enjoys the work more than other times, but over the years we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t.