I have been lucky this year to have hiked a lot of trails in the Robson Valley. During the hikes, one tends not to spend a lot of time thinking about how the trail got there and who takes care of them, but around here somebody has to. Just in the short trail near our house that Joan, Skye, and I hike every day, I am surprised at how often trees blow down across the trail and have to be cleared away. Late every spring I have to go down the trail with a lawn trimmer to keep the bushes from encroaching on the trail.
Last Thursday, I joined a small crew who cleared part of the Lower Goat River Trail. In the photo above you can see the heavy duty mower that was used to clear small brush from areas that were accessible. Someone always has to lug a chainsaw and gas along with them, up and down slopes and along kilometers of trails, to clear the trees that have blown over and blocked the trail. Other volunteers swing machete-like tools to clear the brush. All of this has to be done every few years or soon nature takes over and the trail becomes impassible.
The photo at the very bottom shows part of the work crew standing beside a big Douglas Fir tree along the trail.
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