Ahtanum ORV Trails Clean Up
Hosted by Eastern Washington Off Road with cooperation from the Department of Natural Resources.
Report by Clay Graham.
Photos by Clay Graham / CegPics.com & Laura Applegate (DNR Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator).
UPDATE: The part of the Blue Lake Trail we logged out has been closed due to Bull Trout in the area even though that part was not near any creek. You must use the new wide logging road the Ahtanum Irrigation District put in.
On Saturday July 28th we meet up at the Ahtanum Sno-park for the ORV trails clean-up we hosted with cooperation from the DNR.
We had 14 volunteers from Eastern Washington Off Road, mostly from the All Wheelers Off Road Club and 3 DNR employees helping on this clean-up.
After a briefing we split into groups and hit the trails. A few of us cleaned up the logging mess left on the Blue Lake 4×4 Trail in the Ahtanum Irrigation District section. We re-Green Dotted the trail. There were a few trees that had fallen across the first part of the trail that we moved. We had to add more Green Dot Markers because of all the skidder trails everywhere. People were going the wrong way.
Where the Blue Lake Trail merges onto 4W615 we reused two of the broken Green Dot markers and added one new one to show the way down toward the North Fork Road. At time point Fatboy and Laura heading off to clean-up Blue Lake. We headed back down the Ahtanum North Fork Road to go clean the trails on Whites Ridge.
As we came down the mountain we ran into some heavy traffic. Cows blocking the road.
We turned off the North Fork Ahtanum Road onto McLaine Canyon Road. That is where we started our Whites Ridge clean-up. We turned up the Whites Ridge 4×4 Trail and ran it to the top. We stopped at the Mount Rainier View Point for lunch and then headed back down Whites Ridge 4×4 Trail. Near the Make-out Hill Trail, Hercules and Monster replaced a Green Dot Marker. On the way down we reburied a few of the old markers people had broken off.
We meet back at camp around 5 PM. Hoss took a load of trash to the dumpster in he Bronco while 99 cooked burgers for the volunteers. The volunteers that stayed for dinner were happy.
We had a lot of fun cleaning up the trails. The volunteers put in 9 hours each and this helps with funding. Thank you for all that could help.
Here are some photos of Ahtanum ORV Trails Clean Up:
