Early Season Trail Work

You'll find a lot more issues on the trail early in the season. The trail crew don't have the time/manpower to cover all the trails right off the bat, so they tend to focus on the ones with the most traffic.

And if you've taken our advice over the years, you'll often choose trails that are less popular--and consequently less likely to get an early season trail crew.

So yes, you'll end up climbing over some downed trees, maybe facing a rock slide that crosses the trail. Maybe you'll find a trail so overgrown that it's hard to follow, or a shortcut that's now eroded into a serious issue. It's all part of getting out there early and going boldly,...etc.

But here's something you can do about it. If you are using a GPS or mapping system, take a screen shot of your location when you find the problem. Then take a photo of the problem. You know have a valuable tool that you can share with your local USFS office.

If you send that info to the local US Forest office, they'll add that to the work calendar for the year, and get it on the schedule, so that later hikers will find the trail clear.

It's what we do as volunteers, and there's no reason you shouldn't do the same. Our have tons of work to do. This is one thing you can do to help them.