Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
WHERE IS THE TRAIL – The Cabinet Ranger District Trail Crew will be out clearing brush and performing tread work to get trails back in shape. Photos are of crew members sawing and performing tread work on Smeads Bench Trail #1077(left) and Loveland Trail #1070 after a 2015 windstorm. These are Class 3 trails and typically take two to four people one day to clear four miles, but due to heavy blowdown, it took four to five days to clear these trails.
Spring is here! It is time to trade in the snow boots and start lacing up those hiking boots. Cabinet Ranger District Recreation Forestry Technician Joel Sather is looking forward to a high mileage year clearing trails on the Cabinet District, ensuring access to the beloved Cabinet Mountains.
Sather has released the trail crew work plan for this summer. Current work designs, including brush clearing, light tread work, drainage and blowdown removal, call for tending 190 of the total 347 miles of trail on the Cabinet. "We start maintaining trails as soon as the snow leaves. Starting on south facing, lower elevation trails. If we meet our 190-mile target we go back to trails that need more work," he commented.
Sather is fortunate this year to have received additional funding from the burned areas of last summer as well as from Cabinet Mountain Wilderness. These dollars will result in two additional crewmembers. "These are one-year chunks of money, so the crew will most likely shrink next year," he stated.
The trail crew, mostly college students, will be comprised of two Wilderness Rangers (one part-time), one Trail Crew Foreman, one Assistant Trail Crew Foreman, three Crewmembers, one Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Backcountry Ranger and Community Outreach Coordinator (paid by Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness) and one Cabinet Resource Group Wilderness Ranger intern who works as a volunteer with living expenses paid through Cabinet Resource Group.
The Cabinet prioritizes trails on use; frequently used trails get more attention. "But we also keep an eye out for trouble spots, washouts, heavy blowdown, and try to head to those locations first," Sather addressed. "However, that is not always possible, our crew is not that big. We are a steep, brushy place with trees that blow over. Trail maintenance here, and to do it standard, takes a lot of work. Tread doesn't magically stay on the hillside," he said with a smile.
Work will continue through October, and plans include efforts at St. Paul Lake, Cub Creek, Chute Gulch, Black Peak, White Pine Ridge, Granite Creek, Trout Creek NRT, Trout Ridge, Robin Run, Minton Pass, West Fork Trout Creek, Sorrel Gulch, Kismet Creek, Water Hill, Cataract Creek, Moose Peak, Roe Gulch, 20 Odd Peak, Cabinet Fitness Trail, Swamp Creek, Buck Lake, Goat Ridge, Bear Paw, Wanless Lake, Engle, Engle Peak, Rock Lake, Devils Club, Berray Mountain, North Fork Bull River, Middle Fork Bull River, Dad Peak, Moran Basin, Big Eddy, Dry Creek, Berray Mountain West, Pillick Ridge, Overland Peak, Marten Creek Snowmobile Routes, Cabinet Ski Trail, Marten Creek Bay Overlook Trail and Bull River Campground Fishing Access.
Most of the trails being cleared this year are Class 3 classified trails, which are well maintained mostly on an annual or biannual schedule, have good condition tread with few obstacles such as blowdown and hanging limbs. Class 2 trails become a bit more "wild" and provide a "different experience" for the user, as they are on a three to five-year maintenance schedule. "They will be brushier, may have a few logs to hop over and/or duck under and the tread won't be perfect," Sather added. "We have 282 miles of Class 3 and 65 miles of Class 2 trails" on the district. "So, from those numbers, we do our best, given our crew size and budget, to provide bomber trails."
For more information on clearing schedules and updates contact Sather at (406) 827-3533.
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