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Backpack teams to fix Loowit trail’s remote trouble spots

By Al Thomas, Columbian Outdoors Reporter
Published: June 17, 2010, 12:00am

The Washington Trails Association plans to send five teams of backpackers to repair damage on remote stretches of the Loowit trail around Mount St. Helens this summer.

Ryan Ojerio, WTA regional coordinator, said the teams will work in four-day blocks from late June to mid-September.

Called Backcountry Response Teams, the crews will focus their effort on the southeast side of the peak between the junctions of the Loowit trail with June Lake trail No. 216B and Ape Canyon trail No. 234

Loowit trail No. 216 is a 30-mile loop around the mountain built in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It’s a spectacular route, but crosses many headwater washes and ravines through extremely unstable soil.

“Severe storms and flooding in 2006 damaged sections of the trail making it all but impassible in places,” Ojerio said.

The Gifford Pinchot National Forest has rerouted the trail around the worst washout, which was on the southwest side of Mount St. Helens between Sheep Canyon and Butte Camp.

But there are still bad stretches on the southeast portion of Loowit trail in the Muddy River vicinity.

Ojerio said the Backcountry Response Teams program has used experienced backpackers to service neglected trails since 2004.

“Volunteers pack in their own camping equipment, food and tools provided by WTA,” he said. “Such a model is ideal for restoring the Loowit trail where the sections most in need of restoration are three to four miles in and stock use for carrying provisions is prohibited.”

This year, WTA got a grant from the Forest Service to hire a full-time seasonal crew leader and to buy more tools and equipment.

The association also will have a youth Volunteer Vacation at June Lake, where 10 young people ages 14 to 18 will camp near the small lake and then work on the Loowit trail.

The WTA efforts are only part of the fixing up of the trails around Mount St. Helens this summer, the 30th anniversary of the big eruption.

The Washington Conservation Corps will be restoring the Loowit trail through the blast zone on the north side of Mount St. Helens and the Mount St. Helens Institute will host volunteer work parties on the trails feeding to Loowit.

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Columbian Outdoors Reporter