First WTA Work Day at Deep Lake--Summer 2013

After a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, coffee, and cinnamon toast washing the dishes, and getting our safety briefing, we all headed out just a few minutes from camp to our work site. It was two puncheons---bridges--that had rotten out and were dangerous to cross, especially for horsemen. They were along the meadow along with the outflow from Deep Lake. We also had a large log that was partially in the trail that had to be removed.

We began by sawing the large log to clear the trail so we could remove the rotten puncheon cross ties with their big spikes.

We are now removing the cross ties while still sawing the large log with Cathedral Rock looming in the background.

Ben is standing by the log where we nailed the removed spikes and we have almost finished removing the cross ties.

Terry and Ben are still sawing the log with our crew leader Kathy supervising to make sure all is safe. We are in a Wilderness area so we are not allowed to use chain saws or other motorized equipment.

Above is the second puncheon where we have removed the cross ties. This was enough work for our first workday.

Periodically we have thru-hikers who have started in Mexico and are on their way to Canada covering about 2,650 miles in 4 to 5 months. They always thank us for our work and many say that they have come across more volunteers in Washington than in Oregon and California combined. Go WTA!