Getting There

From I-5/Woodland, take Hwy 503 (Lewis River Road) to Cougar. When you get to Yale Park (and boat launch), go another 1.2 miles to NF-81. Drive north by Merrill Lake and continue past Kalama Horse Camp. Be on the lookout for a 90-deg right turn to stay on NF-81, otherwise you'll be on NF-8123 to Goat Marsh/Blue Lake Trailheads. The Red Rock Pass/Butte Camp Trailhead parking lot is on the left.

The Hike

Distance: 4.98 miles
Elevation Gain: 740 feet
Maximum Elevation: 3,601 feet

This was a trail work party with MSHI, Conservation Corps. The previous week we worked on the other side of NF-81 on the Upper Cinnamon Trail. We were supposed to work on the Lower section but the Backcountry Horsemen were up here for a week working on the burn area.

I expected to do tread and drain work but when I got there, Tom enlisted me to run the chainsaw to clear several trees from the the trail. He had chaps for me and Gail had earplugs and safety glasses. We had a loaner chainsaw from the USFS.

Alice helped carry it for a ways then we traded off. I think the official number was 7 trees but I think we only did 6. Whatever! It was great to get some trigger time, and I didn't get the bar pinched.

The first log was a small, brittle one on the ground. Each subsequent log was more complicated (lay, binds, diameter). The last one was only partially on the trail. Another person was hacking away at the end with an axe but still had some tree to remove for it was be off the trail.

We double-backed to help with the chainsaw. This log was bigger than the bar. We cut a billet off the downside end while the whole crew watched. Unfortunately, the larger section of the log rolled down onto the trail. Crap! It was towards the end of the work day but now we had an even larger obstructions to deal with.

Instead of choosing to saw this log in half, we opted to use muscle (boots & butts) to maneuver off the trail. We rocked and pivoted the log until we could finally roll it off the tread.

The hiked ended up being about 5 miles. I was glad to reach the cars and put the chainsaw down.