Trail Carving on East Ridge

TRAILS: 2.25 hours: 10:00 AM to 12:15 PM

Finish-grading of East Ridge trail in North Side unit #5.

Carved and finish-graded 60 feet of the lower section of Eastern Ridge trail in North Side unit #2. Dug out stumps and rocks, shoveled dirt from high spots to low spots to create a smooth grade one to three feet wide. Maintained a fairly straight trajectory, occasionally diverting around or highlighting interesting features like bleached corkscrew roots and nurse logs. This trail showcases a lot of the wood “architecture” of this forest, both dead and alive.

The end result of carving and finish-grading East Ridge trail.

It can be challenging to find an attractive, natural-looking route for a trail, especially in steep and lumpy terrain. This section of the East Ridge trail had some nice wooden architecture on both sides to frame and direct the trail down the slope. I dug out most of the stumps and rocks to create a smooth grade, but sometimes a unique feature like this exposed corkscrew root is worth incorporating into the trail to pause the flow like a log in a stream.

Finish-graded East Ridge trail, looking uphill.

I stopped the carving at a point where the trail heads sharply uphill to the left (in the middle of the picture). I may re-route the trail on a more gentle grade, perhaps via a switchback up next to the  ancient cedar stump on the right. I don’t want to expend the effort and hack up the landscape until I have evaluated all the route options. The section I cleared was a “natural” route, pioneered by elk, so it made sense to turn it into a formal trail.