This backpack trip was just for doing trail work on the Powderhorn Trail, to make up for two aborted or shortened trail work trips earlier this year. And I completed the trail! Yay!

There is a real pleasure to walking a well-maintained trail.

Of course trail work is never really complete. While doing trail work, things are growing, and dying, and falling. The upper section of the trail is noticeably needing brushing and removing conifer encroachment, developing in the time since I worked that section.

I was curious about my history with the trail, so looked back at earlier posts.

• 2009: The trail was logged out by the Forest Service. This is the last time the FS worked on this trail, 15 years ago, so far as I know. All of the older, rotted and aged and often large down trees, were cut at this time. I don’t know if any other work was done at the time.
• 2010-2017?: A horse group rode in every year to Big Spring Meadow for a long camp. On their way in, they cut enough of the trees to keep the trail open and useable. I don’t know whether their plans changed or they gave up on the trail and went elsewhere.
• 2018: My first trail work, spot brushing and removing conifer sprouts (mostly red fir) that were closing in on the trail.
• 2021: My first focus on Powderhorn, including marking the location of down trees. At that time I was still hoping that the Forest Service would log out the trail again, and so relayed to them the size, nature, and location of the trees. Though they thanked me for this year, they ignored later submissions, so I stopped sending them.
• 2022: Continuing work on the trail, mostly the upper third.
• 2023: Continuing work on the trail, mostly the lower third.
• 2024: Continuing work on the trail, mostly the middle third.

I recently bought a new trail tool, a Silky Big Boy 2000 15-inch folding saw, to replace my Fiskars 10-inch folding saw. What a difference! The length has allowed me to cut many smaller down trees that I had always had to ignore before. The saw easily cuts 9-inch logs, and at a stretch 12-inch logs, though 12 inches is slow going. Radius SQUARED really makes a difference. And being new, the saw is sharp and cuts well on the pull stroke (it is designed to cut on the pull and won’t work pushing). There were quite a number of new down trees this year over last year, but with cutting the smaller stuff, the overall number of down trees is now less than last year. For those wanting to know the details, my GaiaGPS folder ‘down-tree‘ shows all of them on the Powderhorn Trail.

If you like the Powderhorn Trail, or have been thinking about going there, now is the time! By next year there will be new down trees. About half the red fir trees are dead, though it varies from nearly all to very few. Of course there are abundant sprouts crowding the trail. Some of these will die and become what I call spars (similar to snags, but I use snags for large standing dead trees) and lean into the trail, ready to snag your clothes or skin. A significant percentage of young red firs develop a lean, hanging into the trail. I call them leaners. The standing dead have prominent white mushroom bodies all over the trunks, so they are already rotting while standing, and will fall. It used to take a high wind year with saturated soils to being down trees, but they are now falling year-round.

One of the down trees far too large for me to cut, I worked on the approach to the tree so that people could climb over or slide under. This red fir has the most dense wood I’ve ever experienced. A five-foot cut section of branch was so heavy I could hardly lift it. This must have been a very old and very slow growing tree. I’m unsure whether it died and fell, or was knocked down by another tree.

The trail has at least two down trees that cannot be passed by horses, so it must be considered closed and dangerous to equestrians. One is the slide-under tree, where backpackers can slide under the down tree. I had roughed out a bypass two years ago, but a new tree fell directly on the bypass, closing it. Another down tree would be a challenge to all but very trail-wise horses, and there is no bypass.

Sometime earlier this summer, someone rode a dirt bike into the wilderness and about a mile down the trail before giving up at a large down tree with no bypass. That person did quite a bit of trail damage and left ruts that will erode next spring. The power of internal combustion engines causes brain damage and immorality.

Five Lakes Creek is flowing but noticeable low. Same for Powderhorn Creek. The creeklet that crosses the trail is barely flowing and may be dry soon.

I have often done a trail condition survey trip early in the summer, but did not do so this year, so know nothing about trail conditions except the PCT, good condition, Whiskey Creek Trail, good condition, Five Lakes Trail, good condition, and Five Lakes Creek Trail, horrible condition. I may get to the other trails on my next trip.

Photos on Flickr:

• album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720319724601
• Granite Chief Wilderness Collection: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/