[pct-l] Help out the trail - Western Washington folks

[Barry Teschlog]

Here's your chance to meet with the PCTA's Bob Woods and Jennifer Tripp (North Cascades Regional Rep and Trail Operations Manager, respectively) and some of the key volunteers of the North 350 Blades, the local volunteer chapter, and find out about getting involved in taking care of the trail.


Join us in Everett:        Monday, April 28th      6:00 pm     Everett Main Library Auditorium - 2702 Hoyt Avenue, Everett, WA 98201 
 
Join us in Tacoma:
Tuesday, April 29th      6:00 pm     South Tacoma Branch Library - 3411 South 56th Street Tacoma, WA 98409 
 
Join us in Seattle:Wednesday, April 30th6:30 pm     Seattle REI Flagship store - 222 Yale Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109

In addition to these events, the volunteer trail crew, the North 350 Blades, will be having our spring kick off / social on May 10th at Woodland Park in Seattle from 3-6PM at Shelter 5.  For this one, e-mail the Blades at North350Blades at gmail.com to let us know you're coming so we can bring the right amount of snacks and beverages.
Location Map of Shelter 5:
http://www.seattle.gov/parks/_images/maps/picnics/Woodland4-7.pdf

The Blades chapter was founded in 2010 when we held our first work party at Olallie Meadows, about 4.5 miles south of Snoqualmie Pass.  From the approximately 400 hours the crew put in during the 2010 season, we've grown to over 2000 hours in 2013 and worked between White Pass (Highway 12) in the south and Stevens Pass (Highway 2) in the north that year.  We can easily put another 1,000 hours a year of volunteer time
 to good use, we don't lack meaningful projects - we'd like it to be you on the crew with us.  All experience levels are welcome and there is never any cost to the volunteer.  Safety, fun and work, in that order, are the priorities.  Many of our volunteers have thru hiked, while others have, or are working on, section hiking the trail.

We'll have horse pack supported back country trips, multi day car camp trips, single day projects, and self supported back pack trips available this season, so there's something for everyone's level of commitment.  All fitness levels are welcome - we have some projects that start right at a road crossing and have light work, while others will have us hiking with a full back pack kit for 5 miles a day, multiple days, doing heavy tread work as we go.  We'll log out with chain and crosscut saws, brush with power saws and by hand, fix tread and repair and replace some structures (and possibly cut some new / reroute tread as well).  

We're also starting a Steward / Adopter
 program this year so if you'd like to have your own piece of the trail to take care of, come out to one of the meetings and find out what it's all about.

Barry