Pinchot Trail Care

by Jeff Mitchell

KTA’s Trail Care returned to the Pinchot Trail, in Pinchot State Forest, on August 3-5 to continue its work on this fairly popular 26-mile loop. Wanda Shirk, Tony Robbins, Ben Auer, Tom Bastian, Dave Walp, and I worked on this Trail Care. Together we brushcut about 4 miles, lopped much of the trail, and cleared blowdowns on about 6 miles of the Pinchot and Choke Creek Nature Trails. A total of 99 hours of volunteer work was performed.
 
Brush continues to be an issue on parts of the trail and will be a focus at future Trail Care events.
 
As usual, the Pinchot State Forest staff was friendly and hospitable, providing firewood and even coffee. They really appreciated our help. Pinchot State Forest is very trail-friendly, and its staff is looking to improve hiking opportunities.
 
I saw several backpackers on the trail. While working on Sunday, a man and his young son passed us and thanked us for our work. The father said they had a great time camping at Painter Creek the night before and were happy they had the place to themselves. I could tell he really appreciated both the experience and the trail.