Most were new to trail work, but none to hard work. The most scenic is the trail from Iron Gate and to Cathedral Lakes. On the Boundary Trail, part of the Pacific Northwest Trail, Pasayten Wilderness, WA Both sides of the West Fork of the Pasayten River were reported to have tons of logs and the climb to Frosty Pass from the east was strewn with trees jumbled up like piles of pick-up sticks. I have a feeling that it’s going to be fabulous. Then Mother Nature announced other plans. Topographic trail map for hiking, mountain biking, backpacking, horseback riding, road biking and OHV riding. The Pasayten Wilderness is one of the largest wildernesses in the state of Washington and one of the largest in the contiguous United States. Most critical would be the site of their first projects. Pacific Crest Trail. There’s plenty of firewood, so you can have fire every night which is nice. If you’re interested in visiting the mine during a hike to Pasayten, you will find it about 1/2 mile West of the intersection of the Boundary Trail (#533) and Tungsten Creek Trail (#534). The taxi driver advised us to go to campgrounds if we ever hike out into the Pasayten Wilderness again as even the ones in remote areas are regularly checked by Forest Service employees. Beginning at the Irongate Trailhead west of Loomis, hikers will head west, covering some of the most spectacular features of the wilderness area until eventually turning into the Castle Pass Trail, and descending out of the Pasayten Wilderness. How PNTA and our partners battled blowdowns and years of wildfire damage to restore access to the Boundary Trail in the Pasayten Wilderness. If you are on boundary trail you might see a few people. See more ideas about Wilderness, Washington, Pacific northwest trail. Trail Riding Destination – Pasayten Wilderness. This trail is exceptionally beautiful and travels through the Pasayten Wilderness Area. The plan of work for the Association’s trail crew based in the Eastern Pasayten was simple and ambitious. Two special trail crews from opposite sides of the Cascades were assembled for the ambitious project. Add Your Trails. Help protect your wilderness by following wilderness regulations and using Leave No Trace principles. , 3 is an interesting candidate. After enduring some soggy hitches clearing the Pacific Northwest Trail in temperate rainforests west of the Cascade Crest, sweeping views and fair weather in the high Pasayten were a welcome reward. Eight long and rewarding days later, the crew began the long hike south toward the trailhead at Slate Pass.With Sawiel’s help, they had cleared 258 logs from the trail. This is a short backpacking trip my buddy Adam and I did in Washington's Pasayten Wilderness a few weeks ago in June, 2019. As published in The Northwest Horse Source – January 2017. Most were new to trail work, but none to hard work. Although it was summer, it didn’t feel like it in the Pasayten at 6,000 feet, and the crew was quickly tested by surprise snow flurries, biting cold weather, electrical storms, and crewmates struggling with personal challenges. it is high sierra-like country and makes its own weather. 2 sounds fun – but too similar to our WCT experience last year and probably not "epic" enough. It was obvious that significant resources would be needed to restore access and change the fate of this scenic highlight of the Pacific Northwest Trail. Time to study the maps and see if we can make a loop out of it. It takes real determination to overcome obstacles like these. It was an area of the Okanogan Highlands that the three high-school aged students from Tonasket were familiar with. Sedro-Woolley, Washington 98284. Once considered a rite of passage, only a third of students spend the summer break working today –. Others had drilled with their local JROTC chapters. Wilderness regulations require the work be done the old-fashioned way, with laborsome hand tools, like axes and antique crosscut saws. Over warm cups of tea, on a cold December day, Sir Hikes and I spread out a table-full of maps and went through a greatest hits of routes in the North Cascades and Olympics. After another trail side dinner we set off for the Pasayten Airstrip (built in 1930 but long since abandoned) unworried about navigation since the trail was evident enough. Photo by Michael Sawiel. , you can help us empower youth from gateway communities to protect trails. This is a short backpacking trip my buddy Adam and I did in Washington's Pasayten Wilderness a few weeks ago in June, 2019. Boundary Trail is located in Okanogan National Forest. Pasayten Wilderness : SummitPost.org : Climbing, hiking, mountaineering. January is here! Yet, it would take another week-long hitch to finish the job and gain the summit of Bunker Hill.“. Regardless of age or background, signing on for a season laboring on a backcountry trail crew can be an exciting and daunting proposition for anyone. No roads, only a handful of long, rugged trails reach it from the north and west. Between 1970 and 1976, extensive fieldwork was performed by Strickland and others, including early supporters along the PNT corridor who lent extensive knowledge of local trail systems to the effort. PNTA is proud to work with corporate partners to build a world-class experience for all who wander along the Pacific Northwest Trail. We had hoped to get to Tungsten Lake, but after 17 miles we needed to find a campsite and water plus it started to snow so we continued on to the Boundary Trail - Pasayten Wilderness Trail. Most of the mules were burdened with a pair of bear-proof aluminum panniers containing the crews’ food and kitchen equipment that tipped the scales at nearly 70 pounds. hey greg – thanks for the photo link… you just reminded me that i never posted my last pasayten trip – so just got that uploaded , Your email address will not be published. Track (7/3/20, 10:17:49AM) ★ ★ ★ ★ hunt.jim 5 months, 1 week ago . PNTA and our perennial partners formed a planning committee to coordinate efforts in the new year. Your email address will not be published. The late season fire had closed a special stretch of Trail 2000, shared by, Amber Deming, Lead Wilderness Ranger, with the, spent over thirty miles in the saddle helping to pack the crew’s gear and supplies to their worksite, and dedicated volunteers with the. , on their next hitch, PNTA crew leader Cat Sullivan moved her crew west of the PCT to focus on restoring the, Although the trail junction is not yet marked with the emblem of the young National Scenic Trail, from Holman Pass, the, It would take the crew three full hitches in the Western Pasayten to reach the end of their service area near, Their work wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of the. On the Boundary Trail, part of the Pacific Northwest Trail, Pasayten Wilderness, WA While its remoteness adds to the cost and difficulty of working on the Boundary Trail in the Pasayten Wilderness, compounding those challenges is a vanishingly short season interrupted by summer storms and regularly cut short by wildfire. Critical help also came from a new partner. The Pasayten Wilderness in Washington State spans 531,000 acres, skirts more than 50 miles of the Canadian border, and is one of the largest wilderness areas in the contiguous US. was particularly devastating, having burned 128,000 acres in the Wilderness – including 22 miles of the. there’s a ton there – i just flicked through the pictures in the diary – i can’t wait to read it in more depth. Unlike the morning hike up trail 477, the Boundary Trail 533 had many less blow downs and we were following horse trail and droppings that looked rather fresh. Studying maps, I mapped out a loop through the eastern Pasayten wilderness to Upper Cathedral Lake.. New fires ignited in the Wilderness including a blaze at Holman Pass that caused a closure of the PNT in the Wilderness for a second year in a row. The TrailsTrust was funded in 2016. Notes: Oroville to Chopaka Mountain Road: The Similkameen River valley is beautiful. If you’re interested in visiting the mine during a hike to Pasayten, you will find it about 1/2 mile West of the intersection of the Boundary Trail (#533) and Tungsten Creek Trail (#534). Working together, the PNTA and US Forest Service, Back Country Horsemen of Washington, Washington Trails Association and the Pacific Crest Trail Association hatched an ambitious plan to reopen over 200 miles of fire-damaged trails in unknown condition, and they hoped to do it in a single season. January is here! They set out to repair turnpike, fix trails braided with networks of cow paths and clear any downed trees they found along the way. Studying maps, I mapped out a loop through the eastern Pasayten wilderness to Upper Cathedral Lake.. And you can really make this trip as long as you want, there are so many connecting trails to explore, just make sure before you go to check in with a ranger station and ask about trail conditions. Boundary Trail (Washington State) Boundary Trail (Washington State) Trail Map Listings . SOLITUDE. Required fields are marked *. Some members of the high school-aged crew from the east side had bucked hay bales on farms in the. Much in the same way that downed trees create unique challenges for hikers, cutting each log requires special problem solving too. NOT the PCT or Wonderland. The defunct campsite, a semi-popular destination for hikers in the Pasayten Wilderness, is still located at the junction (6750’ elevation) of Tungsten Creek Trail #534 and Boundary Trail #533. On one hitch, their crew would have a little extra help with them, by way of a volunteer with first-hand knowledge of the PNT and its condition near the Pasayten River. The fireweed was in bloom, temperatures soared and the younger crew members had found their rhythm with the saw. In wilderness, visitors should always be prepared for rugged conditions and unexpected challenges. For a backpacker, each pile can present a gamble between taking the most direct route and risking a serious fall onto rocky terrain or sharp broken limbs below. Windy Peak, 8,334 feet elevation, Pasayten Wilderness, 17 miles NW of Loomis in Okanogan County, WA.Seven miles by Trail 342 (Horseshoe Basin), starting at Long Swamp Campground, Forest Road 39. The crew was camped near the Pasayten River and planned to inch their way toward the hilltop 3,000’ above. save. Discover (and save!) Performance crew members carry personal gear to their next backcountry campsite in the Pasayten Wilderness. We saw a spruce grouse in a tree next to the trail. I’ve linked below to a Gaia route for my trip. It was their third hitch of the season and this time they set up a spike camp about 15 miles north of Harts Pass. It became clear that this one to two-week backpacking trip along the U.S.-Canadian border has the potential to be the next John Muir Trail—the wilderness backpacking trip everyone wants to hike. I use the post-holiday period to start planning my summer trips. Will be doing the middle and West fork Pasayten areas this summer. The route began at Thirty Mile trailhead and went north along the Chewuch River. Take warm clothes, we hzve been snowed on many times in August, espceially the later part. 80 mi (129km) 4-8 days. Photo by Thomas Gingrich. The area around wooded Sky Pilot Pass had been in need of logout for some time. The next six miles of trail east of the Pasayten River was rumored to be so heavily blanketed in fallen trees that visitors and Rangers alike had needed to rely on GPS units to navigate through thick brush and tangled blow downs where the Boundary Trail used to be. And while they have played an important role in forest health, they have caused massive damage to trails; destroying fo… They set out to repair turnpike, fix trails braided with networks of cow paths and clear any downed trees they found along the way. Its way out in the wilderness, with Grizzlies and Gray Wolves, and best of all – mostly snow free (so we believe). Anywhere off that you might meet one or two, sometime we have seen no one for days, two the entire trip. Before logging out the Devils Ridge Trail: It took 8 carefully planned cuts for the crew to remove a large 4- foot-diameter tree from the trail above a set of switchbacks. But clearing out Bunker Hill by cutting over 150 trees in a single hitch was my proudest accomplishment of the season.”, It was their third hitch of the season and this time they set up a spike camp about 15 miles north of, The crew was working in concert with several partners to restore the damage caused by the, last year. Two special trail crews from opposite sides of the Cascades were assembled for the ambitious project. The previous summer, volunteers counted over 1,000 downed trees in the area. Overview More to come. They became adept at reading the forces bound up in the tangled logs — a critical skill for a wilderness sawyer. It’s the start of a new year of trail riding and adventures with our horses. Regardless of age or background, signing on for a season laboring on a backcountry trail crew can be an exciting and daunting proposition for anyone. Apologies in advance for the wall of text. We had trouble getting some detailed information about this area and I thought this might be helpful for someone later on. There were two big elevation gains, and no switchbacks. Although it was summer, it didn’t feel like it in the Pasayten at 6,000 feet, and the crew was quickly tested by surprise snow flurries, biting cold weather. compounding those challenges is a vanishingly short season interrupted by summer storms and regularly cut short by wildfire. You will be alone and navigationally confused at times. Good stuff, not for rookies. Between Castle and Holman Pass, the PNT shares thirteen unforgettable miles with the Pacific Crest Trail. Hiking the Boundary Trail is an adventure on many a hikers’ bucket list. Over the last 19 years, nine major fires have crawled across the Wilderness. Yet, it would take another week-long hitch to finish the job and gain the summit of Bunker Hill.“, “The long hikes into the Pasayten carrying a heavy pack and working in hot weather, sometimes with no shade, were very challenging. 100% Upvoted. https://picasaweb.google.com/106230331596852698077, How to Pack Ultralight for the West Coast Trail in under 10lbs, A section of the PCT in Northern California (JMT maybe). In late July, it sent trail crews and visitors alike scrambling to evacuate the area under a closure order and to abandon their carefully made plans for the season. A small tree might be simple to step over, but at waist height, larger logs become a more serious impediment. It just went up. View more maps of the Pacific Northwest Trail in the Pasayten Wilderness. You can go out Chewuck from this spot, might make a good loop for you. With 6-7 hrs drive from Seattle, travel time will whittle our trail time down a little. The Boundary Trail section of the PNT in Horseshoe Basin, Pasayten Wilderness The route was first conceived by Ron Strickland in 1970. Whether it was to be their first seasonal summer job or their last, it was bound to be an experience they would never forget. View a map of this area and more on Natural Atlas. On a PNTA Performance Trail Crew, they sign on to work up to 80 hours in a single hitch which begins when the crew piles into a work van and starts the long drive toward a distant trailhead. Having the, With Sawiel’s help, they had cleared 258 logs from the trail. We chose this trip due to a heavy snow-year in the Seattle area. View a map of this area and more on Natural Atlas. Pacific Northwest Trail; Boundary Trail - Pasayten; I hiked a section of the Pacific Northwest Trail westbound from Orovile, WA, to the Ross Lake Dam trailhead. Has anyone been in the Pasayten Wilderness/Boundary trail lately? This wilderness has a lot to offer and I hope to go back and explore more. For most of its length in the Wilderness, the PNT can only be reached by long footpaths running from trailheads at least a full day’s walk to the south. The trail spans the width of the Pasayten Wilderness and is part of the much larger Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail. While logging out the trail was their first charge, they accomplished a significant amount of tread and drainage repair while clearing over 400 trees from the trail. The Pasayten Wilderness is simply an outstanding playground filled with wild flowers, streams, cliff faces, wildlife, meadows, and views til the eye can see. The Pasayten Wilderness is one of the largest wildernesses in the state of Washington and one of the largest in the contiguous United States. Over the last 19 years, nine major fires have crawled across the Wilderness. Beginning at the Irongate Trailhead west of Loomis, runners will head west, covering some of the most spectacular features of the wilderness area until eventually turning into the Castle Pass Trail, and descending out of the Pasayten Wilderness. It would need to be an area that would melt out early, have running water, and be close to the parts of the trail in the worst condition. Green Trails maps are campfire fiction and suggestion of where the trail might be up there!! The trail spans the width of the Pasayten Wilderness and is part of the much larger Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail. We had hoped to get to Tungsten Lake, but after 17 miles we needed to find a campsite and water plus it started to snow so we continued on to the Boundary Trail - Pasayten Wilderness Trail. She had become a skillful crosscut sawyer, and the glue that held her crew together with a subtle sense of humor and stoic disposition. Length: 98.0 miles Difficulty: Very Difficult Overall rating: 10 Season: This trail is accessible July-September. Over 600 miles of trails access the Wilderness, and the PNT explores 95 miles of them. There are basucally four trailheads, Iron Gate, Chewuck, Bill Goat and Slate Peak. Brett – I hiked the Paysaten East to West during my thru-hike of the Pacific Northwest Trail last summer and I would highly recommend this wilderness area as a substitute for your Wonderland loop. What came as a surprise was tent camping — in snow. If you don't have a GPS unit, you can still access wilderness data on many smartphones. Overview More to come. efforts to restore trails the following year, , by late summer the PNT remained inaccessible to stock and all but the most ambitious and agile of hikers. or when wildfire or fall snowstorms pushed them out. We had hoped to get to Tungsten Lake, but after 17 miles we needed to find a campsite and water plus it started to snow so we continued on to the Boundary Trail - Pasayten Wilderness Trail. PNTA is a GuideStar gold-level participant, demonstrating our commitment to transparency. By mid-September PNTA Performance Crews alone had contributed nearly 6,000 hours of work towards maintaining the Pasayten Wilderness portion of the Pacific Northwest Trail. And while they have played an important role in forest health, they have caused massive damage to trails; destroying foot bridges, destabilizing slopes, and leaving hazardous holes along trails where fires burned hot enough to consume tree roots and other organic material beneath the forest floor. Like anyone traveling to the Boundary Trail in the Pasayten Wilderness, Michael Sawiel drove a long way just to reach the nearest trailhead. Download a Mapping App (select apps listed). Even a small gift can make a difference in the legacy of a young National Scenic Trail and in all the lives that it benefits. best. 6 Days on the Boundary Trail/ Pasayten Wilderness Washington. wow – your trip looks spectacular. I recently hiked the ~115-mile long Boundary Trail across the Pasayten wilderness in Washington. Specifically, the funds are for hiring and supplying seasonal forest service trail maintenance staff. We had trouble getting some detailed information about this area and I thought this might be helpful for someone later on. Lasting out the season is another feat altogether. Lead packer, Kurt Langlois with the US Forest Service-Methow Valley Ranger District leads a pack string across the Pasayten River carrying the crew’s tools and provisions for a ten day hitch. . hide. As published in The Northwest Horse Source – January 2017. On December 2nd, 2018, REI Co-op, awarded PNTA with a National Trails System Act Grant to support trail restoration in the Pasayten Wilderness. your own Pins on Pinterest It would need to be an area that would melt out early, have running water, and be close to the parts of the trail in the worst condition. Next, they planned their approach using access trails, like the, to support trail restoration in the Pasayten Wilderness. ... Boundary Trail goat pack ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ calvinlinder 5 months ago . Wilderness Connect's wilderness boundary data is widely-used by GIS professionals, so a search for wilderness will produce national, local and regional maps. There were tangles of trees just west of, The Association’s new Regional Coordinator, Sterling Collins-Hill sketched out the upcoming season for PNTA’s, Most critical would be the site of their first projects. On this hitch, it was Slate Pass. I use … Green Trails map #20 (Coleman Peak, WA) covers the area – the mine is in section B5 of the map. She had taken well to life in the backcountry, and trail work in general. ... 69.6 mi 112.1 km #5 Boundary Trail #533 (Pasayten Wilderness) Intermediate. Have seen wolf sign, no wolves. I didn't much care for cattle on the trail! DISTANCE (round-trip) DIFFICULTY. had already cleared 32 logs from the trail so that they could spend the week focusing on “dirt work,” restoring the tread damaged by the fire and winter’s toll. report. On his 2015 thru-hike, Michael “Flanders” Sawiel felt the effects that wildfire had on the Boundary Trail first hand. By Casey Fiedler . , the Association would be able to double the number of Performance Trail Crews based in the Wilderness the following year. Photo by Michael Sawiel. So far we have narrowed the search down to 3 candidates: 1 is challenged for us logistically at such short notice. Based on the opposite side of the Wilderness was a larger trail crew made up of Western Washington University students. This trail is exceptionally beautiful and travels through the Pasayten Wilderness Area. Photo by Thomas Gingrich. US Forest Service, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Five Projects That Made the PNT Even Better in 2020, Partnerships Restore the PNT at Park Butte, Guidance for Visiting the PNT in the 2020 Season, US Forest Service Accepting Applications for the PNNST Advisory Council. The Boundary Trail begins in the southeast corner of the Wilderness and meanders north and west for over 73 miles near the Canadian border to eventually join the Pacific Crest Trail. Sullivan discovered a massive fir had fallen lengthwise along the trail blocking the descent toward the surreal waters of Ross Lake, among dozens of other downed trees. And the views started to improve dramatically over the comparatively boring section since leaving Oroville. “I’ve led plenty of backcountry trips all over the country, but I’ve never worked anywhere it took two full days just to reach a worksite and set up camp.”. We saw a spruce grouse in a tree next to the trail. Some had never been apart from their families or cell service for so long. I have a feeling that it’s going to be fabulous. Back in June, the first Backcountry Response Team (BCRT) went straight to work along the Boundary Trail — the 80-mile traverse that serves as the backbone of the entire Pasayten Wilderness. The five person crew would spend the summer clearing as many logs as possible from a 75 mile stretch of the Boundary Trail. ALTERNATIVE TO. After a failed Pasayten trip with my brother in 2002, I've always wanted to go back, and he had just the trip to suggest: a ~60 mile lollipop up the Chewuch River to the Boundary Trail, east to Horseshoe Basin, then south over Windy Peak and back down to the Chewuch River. Sort by. A few months later, as larch needles turned shades of yellow gold and fell upon a fresh blanket of snow, the wildfires burning in the Wilderness finally went dead out. Your gift is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.