Trail work restores damage to Left Fork trail

By RICHARD SHAW contributing writer

Everyone in the area knows the Seeley Canyon fire devastated Huntington Canyon. The fire led to huge washouts and log jams along streams once the summer thundershowers hit.
Many campgrounds and hiking trails along an eight mile stretch of the canyon have been closed since the fire. Many of the trails and campgrounds are being rehabilitated for public use, and much of the work is being done by volunteers, some from the local area and others from far away places in the nation.
Each day that volunteers are available, the Manti LaSal National Forest personnel are working with these volunteers on various projects. One trail project was on the Left Fork of Huntington Canyon Trail.
Arriving around 8 a.m. volunteers who camped at the campground overnight were met by five students and a teacher from Emery School District for a day of hard work.
The volunteers at the campground were all part of an American Hiking Society program which draws interested parties from far and wide.
The American Hiking Society lauds these excursions as Volunteer Vacations, where people can sign up for a week to work on trails in many parts of the United States.
Some of those present had done the Volunteer Vacations before, for others their trip to Utah to work on trails was the first time. “I did one in north Georgia in May and loved it,” said Bernyce Pritchard who teaches nursing at a community college in Winston-Salem, N.C. as she trimmed bushes away from the trail. “This is beautiful here. After this my sister and I are going to rent a car and travel in Utah for a week.”
Her sister, who was also one of the volunteers was working not too far away on a pine tree that needed trimming so those riding horses would not be slapped in the face by the low hanging branches on the newly rerouted trail.
“Sure, take a photo of me,” said Jennifer Linaberry of Standardville, Va. as she worked with Michael Gast from Danville, Ill. “My husband can see the photo and know that I am doing something.”
The trail itself was about a six mile trail that led from the Left Fork of Huntington Creek campground to Miller’s Flat Road to the north. After the fire, and then the rainstorms later that summer the trail was washed out in some places, particularly in low lying areas. The crew that day was working about two miles into the trail. They, and others before them, had already accomplished a lot. But there was still a lot to do.
“See this rise, we will need to dig out the side of it to make a trail,” pointed out Broadbear as we neared the end of the area the crew was working on that day.
A rudimentary trail on the rise was in place, but the slant was great and one could have easily fallen off it.
“Our main concern is public safety when they use our trails,” said Broadbear.
In other places connections to various parts of the trails that were stranded by washouts were being worked on. At a place where the driving creek turns a corner in the canyon it looked like water and debris had just smashed a part of the existing structure that was there before.
“It looks like to me this part of the trail took a direct hit by something,” said Broadbear, pointing out a six by six that was partly missing.
Along the two miles of trail there were also places where the path was not washed out, but instead it was under water. The water in these places was backed up behind log jams, some of which consisted of hundreds of small and large trunks and branches. These massive log jams are a problem and will continue to be for many years.
“It’s interesting the fire actually hardens a lot of the wood and it doesn’t burn,” said Broadbear. “The logs in these jams will take many, many years to rot away.”
More logs continue to come down the stream causing even more blockage. In many places along the trail what used to be a small trickle of water coming down from the mountain above is now a torrent because there is little plant life to hold it back. What once was a little rut in the trail now needs to be filled with rocks and broken up so the erosion will no longer continue.
The volunteers and Forest Service personnel must fight a lot of battles in rebuilding a trail. The night before the rain had come down hard, but the damage had been insignificant. However the mud early in the day on some parts of the trail was sticky and slippery at the same time.
Toward the end of the work zone for the day Tricia Willson and Kaitlyn Gilson, both students from Emery County were working with shovels and rakes to make a trail where one was not existing before.
“Be sure you give it a slope downward so the water will run off the trail and not down the trail,” Broadbear told them. “If it runs down the trail it will cause erosion and damage it.”
As the morning progresses other volunteers work on various parts of the trail. Along a flatter part of the trail Robert Hofstee of Oklahoma City, Okla. works to make sure water doesn’t run down the trail and instead across it. A Colorado resident, Dave Crabbe works along with Jim Druetzler of Illinois, Joseph Stimpfl of Missouri and Terry Archibald to shore up and pack down the trail around a steep slope where some timbers have been placed. Stimpfl is a Professor and Department Chair of Anthropology at Webster University in St. Louis said, “I love the west and its mountains. I own property in Colorado and come out as much as I can.”
Along the way there are signs of the fire and its aftermath everywhere.
“Look at the washes coming down the mountain,” said Broadbear as he pointed across the stream. “Those were not there before the fire.”
The flumes coming down the side of hills have worn away the topsoil and taken it down to the bedrock in numerous places. When there are more storms it continues to eat away at the dirt and the vegetation.
However the black stands of tree skeletons poke up above hills of green. If some major storms can be avoided for a couple of years the foliage that is now growing will begin to anchor the soil.
As the morning wore on the work continued and will for many days to come. Whether the entire project will be completed this summer remains to be seen.
The use of volunteers is vital to maintaining national forest infrastructure. In the last decade the U.S. Forest Service has seen large budget cuts which has reduced the amount of work that can be done during the good weather months. This is demonstrated by the fact that not that many years ago crews like the one repairing the trail were largely made up of summer temporary employees.
The Forest Service also has a program to adopt ATV trails by enthusiasts of the machines.
“We ask that those that adopt a trail in our forest ride them at least twice a year,” said Broadbear. “Once in the spring after the snow is gone and once in the fall to get them ready for winter. We want them to move logs out of the way, pick up any trash and also make sure the trails are not being cut down by erosion. We want water to run off of trails, not down them.”
To volunteer for work in the Manti LaSal National Forest or to adopt an ATV trail contact the Forest Service office in Price at 435-637-2817