V.I.P. Crew kills it

Vulcan Lake, where the VIP crew camped for their last night. 

10 September 2013 | Ashland, OR -- Last week a crew of five were busy recovering sections of the Trans-Kalmiopsis Route between Vulcan Lake and Box Canyon Creek. Work got thick near Johnson Butte, about 5.5-miles from the trailhead near where the crew camped.

After 

Before on Johnson Butte Trail No 1110

We ran right into the same sections of trail that were jackstrawed and cleared in 2011, where there are still huge stands of snags killed by the 2002 Biscuit Fire. While it's frustrating to be re-working the same sections, we can't imagine what things would look like if we hadn't started this project when we did.

The crew worked on the trail two long days and cleared over a mile of trail that was going to be lost under brush and windfall. They hiked out Thursday and spent that night at Vulcan Lake.

This section of the Trans-Kalmiopsis Route contains huge Kalmiopsis leachiana botanical areas, rocky ridgetops and views out of this world.

Good news: It looks like the rate of seasonal windfall in these threatened sections is slowing down, which means our goal of having the route to standard by 2020 is possible, especially with some good news we're going to release in our Summer Round Up Trip Report coming October 1.

This was a VIP trip made up of repeat volunteers who were invited.

More pictures from the trip.