Every year thousands of hikers traverse the Pacific Crest Trail near White Pass, one of the renowned trail’s most popular sections.
Stretching from south of the Goat Rocks to Chinook Pass, it features stunning mountain views and plenty of elevation gain, primarily in wilderness areas. But even though the surroundings make it feel remote, part of its appeal comes from its accessibility thanks to relatively easy inclines and a largely comfortable, non-technical pathway for day hikers, thru-hikers and everyone in between.
The responsibility for keeping it that way falls in part to the Pacific Crest Trail Association’s White Pass Chapter, one of the youngest of 16 chapters along the famous 2,650-mile trail from Southern California to the Canadian border. Each year the chapter organizes volunteers for trail maintenance such as clearing out hazardous logs, which group leader Steven Ghan said can be around 100 feet long and up to 36 inches in diameter, sometimes requiring an hour or more to remove.
Both Ghan and Dave Wilkes earned their sawyer certifications to operate saws and lead crews made up of volunteers who must go through first aid and CPR training paid for by the PCTA. Backpacking experience is needed for overnight trips, but no other requirements are necessary and Ghan said he’s seen volunteers ranging in age from high schoolers to people in their late 70s.
“The people who work the projects, I’ve yet to meet one that I didn’t call a friend,” said Wilkes, who lives in Yakima and has been hiking the Cascades since he moved to Washington 32 years ago. “The people who volunteer and do these works are just incredible.”
COVID restrictions nearly wiped out the White Pass chapter in recent years, but Wilkes said they’re trying to build back up and managed to put together three overnight logout trips this summer. Ghan led one from Chinook to White Pass in late July, joining four others to clear out 37 logs, a relatively low number for the annual four-day trek.
After a long first day they reached their campsite and could relax by 3 p.m. the next two days, but they still faced some challenges. Most notably, Ghan said all five volunteers needed to set up a pulley system and pitch in to remove an eight-inch diameter log that had fallen on a tree at a 45-degree angle 30 feet above the trail and another big log.
“We are very much aware of the danger to ourselves when we’re on a crew,” Ghan said. “The first thing we do is just look around to see if there are any dangerous situations like that.”
Wilkes said logout groups follow comprehensive safety protocols, including guidelines to always handle a saw with gloves and specific ways to carry tools. He advises against hikers without experience trying to remove logs on their own due to hidden dangers, such as springholes and branches below logs that can snap back with an “incredible amount of energy stored up.”
Wilderness regulations ban chainsaws, so crews operate two-person crosscut saws. Ghan said in certain situations they’re able to avoid making any cuts by simply rolling the logs safely down a hill.
PCTA staff mentored new project leader Jerry Peterson while he led a logout trip from July 18-21 and Andy Nguyen lead another four-day trip in the Goat Rocks South backcountry that started Aug. 30. Ghan said they’ll occasionally host one-day projects near White or Chinook Pass as well.
The White Pass Chapter works closely with 350 Blades, the chapter responsible for PCT maintenance from Chinook Pass to the northern end at Manning Park in British Columbia. Wilkes said many volunteers are hikers who want to give back, and he’s done other trail work in the Yakima area as a former member of the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy board and part of the group that created the William O. Douglas trail from Yakima to Mount Rainier.
He encourages hikers on the PCT to join if they can, and it’s always rewarding for Wilkes to hear the grateful remarks of everyone who sees the volunteers out working on the trail. Ghan, a retired climate scientist who lives in Richland and hiked the PCT in its entirety over two stretches in 2018 and 2021, said the group’s efforts to keep the trail in good shape remind him of what he learned as a Boy Scout growing up.
“You go in the woods and then you camp, you’re always taught to leave that camp at least as good as you found it,” Ghan said. “So there’s that idea to take care of the land.”
