WENATCHEE — On Oct. 24, the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust’s trail project decommissioned the Gut Trail during a Make-a-Difference-Day project in the Sage Hills. The Gut Trail was an old PUD service road running below the powerlines in these hills. The road had a few steep pitches that, being positioned in the very bottom of a draw, became the main conduit for runoff during rain storms and/or snow melts.

Consequently, erosional ditches would form in the road and, if they weren’t fixed quickly (something that doesn’t happen in the Sage Hills because the area isn’t maintained as a a formal trail system by any lead agency), walkers and mountain bikers would trample new vegetation to the side, creating new paths beside the old road.

In short, the road was badly placed and not sustainable over the long-term. Well-placed trails should run across the sidehill of such a draw, not in the very bottom, allowing runoff to drain off the side of the trail rather than using the trail as a creekbed.

A new trail on the side slopes parallelling the Gut Trail had been built by a Land Trust trail party earlier in the year. Now, after rains had helped settle the dust of the new trail and had softened the compacted soil of the old trail, it was time to go to work.

The trail party consisted of folks ranging from 12 to 70 in age. A lead group used picks and shovels to dig up and turn over the compacted top soil.

Another crew following the diggers and pickers used rakes and McLeods to break-up the disturbed soil and smooth out the clumps.

A seed mix with native grasses and flowers was sprinkled over this corridor of prepared dirt.

Then biodegradable matting, used to anchor the soil and protect the seeds, was rolled over the corridor and staked into place.

Finally, dead sage branches and bushes were thrown over the old trail at both ends to make it obvious this segment of trail is no longer to be used.

Two hours after their arrival, this crew of 30 people had decommissioned 600 feet of old trail and buffed-out 600 feet of new trail. Many hands make for light work. Many hands also make dirty work fun.

Note: There will be a few trail users who won’t cooperate initially. Please resist yelling what you’re really thinking (e.g., ‘Hey you scum-dwelling Neanderthal, get your inconsiderate ash off that trail!’) and politely ask whether they knew that trail had been closed. Getting called on their behavior will get most derelicts using the new, sustainable trail.

Andy Dappen is content editor of WenatcheeOutdoors.org, where this article was first published.