Hitch 5

Crew 1 – Bridger Teton national Forest

Sponsored by: USFS

Who likes fencing? Crew 1 does! They were busy completing a wild-life friendly buck and rail fence around Forest Park Campground near Alpine, WY.

Once they completed the fence, they maintained trail on Sheep Creek Trail. This trail work included water drainage mitigation, Rock path construction, log crossings, burm lowering, and trail widening.

During their education day the crew hiked WYoming Peak (most prominent peak in Wyoming Range), learned valuable knowledge about how to work for the Federal Government, and went to an abandoned guard station.

For their day off they went to Grand Teton National Park (pretty lame..) and hiked Jenny Lake loop.

All Said and done:

-6 miles of buck and rail fence built

-3.5 miles of trail maintained

Crew 2- Pole Mountain Recreation Area

Sponsored by: Wyoming Pathways

Everyone know trail work isn’t easy, but this crew put that notion to the test. They worked on re-routes on existing trails. This grueling work is painstaking slow due to the rocky nature of the area in which they were working. In addition to the re-routes, the majority of their work consisted of creating better drainage pathways for water.

For their education day, they received valuable knowledge of the USA job application process from Forest Service employees, and visited the art museum in Laramie.

Their day off included shredding the newly made trails on mountain bikes!

All said and done:

-1.5 miles of trail re-routed and maintained

Crew 3- Antelope Butte Mountain Recreation Area

Sponsored by: Antelope Butte Mountain Recreation Area

Crew 3 had an opportunity to do a little bit of everything on this hitch! Overall they aided in the opening of the highly sought after Antelope Butte Area in the Big Horn Mountains. They clear-cut ski runs, laid concrete, repaired old lift chairs, and other miscellaneous tasks.

Their education day included hiking around the Big Horn Mountains to Shell Falls, and learning about the multiple uses and the different stakeholders of the area.

On their day off they hiked to Porcupine Falls and enjoying the great trails of the area.

All said and done:

-Removed 90 Spruce trees

-Removed 125 Douglas Fir trees

-Dug out 5 Ski towers

-Poured 5 concrete pads

-Pounded 60 feet of rebar

Crew 4- Medicine Bow National Forest

Sponsored by: USFS

Have you ever walked miles with a chainsaw on your back? This crew got to experience it! Crew 4 spent their 10 day hitch clearing trails of fallen trees and removing hazardous trees. They started their work in the Snowy Range and finished up in the Sierra Madres. Pine, spruce, fir, aspen…. This crew  removed anything that shouldn’t have been there!

Their education day included learning about how to use a crosscut saw from a “C” level Forest Service employee, learning about the difference between “wilderness” and “non-wilderness”

Soaking up the hot springs, the crew enjoyed Saratoga on their day off.

All said and done:

-647 trees bucked and limbed

-36.4 miles of trail cleared

 

Veterans Trail Crew- Curt Gowdy State Park

Sponsored by: Wyoming State Parks

On the 10 day Hitch the VTC completed extensive rock work on Alberts Alley, Highline, and Stone Temple. The crew officially opened 2 reroutes on Alberts Alley, one on Stone Temple, and performed trail widening and retaining wall instillation in multiple sections of Highline.

The crew traveled to the North Crow Reservoir to swim, relax, and learn about the history of the reservoir for their education day.

Their day off included working on the trails. (They didn’t take a day off).

All said and done:

-Built 7 retaining walls

-Constructed 2 armored bank turns

-900 feet of new trail constructed

-3 sign posts installed

-DE-commissioned 2 trails

-Felled 6 Aspen trees