YOU can make a difference. Volunteer for National Trails Day,® June 2!

Volunteers making a difference on National Trails Day 2011. Photo: Ray Lapine

Are you ready to make a difference and get some fresh air? Join DNR on June 2 and participate in a national movement to celebrate trails.

On National Trails Day,® formed by the American Hiking Society, you can celebrate trails and make a difference by volunteering with DNR and our partners at events across the state.

 

Where can YOU make a difference?
Check out one of our DNR-sponsored events: (events passed)

• Yacolt Burn State Forest – Maintain trails on the Cedar Creek Falls Trail
• Elbe Hills State Forest – Enhance horse trails and Sahara Creek Campground
• Middle Fork NRCA – Celebrate and listen to remarks by Commissioner Goldmark and Sally Jewell
• Mailbox Peak – Participate in new trail construction
• Bradley Bike Trails – Improve trails on the Olympic Peninsula
• Tiger Mountain State Forest – Break ground on new bike trails
• Blanchard Forest – Recover trails on the Lower Trailhead
• Capitol State Forest – Get dirty and install culverts on motorized trails
• Capitol State Forest – Lay gravel on new Equine Loop Trail

We’ll see you on the trails!

Volunteer events are happening all the time! Check out our volunteer calendar for a complete listing.

Volunteers, DNR staff rise to the occasion during big snowstorm in Elbe-Tahoma State Forests

Top: MTTA volunteer Tony Abruzzo helps visitors Evan Dengler and Shruti Pai find their way back to their car from the yurt. Photo: Rich Walter. Below: Visitors Bianca Maggio and Betsy Boyce at the upper Sno-Park. Photo: Joe Plotts.

As February came to an end and the lion of March roared in, record snowfall piled up and covered much of the state.

Just west of Mt. Rainier—in Elbe Hills and Tahoma State Forest—volunteers, a DNR staff member, visitors, and snow plows were put to the test when 4 feet of snow fell between Sunday, February 27 and Monday, February 28.

Visitors found themselves snowbound on Monday morning at the three ski huts managed by the all-volunteer Mount Tahoma Trails Association (MTTA). Many did not get back to civilization until Tuesday. And what started as a road-clearing and snow-plowing effort turned into a rescue mission to get to the huts and help the visitors find their way out to their cars.

Thanks to the hard work and diligence of six MTTA volunteers; the paid snow truck driver; and Nancy Barker, a recreation and volunteer coordinator with DNR; the visitors were able to get back safely and have some good stories to tell when they got home.