Phelix Creek Trail Construction
In July 2007 the VOC received permission to build a proper trail up to the Brian Waddington Hut.
Workhikes Completed
Jan 27-28:
- Message Board
- Gallery:
A scouting mission. A small VOC party skiied up with lots of flagging tape to get the route "just right" for skiis. Fun was had skiing around the hut afterwards.
June 23-24:
- Message Board
- Wiki
- Gallery:
Another scouting mission. A slightly larger VOC party went up to determine which areas would be highly disastrous and wet during spring runoff conditions. It was discovered that there is alot of slide alder on the West side of Phelix creek in the open, lots of huge blowdowns everywhere in the forest, and snow remaining on the ground starting at the third major slide path.
July 21-22:
A brushing mission. 12 VOCers with 5 pruners, 6 bow saws, an axe and 2 chainsaws did a lot of work. The first two slide paths are now totally brushed out, and the first blow down area cleaned up. The third slide alder path is mostly complete, with some chainsaw work remaining. The forest after this point was intermittently cleared to the first switchback. Finally a large section of blow down / brush was cleared in between the first and second switchbacks, except for an unavoidable boggy patch.
At the hut, a temporary bridge across the creek beside the hut was fashioned by laying down blow downs carried to the site and lashing them together with steel cable. Also, the poop shoot in the outhouse was re-aligned.
Remaining work includes planning and clearing the first and second switchbacks, figuring out what to do with the boggy section, and clearing the long stretch up from the second switchback to the snow line. We must wait and see what lies under the snow after this point to make further decisions. The bridge should also be made more permanent by bolting the logs to the rock, and adding expanded steel sheet or metal lath for traction.
July 28-29:
- Message Board
- Gallery:
A solo mission. Christian carried up the hardware for the bridge, and installed it. The two logs from last weekend are bolted directly to the boulders on either side of the river, and expanded metal lath added for traction. The second switchbacks were also flagged out, avoiding the wet and swampy areas.
August 4,5,6:
Part 2 of the brushing mission. Saturday We set the route on the first switchback section and the bench, then bushed it out and started brush clearing on the second switchback section where Christian had previously flagged it. Several non-VOC people found there way up the trail and helped out with the clearing work when they reached the front line. Monday saw the completion of route setting and flagging on the second switchback section and brushing out most of the second switchback section. Brushing is now completed continuously from the start of the trail to just above the upper boulder field at 1600m. The remaining trail from that point to the lake has been flagged in detail.
Oct 6-7:
- Message Board
- Gallery:
Not really a workhike, more of a regular trip and recon, but some clipping was done. Found 5" of snow at the uncompleted section of the new trail. Also noted some minor issues with the hut (door, broom, mice). Weather was terrible, but the rain on Sunday did start to melt the pesky snow.
October 20-21:
A big crew of 27 made huge progress on the trail:
Clearing and Brushing complete to the east end of Long Lake despite having to shovel snow off the trail to do this work. Lower down on the trail, 9 or 10 switchback corners were graded and one built with wooden steps. A bridge and a boardwalk section were built past the 3rd avalanche path the and remaining deadfall across the entire trail was cut and cleared. Several rocks that obstructed the trail were removed from the ground, and one set of rock steps was built.
Only moderate work remains to be done - some more rebar carried in, some expanded sheet installed, and a little bit of trail treadway grading for the upper section. The trail is basically complete at this point. Signage and markers must also be installed.
- Message Board
- Wiki
- Gallery:
November 17-18:
4 VOCers skied up at the hut, raising the flags above the new snow en route. This will have to be done a few times over the winter until the markers can be hung at high-snow towards the end of the season.
Of note (aside from the sweet powder at the hut) is the large amount of new deadfall knocked over the trail during the Remembrance Day weekend storms, particularly in the first forested section.
The single log bridge after the 3rd slide path area was impossible to ski across because it was too narrow. We were able to step across the stream fairly easily just uphill despite the very thin snowpack. Regardless, widening this bridge from 1 log to 3 would be ideal.
December 27 - January 1
Raised flags on the ski in to the hut on December 27th. Comments below:
- Slide alder at the north end of the first avalanche path not cleared wide enough
- Slide alter at the first switchback (in the second slide path) makes skiing up tricky. Need to cut it back more on the uphill side of the trail.
- Many places in the forest could use some high branch pruning.
- Just south of the small bridge there is a leaning snag that is difficult to ski around. It will get worse before it gets better as the snowpack gets deeper.
- The stream crossing at the small bridge was fine, as the entire creek was bridged by snow.
- A couple of the switchbacks are easier to negotiate on skis if you stretch them out beyond where the summer hiking trail normally goes.
- Just before the traverse below the rock slab (below the boulder field area) the trail goes steeply between two tightly spaced trees. This is impossible to ascend on skis. However, it's possible to ski below both the big trees and traverse across snow covered boulders and regain the trail further right. However there's a smallish conifer tree in the way here that could be cut down to make things much easier.
- On the short switchbacks beside the boulder field, there was at least one leaning tree that got in the way. In summer it's on the uphill side of the trail but the weight of snow pushed it downhill to the point where it's really in the way. A slightly wider clearing width through this section would help, with special attention to trees that are small enough to get pushed over by snow.