Allen's Story
By Forest Service Trail Crew Lead Allen Jircik
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Above - the 2021 trails crew loads up while preparing to hike out to Andrews Creek together, a rare occasion.
Below - Allen Jircik making the push towards the summit of Bunker Hill 
Colin Slade descends from one of the season’s better lunch spots, the summit of Bunker Hill.
Nick Monro and Dan the horse share a bowl of complete feed
Nick Monro alleviates bind
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During the 2021 season, having a second packer created more training opportunities for members of the trail crew.
This training has helped our crew to be an asset to the main packers and expedite the process. The first 8-day hitch was the annual effort to clear the Andrews Creek trail, one of the main arteries into the Pasayten. Colin Slade led a crew of five FS personnel and three Student Conservation Association interns through a record-breaking heat wave. The crew was met in the final days by a crew of 3 that had finishedLarch Creek and began logging out the top of Andrews Creek. The pack string arrived right as the two crews finished cutting the final log. The pack string supported the crew by bringing all our gear out from the Spanish Camp cabin. 
Haylee Darby, Connor Smith and Allen Jircik at Andrew’s Pass, excited to see the rest of the crew after logging out Larch Creek trail
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Crew member Nick Betz prepares for a challenging tree. This tree had to be cut with a two person saw used by a single crew member. The far side was unsafe for a second.
In mid-August, Colin Slade, Nick Betz, and AnnaMarie Rodenhausen went into the Pasayten Airstrip to support our partner organizations, the Pacific Northwest Trail Association (PNTA). While there, the FS crew worked with the PNTA on the boundary trail, reinstalled a handrail on a bridge that crosses the Pasayten River, and spent the last portion of the hitch clearing a section of the Tattoosh Buttes trail. It was a varied hitch deep in the Wilderness. Stock support when basing out of the Pasayten Airstrip is essential.
Free from the burden of 8 days worth of food and tools, our crew can easily make the 16-mile journey in a day. The stock support saves time forworking on these deep Pasayten trails and allows for a better diet while doing so. |
The following pay period Nick Monro and Allen Jircik returned to the Airstrip with four other crew members. The next day they advanced their camp to the bank of the Pasayten River to focus clearing a six-mile deferred section of the Boundary Trail between the river and the summit of Bunker Hill. This section is not maintained annually. Logging it out seemed like an ambitious goal, and the crew was elated to accomplish this goal and summit Bunker Hill.
There were members of the MVRD crew who had been on the district for three seasons but had never been to this part of the Pasayten. |
Thank you as always for your generous gift to the MVRD trails program. It funded six employees for 64.56 field days this season. Combined with our RCO grants and appropriated dollars, the Dianne and Joe Hofbeck Pasayten Wilderness Trails Trust helped maintain access to special places in the Pasayten Wilderness for all to enjoy.