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Jim Denton, KTC works committee chair, led an enthusiastic work party of eight KTC members to create pedestrian bypasses around two gates just north of Pitt. The gates and many illegal signs had been put in by a nearby land owner last year. State Parks staff removed the signs, but the gates still were a barrier to people using the trail. Sometimes, for instance, the south gate was unlocked but looked locked, so presented a psychological barrier. But at other times it actually was locked. When Jim Denton looked at it a week or so before the work party, it was locked and the only way to access the trail was to climb over the gate. Locked gates across the trail with no way around obviously are not acceptable. On the other hand we did not want to remove the gates, because gates are in fact very useful in those two locations to prevent illegal vehicle access and trashing. This
was the area where the abandoned car, two engine blocks, and much other debris were removed by a KTC work party last winter. Starting long before the time of KTC, people had been driving into this area and using it as an illegal dumping ground. KTC and State Parks were planning to put up locked gates in these locations, but the nearby land owner did it first. So we simply made openings in the fences next to the gates for people to walk or take their bikes around the gates, and now the gates can hopefully be kept locked to prevent more large scale trash dumping. We also picked up trash from the Pitt trailhead north a half mile.
Thank you, Andy Kallinen, head ranger at Columbia Hills State Park, for being with us. And much thanks to all of you who turned out for another great workparty! |
