Celebrate Hiking Trails

SEATTLE, WA – Thousands of people will take to Washington’s trails in celebration of the 16^th annual National Trails Day on Saturday, June 7^th.

National Trails Day, organized every year by the American Hiking Society, is the largest trail celebration in the U.S. and boasts more than 1,000 locally organized events in all fifty states, involving nearly a million trail enthusiasts across the country.

Each year, local groups like Washington Trails Association are a key part of this nation-wide celebration of trails. You can be a part of it, too, by venturing out on one of your local hiking trails on National Trails Day. The theme for this year’s program, Join Us on the Trail, is an open invitation to all people to get outside and experience everything the great outdoors has to offer.

Washington Trails Association hosts eight trail work parties for outdoor lovers to experience trails in a new way this National Trails Day—by repairing winter storm damage and preparing trails for hikers this summer.

“National Trails Day is a wonderful opportunity for people to connect with their public lands. It helps us celebrate together the great experiences our outdoors give us,” said Lauren Braden, Communications Director for Washington Trails Association. “Grab your backpack and take a hike to one of our national forest trails. Or sign up for a trail crew, grab a shovel and spend a day giving back to our trails by volunteering for trail maintenance.”
 

Here are eight great opportunities to experience your outdoors this National Trails Day, hosted by Washington Trails Association. No experience is necessary. All work parties begin at 8:30am and end at 3:30pm, unless otherwise noted. Sign up at www.wta.org or call (206) 625-1367. Volunteers should bring their lunch and water, work gloves and wear sturdy shoes. Tools, hardhats and training provided.

South Fork of the Skokomish Trail, Olympic Peninsula. It is this trail's 101 birthday, but we hope a little maintenance will keep it looking even younger.

Silver Star Mount St. Helens Nat'l Volcanic Monument. If you're looking for a place to spend your weekend, this is well worth the drive. We'll have several options of trails to work on in this area. Bring a tent and work both days!

"Take-A-Hike" Trail Survey in the Mount Adams District. If you'd prefer to hike your favorite trail and collect important data on its' condition for the district, this is the event for you!

Horseshoe Bend in the Mount Baker District. A great early season trail for this district, we'll work on maintaining this short trail near Glacier.

Boundary Trail at Mount Rainier Nat'l Park. The Park is still recovering from the 2006 storms, so WTA is back to help them keep up with maintenance and repairs. This trail in particular was not hit by the storm, but needs quite a bit of maintenance work to get it back to good condition.

Huckleberry Trail at Mount Rainier Nat'l Park. Mount Rainier is still recovering from the 2006 storms, so WTA is back to help them keep up with annual maintenance and repairs of trails.

Barclay Lake Trail in the Skykomish District. A great early season trail in the Skykomish district that generally needs some tread repair after winter slides and blowdown.

Franklin Falls Trail in the North Bend Area. We'll be continuing with the trail improvements to the very popular Franklin Falls and Wagon Road Trails.