Author Archives: Bill Walker

Flathead Forest trails budget increased

The last “Flathead Forest Friday” meeting centered on recreation, including a report on the trails maintenance budget. It seems things are looking up a bit . . .

The Flathead National Forest will have about $553,000 next season for trail work, which is a little better than previous years. The budget was slashed to about $363,000 during federal sequestration last year and was about $477,000 in 2012.

According to Becky Smith-Powell, the Forest’s recreation program manager, more than $200,000 of the trails budget will go toward capital expenses, with the remainder going to staff and other items.

There are 2,257 miles of trails in the Flathead Forest, including motorized vehicle and ski trails. By comparison, Glacier National Park has about 700 miles of trails, and its trail budget runs close to or at $1 million annually.

John Frederick receives award from Flathead Audubon Society

John Frederick, NFPA President and active member of the North Fork Trails Association, recently received a Flathead Audubon Society Conservation Achievement Recognition award for his years of work to protect the North Fork. This is a pretty big deal and a well-deserved honor.

See the NFPA site (gravel.org) for details . . .

Coal Ridge cabin gets more renovation work

It seems the Coal Ridge “patrol cabin” (on Trail 14, just west of the Trail 2 intersection) was actually the original lookout up there. Anyways, it got new siding last week to go with the roof that was installed a couple of years ago . . .

An historic lookout up the North Fork on Coal Ridge received some badly needed care last week as Forest Service crews installed new siding on the weather-beaten building.

The Coal Ridge Lookout, which has sat atop the Whitefish Range since 1928, doesn’t resemble a lookout — the current map actually calls it a cabin. It has small windows, and the Osborne Fire Finder used to pinpoint fire starts was mounted on a metal pole outside of the building.

But it was a definitely a fire lookout, Flathead National Forest lookout Leif Haugen said.

Read more . . .

For more information on this project, go to http://www.nwmt-ffla.org/#!2014-projects/c1nlq and scroll down to the “Moran Patrol Cabin” section.

Guide to Mount Nasukoin hike

Over at the Mago Guide site, Patti Hart has posted a very nice, very detailed guide to the Mount Nasukoin hike (Trail 375) . . .

The hike to Nasukoin is without a doubt one of our favorites in the Whitefish Range of the Flathead National Forest. It is in fact not one but three hikes where the first stop is Link Lake, next on up to Lake Mountain, and finally all the way up to the top of Nasukoin, the highest point in the Glacier View Ranger district.

Antley Creek Trail is open

On September 25, Rich Clark rode up Antley Creek Trail (Trial 106) and cleaned up the trashed out section near the top. John Frederick and I trudged along in his wake, performing lighter weight clean-up in the lower sections. Bottom line: The trail is open, although it is going to need some more brushing out next year.

The Antley Creek Trail (yellow highlighting) is a handy connector between Trail Creek Road and the Cleft Rock Trail (Trail 13).

Map – Antley Creek – Trail 106

The upper end of the trail passes through heavy timber.

Antley Creek Trail Looking North

Removing Blow-downs on Antley Creek Trail

At Top of Antley Pass

The lower (north end) 4.3 miles of Antley Creek Trail is abandoned roadbed, becoming overgrown in places. It is still passable, but we will likely end up working on it next year.

Northbound on Antley Creek Trail Near End of Day

Hay Creek area trails exploration

Debo Powers’ article covers our recent activity in the west end of the Hay Creek drainage, but I thought it useful to include some additional material here.

Here’s a map of the two expeditions Debo mentions. The red track is the Trail 3-Trail 26 survey conducted on September 13. In yellow is the route of the successful September 18 search for the Trail 26-Trail 14 junction.

Hay Creek Explorations

Randy and I added about a mile to our part of the Trail 3 hike by spending some time investigating Hay Lake.

Hay Lake

Here’s Randy at the Trail 3-Trail 26 junction.

Randy at T26

And here’s a photo of the Hay Creek drainage from the west end that I took on an earlier expedition up Trail 26.

Hay Creek Drainage from West End