[KarlK]

The 19 mile Three Fools trail (3FT) is a quasi-abandoned Pasayten Wilderness gem featuring plenitudes of ecosystems, elevations and effort. The trail extends from the Lightning Creek trail some 4 trail miles NNE of Ross Lake to the Pacific Crest trail at Castle Pass. The forest service is asked frequently whether the 3FT is a viable alternative to the PCT for getting to the border. Not so much, is the reply so far. Perhaps we can change that. The 3FT is high on Team Leader Mike's priority list, and to make meaningful progress in clearing its thousands of logs, he recruited 11 of us to the task, which I hereby dub the 3FT Log Squad. The Squad consisted of a five day crew slated to stay at the Deerlick camp near the start of the 3FT: MikeH CarolJ JeffL JamesM ShepG and a seven day crew, with six bound for the Little Fish camp 3.9 miles up the trail: MikeT PeterK BruceB DaveJ PamJ KarlK MartyB The plan was for the Deerlick crew to work up trail while the Little Fish group worked down trail. On June 10, two $270 power boat rides whisked us from Ross Dam to the Lightning Creek stock camp in a mere 20 minutes or so. (I'll interject a comment here to note that volunteer trail crew members often donate considerable money and not just time and effort to doing trail work -- I sometimes wonder about starting a non-profit to solicit money for such things as chainsaw chains, fuel mix and even food and gas money for volunteer sawyers. I've spent hundreds this year alone on volunteer sawyer-related expenses).

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The four miles up the well maintained Lightning Creek trail to Deerlick camp entailed little by way of obstacles, save for rebarbative loads. The next stretch, now that most assuredly constituted an exercise in character building. Team leader Mike averred that this section was worse than anything he could recall. For my part, maneuvering that pig pack through endless dense tangles of deadfall required many colorful words and phrases (my kit weighed 64 lb when I got home following the 7 day trip and I reliably eat at least 1.5 lb of food per day).

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Lots (!) of this stuff enroute to Little Fish camp

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We accomplished a great deal of work on the ensuing days. The trail is presently clear to 4500' elevation ~ 6 miles from Deerlick camp. PeterK and I reached the 4500' high point and we believe that the trail is relatively free of deadfall for quite some distance beyond.

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A quick note about KarlK's saw gear philosophy. For doing the actual work of sawing, chopping and pounding wedges, I like my relatively heavy tools. My bucking saw, Bertha, AKA Mother Bucker, weighs 8.25 lb with a single handle. The weight of the saw, however, facilitates cutting, as does the excellent filing and setting done by Joe Hofbeck. Some jobs involve a lot of chopping, and for this I'm exceedingly fond of my 5.25 lb Granfors Bruk American Felling ax, custom ordered with a straight handle through Hardwick's back when that awesome place existed on Roosevelt Avenue in Seattle. This ax performs MUCH better than the typical boys ax carried on many wilderness trips. It's also an outstanding wedge pounder, which for keeping the kerf open on a big top bound Doug fir or cedar is a huge plus. The downside is packing that stuff, but packing all that stuff is a really good way to tune up for wildland fire season, which is on its way apace. I threw in a picture from last summer to make the point that wildland firefighting not infrequently involves hiking in steep terrain with heavy loads.

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Getting back to the job at hand:

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Mike & PeterK

Mike woking on an uproot

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JeffL & MartyB Double Bucking

Jeff & Marty Geting Close

Success

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KarlK pulling curls

KarlK running Bertha, AKA Mother Bucker

PeterK

Happy Campers

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In an instance of splendid timing, a NOLS group hiked to Little Fish camp on the day before our departure. The team leaders said they would give us a report on the trail conditions beyond our present effort.

NOLS group

I thoroughly enjoyed this trip and its incredibly hard working and skillful crew. And a special shout-out to Crew Leader Mike for his willingness to navigate all of the bureaucratic and logistic hurdles required to pull this off, as well as his willingness to help us lesser experienced guys and gals get better at the surprisingly complex art of saw work. Finally, on behalf of TL Mike, many thanks to Rosemary and District Ranger Chris Furr in the Methow Ranger District for their support of this and other TL Mike projects.

[Mike Collins]

Thank you for your devoted service to the hiking community.

[Slim]

What an incredible amount of work! Thank you! ~Slim

[Schroder]

Great work! I once took a boy scout troop down that trail from the PCT. I don't think they ever forgave me.

[Grizzy]

This trip was lots of fun, Katana Boy was go-to on many, many logs....Hey Karl (ShepG)

[KarlK]

Correctimo Grizz, but some of those big ones were Mother Bucker's for sure. That said, you guys and gals with K-Boys got tons done, literally.

[canadug]

That is so awesome! Great Work. I have been wanting to hike that trail for years but the deadfall has kept me from it. I am interested in how the group that planned to hike the rest of it did......Hopefully they will let you know.

[boomheist]

Ah the Three Fools Trail - I did it with a friend and my nephew in about say 2009 or so, and the night before we started we camped by the Ross Lake ferry landing down that hill, and I came down with some kind of plague, which meant that the next day when we went to that Fish Camp 4 miles in my perspective was off, but as I recall that trail was nothing less than a nightmare. It was slower than hell. So many thanks to all of you for tackling the effort.

[RichP]

Impressive work, all. Thank you.

[Nancyann]

Heroic work, thank you so much!

[cascadetraverser]

KarlK and crew: THANKS!!! I first did this trail back in 1979 as part of an SCA group hike (we camped and did trail work from Nightmare Camp for a month) and started up this trail on a 10 day Pasayten backpack starting at Nightmare camp to Elbow basin and on. I traveled it twice since, last time when I did the full Boundary trail in the 90s (and it is the traditional finish for the Boundary, especially if you want to catch the boat over to Little Beaver and continue onto the NCNP portion). It is a gem of a trail, indeed, and I was wondering given its recent state, if I would ever make it back or want to, given all that deadfall. That appears not to be an issue any more....Thank you, Thank you for restoring access to this wonderful corner of the Pasayten

[KarlK]

Many thanks for the comments Cascadetraverser and others. I'll note that the TL Mike is the person who deserves major credit for this -- putting these trips together is a major trash in itself. Glad I don't have to do that heavy lifting! I'm also encouraged by the support we're getting from the Methow Ranger District.

[Stefan]

Thank you!! Wowza!!!

[ACrowe]

That trail, part of a 10 day trip from Hart's Pass to Ross Lake/Highway 20, was one of the best backpacks of my life. I did it solo in 1993 and have wanted to repeat it many times over the years, until I learned of the condition of the lower forested sections. Will the trail clearing work extend all the way up to the subalpine? Thank you so much for all your hard work, maybe I can finally put it back on my list.

[KarlK]

Will the trail clearing work extend all the way up to the subalpine? We are hoping to get a report on conditions beyond our 4500' high point from the NOLs group I mentioned. I'll pass that on if it comes in. I suspect that the trail is in fairly good shape from our high point to the ridge above Freezeout lake and would be willing to bet up to $10 on that, maybe even $15.