Olmsted Brothers Landscape Design Plans for Northern State Hospital dated approximately 1908-1909. Source: National Park Service and The Cultural Landscape Foundation.

Our work on the Thompson Pond Loop Trail at Olmsted Park continues on April 11!

On March 28 we were joined by youth volunteers from Kidz-N-K9s 4-H. We put them to work excavating the trail routing on section 2 on the east side of Thompson Pond.

Our plan for April 11 is to re-focus our efforts on section 1, building up an area of significant water flow with ballast and begin final rock sand capping. We will also have teams working on an extensive rock retaining wall and clearing briars in the trees above the wall.

Goals

Complete capping on section 1 to the ADA trail.
Build a rock retaining wall and fill the low spot on “Fisherman’s Trail” (marked green on the map), making it wide enough for power carrier and mower access.
Begin rock work on main rock retaining wall.

Schedule

8:45 am Volunteers Sign-in at the material staging area on Thompson Rd. Volunteer Parking is located at “the Quad” on Thompson Rd. Directions.

9:00 am:

Jenny, JT & Paul will lead introductions, make announcements, and explain today’s work.

Safety Talk : Chloe & Amelia

T-shirts & Group Photo

930-noon: trail work

12-12:45 pm: lunch

1-3 pm: trail work

3 pm: clean up and organize tools

4:00 pm: Work Party Planning Meeting (by invitation for volunteers who work a full day 9am-3pm)

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Teams

Roving Crew Leader: Paul

Capping Leads: Chloe and Amelia

Number of volunteers: 7

Guide the rock sand delivery: 1

Rake and level: 4

Compact: 2

Rock Wall Leads: Jenny and Jerry

Number of volunteers: 9

We will split up into 3 teams with Jenny as the floating crew leader.

Building up the low spot with a rock retaining wall, back filling with drain rock and topping with sod discards.
Starting in the center of the slope, two teams will work north and south building up the rock wall base. Work in collaboration so that the walls have a consistent appearance.

Restoration: Lynn

Clipping blackberries in trees above rock retaining wall. Prepping ferns or other native plants to naturalize the top of the retaining wall.

Power Carrier Drivers: Kip, Michael and Craig

Material staging and loading: JT

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**Additional teams may be determined on Friday afternoon after the conditions and materials are evaluated.

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Key Dates

April 11: STB Work Party at Thompson Pond
April 25: STB Final work party on Thompson Pond
May 9: STB First work party on Norlum Trail. Guest Groups Skagit Alpine Club and SW Earth Club.
May 23: Norlum Trail. Guest Group Mountaineers GoHike.
June 13: Norlum Trail. Guest Group Mountaineers GoHike.
June 27: Norlum Trail. Final work party before summer break.

Skagit Trail Builders

Skagit Trail Builders is a program of United General District 304.

The trails at Northern State Recreation Area are the result of our partnership with Skagit County Parks and Recreation, the Port of Skagit, the City of Sedro-Woolley, and our incredible community of volunteers!