News from the Trail

By Susan Schen, Crew Leader, Trailkeepers of Oregon

The Reinhart hoe is a tool used for grubbing, especially the digging and scraping of dirt by TKO volunteer crews to create and shape trail tread. Sometimes called a “rhino” or “bendy shovel,” the tool was invented in the 1970s by Gordon Reinhart, a fire and recreation officer with the US Forest Service on the Umatilla National Forest. The head of the tool is a square-ended curved shovel blade mounted at a 90-degree angle to the handle.

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By Cheryl Hill, Board Member, Trailkeepers of Oregon

When you’re longing to stretch your legs in the mountains but the trails are covered in winter snow, what’s a hiker to do? Try snowshoeing!

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Interview by Michael McDowell, Newsletter Editor, Trailkeepers of Oregon

The 2017 Eagle Creek Fire in the Columbia Gorge cleared the ground of vegetation in many places and opened up the canopy, inviting colonization by any species of plant able to establish itself in the ash-rich soil. In the aftermath of the fire, Friends of the Columbia Gorge have trained and sent out many volunteers to remove invasive plants and help native species reestablish themselves.

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By John Sparks, Board Member, Trailkeepers of Oregon

Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) is the villain of many aliases along the scorched slopes of the Columbia Gorge now exposed to a population explosion of invasive species. This small, innocuous-looking plant with pretty pink flowers is one of several Eurasian geraniums that have established themselves in our area in the last three decades.

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By Chip Andrus, Volunteer Crew Leader, Trailkeepers of Oregon

Here we are, six volunteers with TKO, in August, trying to bring a neglected trail back to life. Built by a miner over a century ago, the Falls Creek Trail #1753 twists up the steep slopes of a canyon in the Eagle Cap Wilderness and leads to a mine shaft 3,000 feet above Hurricane Creek.

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