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Scorpions Trail Crew, Pleasant Hill, OR (2026)

04/25/2026

Thursday April 23rd – A crew of 11 Scorpions started post Emigrant Fire restoration on the Middle Fork trail #3609. The Emigrant fire started by a lightning strike on August 24th, 2025. It burned over 33K acres and damaged about 5-miles of the Middle Fork trail. The most severe trail damage was upstream from Indigo Springs for about 3.5 miles. When the fire reached Chuckle Springs it burned extremely hot in the 2009 Tumblebug fire scar. Numerous bridges and puncheons were burned, the trail is littered with many large 100 to 300 year-old trees , the tread is heavily damaged and in places the trail is very difficult to find in spots unless you have a GPS track to follow. This is a very popular trail with equestrians, hikers and bikers and offers stunning views of the beautiful Middle Fork river.

The roughly 1.6 mile section of trail between Indigo Springs and Chuckle Springs has close to 90 - logs down and lots of debris. Our focus on this first restoration trip was to start the logout. We split into two crews. A crew of 5 with two saws started from Indigo Springs and worked upstream. A second crew of 6 and 3-saws started at Chuckle Springs and worked downstream with hopes of connecting with the Indigo crew before the end of the day.

Both crews encountered many logs between 30 and 40 inches in diameter, some required complex cuts and were on steep side slope with logs on top. The tread was often uneven and loose due to burnt roots and lots of debris and limbs, burnt rhododendrons, etc. Very slow going. The brake on one of the Chuckles crew larger bar saws broke halfway through the morning. Fortunately, we had a spare 32” Husky in the truck at the TH which was not very far away.

At the end of the day the Indigo crew made it about 1.1 miles upstream. The Chuckles crew made it .4 miles downstream. We never heard each other’s saws going but we were only a few tenths of a mile apart. We had set a turn around time regardless of where we were at 2PM. So, we both packed up and headed back to the respective trail heads at that time. Although the crews did not meet up, we all felt we made good progress considering the challenging cutting.

We will be back next week with a tread crew to work downstream from Chuckles and perhaps a saw team to try and complete the last .2 miles of logout on this section. Lot’s more to do, but it is a start.

We hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project: Tread work on the Middlefork trail Thursday April 30
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/a91kk

04/18/2026

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summaries

Tuesday April 7th – A crew of 8 Scorpions returned to Fall Creek trail #3455. This was our 12th trip there this year trying to restore the trail after the Bedrock Fire in 2023. We are currently working on the trail down stream from road 1828. This has been the toughest stretch of trail to work due to dense and heavy brushy growth and many logs. We hiked in to where we previously stopped working just upstream from Puma CG. We sent one crew member ahead with ribbon to continue marking where the trail is since it is very difficult to follow through the brush and log piles. Two saw teams started buzzing and the brushing team went to work. By the end of the day at around 2PM we finally made it past Puma CG, maybe another third mile of forward progress. We have less than a half mile to go before we connect with our upstream work from Bedrock.

Thursday April 9th - What a great day on Separation Lake Trail. A whole pile of 11 Scorpions headed into Three Sisters Wilderness Area eager for some good timber to cut. They were not disappointed. We split into 4 saw teams and headed out under mostly clear skies and calm weather. We leapfrogged each other, cutting out the logs up to the destruction area. Once there, we nibbled a bit on both sides of the destruction, while a few crews pushed on to the "lesser" tangles and messes. So many complex and interesting logs met their fate at the teeth of many saws. Some notable things were:
- A huge rootball sitting itself back down in its hole after the log was cut (this really helped clear the beginning of the destruction area).
- A big "4 cut" log (2 cuts waaaay off the trail to drop it down so we could reach it, then two more cuts at the trail to open up passage).
- Many booms and echos through the forest as large logs were cut and crashed down.
- One particularly innocent looking log that proved to be so problematic that it had to be chunked out on both sides, sucking a bit of our souls with it.

We are about 1/2 mile beyond George Creek, with more to do as we get near the bottom of the canyon (plus the destruction area project). On the long uphill hike out we were accompanied by rain, thunder and hail.

Thanks to all for a great and productive day, as well as staying safe through all the complex cutting!

Thursday and Friday April 16-17 – A crew of 10 Scorpions did a 2-day trail work stint at Drift Creek Wilderness Area in Siuslaw NF. We were provided with one of the Foerst Service houses in Waldport to stay for 3-nights and possibly 3-days of work. Our mission was to clear the Horse Creek South trail of logs so the rangers could bring in a youth crew later two work on several slides about 3 ½ miles in.

On Thursday morning we arrived at the TH at about 9:30AM. Two of us lingered behind the main crew and cleared the 1.6 miles of trail leading to the wilderness boundary. The rest sprinted in with 3 big XC-saws, Pulaski’s, 3-Al pry bars, under buckers and other assorted tools to battle with the wilderness section logs. The log load was light and relatively straight forward until we got to the first slide. A large ~ 3ft diameter cedar limb sheared off its mother tree (~ 6-7ft in diameter) from up high. It took out a 24” fir on it’s way down and they both buried the trail with tons of debris. Half the crew stayed here to first try and uncover the hidden trail which included a switchback and to hopefully figure out how to safely buck up the two logs.

The other half of the crew went maybe a quarter mile further to the second slide area. There three trees on a very steep side slope brought down a hillside of soil and rock completely burying the trail. Two large (3+ ft) logs were perpendicular to where the trail once was and were very difficult to get over. The upper ends of the logs, about 20 ft up where against a large fir rootball. It was not clear if the rootball would stay put if the lower logs were cut or moved.

Both crews took plenty of time assessing the hazards and debating options to hopefully come up with a safe attack plan including walking away and proposing a reroute. By the end of day 1 the first slide area was cleared of one of the two logs. The large cedar remained. The second slide crew had formulated a plan they would ponder and sleep on.

On Friday we again hiked in and started work on these two slides. The first slide crew completed the cut of the cedar using underbuckers. Fortunately one cut with prybars and muscles aided by log rails and gravity convinced the cedar to move off the trail. Two crew members remained to try and make the tread at least passible.

We hiked passed the second slide crew and continued logging on our way down to Drift Creek. The logs came fast and furious and large or small they were all difficult and argumentative. We did more underbucking and single bucking on this trip than we have all year. We were within sight of Drift Creek when we decided to head back. We were all just too tired to safely work on the few large logs left before trails end. We had to stop on wait at a safe distance for the second slide team to complete their last cut on the logs across the trail. They had determined the rootball up high was stable and had already got one of the two logs off the trail. We watched as they completed their last cut on the remaining log and were then treated to a lesson in serious pry bar abuse. Using three Al-pry bars on a steep slope they rocked and rolled the log section for quite a while before it finally got the message and rolled off the trail. Fortunately, we were too far away to hear any of the colorful language used during the symphony of pry bars.

After a brief end-of-day discussion we decided that our primary mission to clear the logs so a tread crew can repair the slides was accomplished and we would not return on Saturday for the last few logs. In two days we hiked about 15 miles and bucked up and removed many complex logs. Thanks to the great crew for all the hard work and detailed assessments that enabled clearing this section of trail safely. Also, big thanks to Siuslaw NF for the invite to do this work and for providing accommodation.

We hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project: Middle fork #3609 trail logout Thursday April 23
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/yfygl

04/03/2026

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summary

Tuesday March 31st – A crew of 6-Scorpions made a very unusual early season visit to log out Pioneer Gulch trail #3630 in the Diamond Peak Wilderness area. Normally this area is inaccessible due to snow until mid to late June, but this year it was snow free all the way to the junction with Diamond Peak trail at 5700ft. We were requested to log it out early so back country skiers would have easier access to 8000ft snow covered peak and enjoy approximately 2000ft of vertical before the snow disappears.

We were racing to beat the snow that was forecasted on Wednesday through Thursday down to 2500ft. We arrived at the TH in light drizzle and temperatures in the mid 40’s. We formed two saw teams and headed up. The very steep trail is 1.5 miles long and gains 1000ft which makes it popular with skiers and summer climbers, you get to the fun stuff quickly. The trail was heavily burned over in 2024 and we got to see how our restoration work from last year held up. Not surprisingly, for such a steep trail a few sections had some drainage problems but much of the trail was in good shape. The saw teams leapfrogged each other up the trail and bucked up about a dozen logs on the way to the up. We also did some tread repairs.

Another unusual thing about this early season logout is that there were no mosquitoes. Generally, we are covered with Deet and netting when we work here in June through July. Although the snowpack is missed, we all enjoyed a rare mosquito free day at Diamond Peak.

We hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:
Tuesday April 7th - Fall Creel chain saw logout and corridor clearing
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/b838x

Thursday April 9th - Separation Lk trail XC logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/ic9oo

03/28/2026

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summaries

Monday March 23rd – A crew of 10 Scorpions headed to Umpqua National Forest to logout several trails in the Brice Creek drainage. We formed two crews of 5 with 2 chainsaws each. One crew headed to the aptly named Hardscrabble trail. We stumbled our way up this steeply graded trail starting at Mineral CG and bucked logs as we climbed. Fortunately, the logs were scattered in the first mile of trail so we were spared an even steep part of the climb. This area was burned over lightly by the 2024 Lane 1 fire. We completed our work and were driving home by about 2PM.

The second crew drove further up Brice Creek Rd and logged out Craw Fish trail and several sections of the Trestle Falls trail. They worked a little harder and had some larger and more complex logs. They completed their work and headed home around 3PM.

Thursday March 26th – A crew of 11 Scorpions returned to continue Fall Creek trail restoration after the Bedrock fire in 2023. We started from road 1828 and hiked downstream about a mile to where we left off the previous week. The restoration work on this section of trail is very difficult and slow going. There is pile after pile of fallen limbs, bark and fire debris all strangled by tenacious super thick stands of vines. The logs are mostly buried under these piles and must be hand cleared before the chain sawyers can buck them up. Quite a few log tangles still attached to root balls made the bucking challenging.

The trail was only scouted for the first mile because of the thick growth. Once we reached the end of the scouted portion, we sent a crew member ahead with ribbon to continue marking the trail so the remaining crew could continue clearing without worrying about getting of the trail which would have been very easy to do. By about 2PM we made it maybe another half mile at the most. We are almost to Puma CG. Still lots more to do but the trail looked great as we hiked back to the cars. We will be back soon.

We hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:
Tuesday March 31 - Pioneer Gulch XC logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/ge80v

Thursday April 2nd - Fall Creek Trail restoration
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/gudab

03/20/2026

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summaries

Tuesday March 17th - Nine Scorpions took advantage of the lack of snow and started crosscut logout on Horse Creek Trail in the Three Sisters Wilderness. Scouting report showed a number of logs down (including a few fun log tangles) and a big root ball that had blown out part of the trail. We split into two saw teams, and a root ball team. The saw teams working their way up the trail, cutting as they went. They had lots of fun at the log tangles, rolling two large logs down the hill and exploding a dead snag in the process.

The root ball team headed straight up to the root ball. They discovered that it was larger and more complicated than originally thought. The final plan ended up involving cutting a chunk of the root ball log out and routing the trail around the big root ball. The fixed section looks good, if a bit tight (fine for hikers, more problematic for horses). At some point we'll need to get back there and do some additional tread work, but it looks great for now.

Thanks to all for a great day out in the Wilderness!....Garrett

Thursday March 19th – Brian and Garrett returned to Horse Creek Trail on Thursday to finish logging out up to Separation jct. Weather was nice as we made the hike up to where we left off on Tuesday. We had several good logs on the side slope that could be slid off after cutting. Once we crossed Roney Creek and left the old burn area, the logs thinned out considerably. We made it to the jct, then worked down Separation Lake Trail 1/3 mile to Harvey Creek. Great to have this section done just in time for spring!!!..Garrett

Thursday March 19th – A large crew of 11 Scorpions headed back to Fall Creek on a beautiful sunny and eventually warm day. Today we started work from the road 1828 trail crossing and worked downstream. This section of the trail is a complete mess and unrecognizable in spots. The tread is mostly buried under piles of fire debris, branches, tenacious vines and many logs from 6” to 40” in diameter. We got two chainsaw teams moving down the trail to start bucking the many logs. Two power brushers got fired up to hack away vines and low growth. The brunt of the work was done with loppers and hand saws cutting through thick tangles of branches and clearing away burnt wood and bark. It was very slow going but we worked our way down the trail for almost a mile before calling it a day at about 2PM. As we all hiked back to our cars we all enjoyed seeing a real trail take shape again with great views of the river.

We will be back at it next week. There is about 1 mile of trail to recover before we reach the place where we worked upstream from Bedrock CG.

We hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:
Monday March 23rd - Brice and Hardscrable logout in Umpqua NF
sign up link: https://bttr.im/8w4mf

Thursday March 26th - Fall Creek logout and corridor clearing
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/r46e2

Saturday March 28 - Rebel Creek XC logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/odttd

03/13/2026

Tuesday March 10th – A crew of 6 Scorpions continued work on the section of Fall Creek trail staring at Bedrock CG and working upstream for 1.6 miles. The previous week we logged out this section, so today’s mission was tread repair and brushing. We gathered our tread tools and proceeded up the trail through periods of light rain, light snow and some brief intermittent periods of sunshine. The first half mile climbs 500 ft up a series of switchbacks which were in remarkably good shape. After that our work began. The trail crosses some steep side slopes and the tread was mostly filled in with debris from the hillside. We rebenched the tread restoring the original width and appropriate out slope. The were several rootball craters that needed filling in and lots of poison oak growing aggressively. They look like dead sticks this time of year, but they are still potent. We hacked them back as best we could so they wouldn’t be reaching out into the trail corridor. By about noon we completed the 1.6 miles and started heading back since we were all getting pretty soggy. Next week we will head in from road 1828 and work downstream.

We hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:
Tuesday March 17th - Horse Creek Trail Wilderness Logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/suxdk

Thursday March 19th - Fall Creek trail logout and brushing
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/gocp9

03/07/2026

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summaries

Tuesday March 3rd – A crew of 10 Scorpions started work on the section of Fall Creek trail staring at Bedrock CG and working upstream. It was beautiful day for trail work with temperatures eventually rising into the know 50s’and ample sun. The primary mission of the day was to buck up about 30 logs some up to 38” in diameter with root balls and steep side slops to contend with. The first half mile of trail is up a series of switchbacks climbing about 500ft. We formed three saw teams with each assigned a separate half mile of trail so we wouldn’t have to leapfrog over each other and have just 1-saw team working the switchbacks.

The switchback saw team got to work right away since one complex 38” tree with root ball was chest high right at the TH. The root ball was fortunately just off the trail, but the Doug Fur extended several hundred feet up the hillside. They were going to spend some quality time with this log.

The rest of us climbed the switchbacks and saw team 2 starting work at the Jones trail junction. They had to immediately attend to a challenging jack straw set of logs and some large burnt logs on a steep side slope. Saw team three continued on another half mile and then started on another challenging log with root ball again on a steep side slope.

We all hammered away making lots of noise and sawdust until we all completed our assigned sections just before 2PM and headed back to the TH. Now that this section is logged out we will get back to do some much-needed repair and brushing.

Thursday March 5th – A hardy crew of 7 Scorpions sporting very stylish raingear continued tread restoration work at Fall Creek on the section of trail from road 1821 to Slick Creek. It was only supposed to rain .05” for a short period of time but we ended up working in a very light mist and occasional drizzle for most of the day. The sun attempted to make shadows occasionally, but never really succeeded. We hiked in and picked up where we left off previously over halfway to Slick Creek. It was actually a pretty good day to do tread and drainage work since you could see where the water was pooling and flowing. We found some evidence of long lost and clogged drainage ditches on the inside of the trail. We spent quite a bit of time digging them out and found 4 culverts connected to this ditch. We cleared the culverts of soil, rocks and debris and got them functioning again. Several sections of this trail have been significantly damaged by a slide. We restored those sections of trail as best we could, but it will most likely need to be rerouted. We will wait for USFS guidance before working on a sustainable solution.
Shortly after lunch we arrived at Slick Creek. The trail between Slick Creek and Bedrock CG is good shape so we called it a day and returned a little soggy back to the TH.

Thanks to both crews for some great work and progress on this popular trail.

We hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next projects:
Tuesday March 10 - Tread repair and brushing Fall Creek trail
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/3s8ui

Thursday March 12th - Brushing and chainsaw logout Fall Creek trail
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/x9lxc

Monday March 23rd - Chainsaw logout Crawfish and Trestle in Umpqua NF
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/8w4mf

02/20/2026

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summaries

On Thursday February 19th a crew of 7 Scorpions continued working on the Fall Creek trail #3455. We have been working on the section between road 1821 (the end of the Dolly Varden trail section) and Bedrock CG. This trail was severely damaged by the 2023 Bedrock Fire. On previous trips we completed logging out the trail. Yesterday we completed bruising all the way to Bedrock CG 1.5 miles from the starting point. We also completed another quarter mile of tread restoration. We have another half mile of tread to restore before we get to Slick Creek. From Slick Creek to Bedrock CG the tread needs very little work. Weather permitting, will be back next week to continue on.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:
Tuesday Feb 24th - Fall Creek trail tread work
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/59e2x

Thursday Feb 26th - French Pete XC-logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/h5jyk

02/13/2026

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summaries

Some brief, “where we have been”, catch up summaries plus last Thursday’s summary from Fall Creek trail work.

Thursday January 29th – A crew of 10 led by Mike S. brushed and logged out about 15 logs on the Winberry Tie trail.

Tuesday February 3rd – A crew of 2 brushed the South Willamette trail from high point (reached from Crale Creek Rd.) to Harper Creek.

Thursday February 5th – Another crew of 10 led by Mike S. continued brushing and logging out the South Willamette trail.

Thursday February 5th - A crew of 4 led by Steve D. returned to Clark Creek and completed building the puncheon.

Thursday February 12th – A large crew of 16 including three first time Scorpions returned to Fall Creek trail #3455. We started work on the next 1.5 mile section between road 1821 and Bedrock CG. There were about 20 charcoaled logs or so to buck up including some big ones >30” in diameter. Lots of brushing and debris to remove and at least 1 mile of tread to restore.

A crew of 5 tackled the logs with chain saws. Two headed downstream from Bedrock CG and 3 headed upstream from the 1821 TH. We planned to meet in the middle somewhere. Two crew members headed out ahead of the power brushing and swamping team of 4 to clear away limbs and debris to make the brushing more efficient. Of course, the brushers quickly passed them by since the limb and debris removal was slow going. The remainder of the crew gathered up a variety of tread tools and started restoring the tread inch by inch. It was heavily overgrown.

By about 2PM the chain saw teams met up having completed the logout. The brushing team made almost to slick Creek about a mile in and the tread crew did a super job on the first half mile. It looks like a trail again. We will be back again next week to continue.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's project: Fall Creek trail #3455 - tread work and brushing
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/t4xyp

01/23/2026

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summaries

Tuesday January 20th – A small crew of 2 (Doug and Sig) returned to Clark Creek trail to try and complete construction on series of steps heading up a steep grade. It was a cold icy morning, but we were soon warming up as the sun burned off the fog. One step was already completed from the previous workday. All the cedar boards were previously cut with lap joints for assembly of the remaining steps. So, we made rapid progress and got the remaining 5 additional steps in.

Thursday January 22nd – A big crew of 13 arrived at Fall Creek on a very cold and foggy morning. A crew of 5 gathered the power tools needed to work on Puncheon construction on the Clark Creek trail. The rest of us followed them up the trail with 8 more 4x6x5ft cedar deck planks in hand that were needed to complete the puncheon decking.

After hauling the deck planks up 8 of us returned to the cars leaving the puncheon crew on their own. Our task was to log out the Dolly Varden section of the Fall Creek trail. The windstorm last month brought down quite a few more trees on this 3.4-mile section. We split into two groups of 4. On crew started at the Dolly Varden TH and worked their way up stream. The rest of us started where we parked and worked downstream. We were also planning to restore some sections of tread that needed work. Unfortunately, the ground was so frozen that tread work was quite difficult. But the log out went smoothly, about 20 logs were bucked and the crews met roughly in the middle of the trail. We will have to come back to complete the tread work when the ground thaws.

Meanwhile the puncheon crew enjoyed working in full sunshine. They had to cut and transport several more cedars to complete the stringers and have enough material for the bull rails. They got everything leveled and squared, the stringers pinned with rebar and the decking laid out to be sure there was enough. Next time they need to spike down the decking attach the bull rails and the project will be complete.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:

Thursday January 29th - Winberry Tie logout and brushing
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/pbhxz

Thursday February 5th - South Willamette Trail brushing and logout
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/ee7zv

01/18/2026

Here is a copy of our Annual Trail Work Summary for 2025.

Link: https://1drv.ms/b/c/da70c8eac6c834bb/IQCyayRRLm8kQ6hXmJ_vyWh4AYfpgg18Ulys3q_CHxlkrro

01/17/2026

Last week’s “Scorpions On The Trail” Work Summaries

Saturday January 10th – A crew of 5 Scorpions joined forces with a 5 member Camas crew to logout Rebel Creek trail #3323. The recent wind event brought down numerous logs. Arriving at the TH there was a dusting of snow and downed logs were blocking the parking area. They got their chain saws buzzing and started bucking up logs. By the end of the day, they cleared all the way to the Wilderness boundary about 1 mile in.

Thursday January 15th – Another big crew of 13 Scorpions returned to Clark Creek. We had previously completed logout and tread recovery on the 1-mile loop trail damaged in the 2023 Bedrock Fire. Today we began rebuilding a 21ft long puncheon and a series of steps leading up a steep grade. A split off team of two worked on the Dolly Varden section of the Fall Creek trail to chip away at a rock wall to widen a narrow section of trail. We all arrived at the TH just as the thick fog was trying to lift and were looking forward to some sunshine.

There was a big load of tools to carry into the work sites, plus about 20 more 4x6x5ft cedar planks, rebar and 8” spikes that still need to be carried in. We loaded up and trudged to the work site with the tools and materials. It took a half dozen round trips to get everything where it needed to be. Luckily, the worksite was just a third of a mile from our parking spot.

We all helped haul previously cut cedar logs to the puncheon site which would be used as mud sills and stringers. We then split into a puncheon and a step construction team. Both teams had to first remove the remaining burnt pieces of the structures. Some pieces were very reluctant to be extracted. We cut off any old pieces of rebar and spikes and carried them out at the end of the day.

Following lunch in the sunshine, both crews commenced site preparation for the puncheon and steps. Considerable effort was required to properly level and square each area before the start of construction. By day's end, the first step had been installed and all mud sills for the puncheon were in position. The rock chipping crew successfully beat back the rock wall and gained another 8” or so of tread width. A great job by all and we will be back next week to continue.

Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Next week's projects:

Tuesday Jan 20th - Step construction at Clark Creek
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/z2gl7

Thursday Jan 22nd - Puncheon construction at Clark Creek and logout plus tread work on Dolly Varden
Sign up link: https://bttr.im/lkfd5

Scorpions Trail Crew

04/25/2026

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