Trip Report by Mike Peterson: August 22, 2018

“I did an exhausting trek up to Farewell Gap, and I must tell you that the National Park did a great job rebuilding the terrible washouts and trail damage that the spring rains did.  Early on along the trail, the gravel in the trail was shoveled out  and rocks were inserted to allow trekkers to drop down and climb out of the ravine.

“Poorly captured by me was a higher part of the trail that was washed out and rebuilt by hand with underlying rocks from the base of the ravine, to provide a supportive surface for the trail. Perhaps you can see at the far view, how the rocks have been arranged to recreate the trail?

“Also should mention, Mike Botkin narrowly prevented a fire at the East Mineral King cabin row.  After a weekend, a guest staying at one of the cabins discarded ashes that they thought were cold into the base of a tree adjacent to a cabin.  The cabin had no fire or ash pit and no hose for putting out fires.  24-36 hours later, the ashes started smoldering and caused a small fire in the bushes adjacent to tree and cabin.  Mike heard crackling of the fire and smelled smoke and put it out before it could spread to the tree and the cabin and the rest of the cabins in the row.  Need to remind cabin owners that they need to have ash and fire pits with 10 feet of clearance of all vegetation for discarding ashes, and the visitors to their cabins need to be fire-safety aware and instructed on fire safety.”