WASHINGTON Trails Association
Trail Maintenance - Greg Ball Tail Completed
By Alyssa Kreider
WTA youth crews build a fantastic new trail to Wallace Lake

In 2001, Wallace Falls State Park manager Shawn Tobin happened upon an old park file that conceptualized a trail route to Wallace Lake. The lake is situated in the park and is bounded by Department of Natural Resources (DNR) land to the north and west. At that time, the only access to the lake was via DNR logging roads outside the park boundaries. The proposed route that Shawn found in the twenty-one-year-old file made more sense; it would allow park visitors to experience a more scenic, solitary and safe route to the lake on a trail solely within the park boundaries. Shawn knew the state parks; tight budget would make it difficult to fund this new route, so he turned to Greg Ball, WTA’s late Operations Director, for guidance and assistance. Greg and Shawn had a long-standing relationship-since the inception of WTA’s trail maintenance program in 1993, WTA volunteers had contributed many hours to the maintenance and repair of the park’s existing trails to picturesque Wallace Falls.

Greg agreed to join Shawn on an initial scouting trip. As Shawn remembers, “I basically hounded Greg until he relented…I never missed an opportunity to say to Greg, “it sure would be nice to have a new trail to Wallace Lake.” It did not take long for Greg to build enthusiasm for the project, and he returned shortly with flags, clinometers and several agency staff and trail experts, including Tom Quinsery and Gary Paull (U.S. forest Service), Jim Ellis (state park ranger), Ted Smith (regional state parks environmental stewardship manager), Shawn Tobin, and WTA’s current operations director, Chris Bell, to lay out a trail. The 2-mile, flagged route took off from the end of the Railroad Grade Trail and followed the North Fork of the Wallace River up to the lake.

The first shovel of duff was thrown in the summer of 2002, and a series of day trips quickly cut out the first section of trail. A summer program, composed of youth from two national programs, Americorps and Landmark Volunteers, led by WTA’s Rachel Geissinger, completed the lower one-third of the trail, including the construction of three puncheon bridges and several turnpike structures. That first successful summer at Wallace Falls pioneered the way for a continuation of a more formal summer youth program at Wallace Falls that catered to high schools students who needed to fulfill community service hours also had an interest in gaining knowledge about trail stewardship through hands-on experience and ownership of a great project. Initially, Greg and Shawn had thought the project could be completed in two summers, but they encountered unforeseen obstacles: Perpetual wet areas along the trail required the construction of puncheon structures and few resources were available; then Greg became ill. In addition, the trail moved from a healthy second-growth forest with thriving understory to a section of forest that, although eerily beautiful, was composed of snags and nearly non-existent understory. The result: layers and layers of duff, making it a difficult and slow task to uncover and find enough mineral soil to create an adequate trail bed. This was arguably the most arduous section of trail building WTA crews had ever encountered.

Fortunately, due to the growing momentum of the summer youth program funded largely by the Spring Trust for Trails, the project progressed. In 2004 WTA decided to expand the number of Volunteer Vacations for Youth offered at Wallace Falls. After two summers of hosting nine consecutive weeks of youth trips, the word has spread among parents, teachers and students. This summer, participation has nearly tripled to full capacity. The energy and enthusiasm of the youth program has clearly breathed new life into the overgrown forest. After 23,000 hours of volunteer labor (including 20,000 hours completed by youth crews, which when valued as an in-kin-contribution of labor equates to a $253,000 gift) a beautifully constructed trail has emerged.

In 2005, several months after Greg’s passing, park manager Shawn Tobin approached the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission wit a resolution to name the new 1.9-mile hiking trail. In his proposal he stated: “Greg Ball took an idea from a file and helped make it a reality with almost no cost to the State of Washington. He was a good man who inspired people to do good things and for that, his legacy of improving trails throughout Washington State, and his pivotal role in creating this new trail to Wallace Lake, it would be fitting to name this trail in his honor.”

The Greg Ball Trail dedication will coincide with the last week of WTA’s summer youth program. We’ll cut the ribbon on Friday, August 25, 2006 at 2 p.m., with guided hike and a barbecue to follow. All are invited. Landmark Volunteers sent 48 volunteers to work on the Greg Ball Trail.

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