About 25 years ago (how could it have been that long?), Betty Jean and I decided to do some exploring and hiked the Rush Creek Trail, beginning off Forest Service Road 1013 and heading north to eventually cross Wise Creek, intersect with the Wise Creek Trail, go up the hill to Lane Road and become Kinard Creek Trail. I decided this week to return to take a look at Rush Creek Trail. I found it in disuse and heavily overgrown. It looks like it might have been 2-4 years since any maintenance has been done on the trail. It was impassible in some sections, overgrown and blocked with pine logs that have fallen from recent beetle infestations. I’ve spend three days in the last week clearing the section from FS Road 1013 up to the next FS road. It’s gone from completely impassible in some sections to perfectly open and pristine now. I may take my loaner hard-tail mountain bike out there tomorrow and ride it. I hope the section from where I’ve left off northward is in better shape. If not, it’s going to take a while to clear.

Update: It’s 4/5/19 now and I’ve cleared the north end of the Pink trail from 1013A north down the hill to Wise Creek. I had to hurry on the middle section due to dark, but the entire section is now passable and one more trip should make it pretty nice.