The Olympic National Park has some unique challenges for trail maintenance workers. The extremes of rainfall mean that it can be difficult to keep trails from either washing out or becoming deep trenches from the erosion. In some of these places, puncheon is used … often to cross swampy or boggy areas. In this case, the North Fork Quinault trail is climbing enough that the surrounding area isn’t boggy, but the trail would have worn down a ditch … with the trail in the bottom.