National Trails Day Report and Photos

It was a beautiful sight to see so many cars pour into Skofield Park this past Saturday AM. You always wonder if the turnout is going to be enough to get the goals accomplished. In this case the turnout was so great just about every last tool available was being used. The main objective of the day for the 100 or so volunteers would be to clear a shale like material or "dry ravel" covering the trails and repair water drainage structures in preparation for the upcoming rains.

The crew of 14 I led was dropped off at the bottom of Tunnel Trail and we worked on Tunnel between the trail head and Rattlesnake Connector. It is extremely tiring work cleaning a trail following a fire. Beneath piles of rubble lies the trail, getting to the trail required pulling tons of this shale material and rock from above the trail to prevent future slides and then off the trail itself. Most of this work is accomplished by using Mcleods, which is a tool that was invented for wild land firefighting but has become a staple in trail building. Vegetation that was lost in the fire clearly had a huge role in the stability of these hillsides. My hat goes off to the 14 who helped on Lower Tunnel and the other 80+ volunteers that worked on Upper Tunnel, Jesusita, Rattlesnake, and Cold Springs- all trails effected by the Jesusita Fire.

We were proud to participate in this event sponsored by the USFS, City, and County who did a excellent job of organizing it. The agencies told the crowd at the beginning of this event what factors are going to be taken into consideration before re-opening the Front Country Trails damaged by the Jesusita Fire. They included a re-evaluation of the trails to determine the safety of the trails and further maintenance, whether or not a "hydromulch" is to be used on the burnt hillsides, and respect and privacy of the homeowners near the trail heads who are still trying to recover from this fire.

Thanks to all that showed up and helped out at this event, below are some photos from the crew working on Lower Tunnel Trail. Dave on behalf of the MTC.

The Crew(still clean)

Uncovering a Switchback

Shale Removal

Shale Covered Section- Before

Shale Covered Section-After

One Of The Few Plants That Survived- Yucca

Creating Dust

The Crew(dirty)

Uncovering Trail

Hiking Towards Rattlesnake

Lot's of Work

The Trail is Under There Somewhere

One Of The Worst Sections On Tunnel

The View

Creating Water Control Structures

One of Many Sections of Trail That Was Damaged

Rattlesnake Connector

Heading Into Rattlesnake Canyon

View From Rattlesnake

Rattlesnake Meadow

Tunnel Trail Restoration Re-Cap

Our first trail maintenance project following the Jesusita Fire this past Saturday was a success. We were asked by the USFS to help out with the restoration of Tunnel Trail which needed a lot of work. Six lucky volunteers took the task of removing a ton of shale, debris, and ash from the lower section of Tunnel Trail. It was very hard work and the team worked hard, but in the end the trail tread became visible again and measures to ensure it stayed that way hopefully will last. Also on hand were the LPNF Hot Shots who tackled the upper section of Tunnel. Tunnel is very much on the way to coming back to life especially with thanks to the hard work of: Carolyn P, Joani M, Chris O, Pete L, and Chris K. -Dave for the MTC

Scraping The Trail Clean

That's Why We Had Dust Masks
Piles Of Rubble

Carolyn Hard At Work

The LPNF Hot Shots

Deep Trail Ash

The Crew

The Sad State of Tunnel Trail

In preparation for our trail restoration project tomorrow, I was able to hike a little bit on Tunnel Trail to see what was needed to be done. Just a month and a half earlier, we had done work on Tunnel, trimming brush, opening water bars and restoring tread. During that process I snapped some photos of the work we did, before and after. Now sadly I can compare those photos to the condition it is in following the Jesusita Fire. We will be heading out on the trail several times a month to repair damage done by the fire. Contact us if you would like to find out how you can help: multiusetc@gmail.com

Tunnel Trail Head - Late March

Tunnel Trail Head Post Jesusita Fire
Tunnel Trail Water Bar 4/09

Tunnel Trail Water Bar Post Jesusita Fire

Jesusita Trail Head 3/09

Jesusita Trail Head Post Jesusita Fire

Lower Tunnel Trail Post J.F.

Upper Tunnel Trail Post J.F.

Tunnel Trail Waterfall Post J.F.

Elings Park Trail Prep

This past Wednesday, 4/29 Ed Brown set up the first Elings Park Trail Maintenance for the Bike Fest this June. About 10 people showed including members of the Multiuse Trails Coalition, SBMTV, SB Chicken Ranch, one hiker, and several other local cyclists. We worked on the section of trail typically overgrown by mustard and helped get the trail back into it's original condition. Hope our work helps all you riders out there enjoy Elings Trails and mark your calendar for 5/30 when another Elings Maintenance will take place.

Our Crew

A Narrow, Sloughed, Overgrown Section
Same Section Restored To It's Original Condition

The Crew Strikes Back

Finally mother nature gave us a break and we were able to get up on Jesusita and Tunnel to dig in to the brush problem. Tuesday afternoon we spent a couple of hours cutting back brush in one particularly bad area on Jesusita and start heading up Tunnel. Jesusita was not on the original agenda but this particular area at the beginning of the trail has been a problem for years, overgrown and taking the shape of a 'V". With that done we discovered there were actually 2 signs at the bottom of Tunnel! A little brush work and they were both visible again. We made it a little ways up Tunnel but the project continues. We will again head up to work on this project Tuesday, 4/7 afterwork. Join us is you can and enjoy a beer with us after the session is over.

Our New Sign At The TH

Jesusita B4
Jesusita After

Tunnel TH- Can U Spot The Two Signs?

Tunnel After- There They Are

Mother Nature- 2, Front Country Trail Crew- 0

First defeat we had was the trail event scheduled for November 15th, the Tea Fire ended that one quick. Yesterday we had planned on heading up Tunnel to do a little brush removal when mother nature decided to say no again. The heavy mist was enough to register as actual rainfall according to local rainfall gauges. We pulled the plug after getting to the TH a little after 8am and seeing everything soaked. Those who would have attended would have been drenched after cutting at the first tree branch. Although the mist did leave us with a good opportunity to take some cool pics- see below. We went home with our tails between our legs and our cooler still full of beer. We will try again and you will not foil us next time mother nature! We are going to experiment with the idea of doing trail work during the week after work rather than the weekends. As the days get longer this should get even more doable. We have tenatively re-scheduled for this upcoming Tuesday, 3/21 after work on Tunnel Trail. Email us if you are interested.

Not a complete defeat though, we were able to get to the top 1/2 mile of Tunnel on Friday to do some prep work and did repair some broken down tread and cut some overgrown branches. Special thanks to all that planned on attending and allowed us to cancel at the last minute!

The Soaking made for some cool photos

Our Da Kine Trail Builder Packs need some dirt on them

These beers need a good home too!

Tunnel Trail Clean Up This Saturday

Reminder that this Saturday we are hosting the first trail maintenance project of the year with the Tunnel Trail Clean Up. No experience is needed and we will provide the tools and training. We are doing our part to build a better, safer trail system starting with trail maintenance per the recommendations of the Front Country Trails Task Force. We will be hitting the trails on a regular basis with the FCTC, check our volunteer page for the latest. Time/Date: 9am-1pm, 3/21, email if you need more info or would like to attend. multiusetc@gmail.com

Trail Crew Leader Training A Success!

This past Saturday the agencies, led by the USFS and Kerry Kellogg successfully trained 15 people that will lead trail work programs in the near future. Those that attended included our own Dave, also Jed and John from SBMTV, Paul from MTF, Kelly from Kona Bikes, Robert and Sandy from Blacksmith Endurance, Jason from LPFA, and Bryan- local trail mapper. Also in attendance were local trail users Sam, Ben, Mike, Richard, Luis, Ray, Randy, and Jill from City Parks. Of the 15 trainees, about half of the leaders were bikers, the rest being hikers or runners. A very good representation from the cycling community and it tells much about cyclists wishes to better our trails.

After reviewing the rules and regulations of putting on a maintenance project all the attendees hit the trail. Some light trail work to the lower part of Jesusita was done and much poison oak was removed. Most of these attendees will be leading or participating in events in the near future, like our "Tunnel Trail Clean-up" this Saturday(email for details). One good part of different kinds of users all getting on the trail at the same time was discussing how changes to the trail were needed or wanted. We all reshaped a small rocky section of trail not before discussing how rocks are fun and useful when cycling. This was the first time members of the trail using community all discussed trail repair rather that just having someone doing a repair without discussion. We have been adamant that if a major repair or change to the structure of a trail is too be done, users need to be part of this decision process. Our fingers our crossed.

Heading up Jesusita

Mike working the rocky section-before

That same section-after