McMenemy Sunset 2/7/13

Cloudy Montecito Trails

IMBA Trail Care Crew In Santa Barbara- Building A Rolling Crown Switchback, March 5th, 2011

The IMBA Trail Care Crew came to town again this year and they showed why they are most wanted around the country. The TCC's Chris and Leslie Kehmeier led 3 days of free education and instruction to all those interested in learning more about sustainable trails and trail building.

This years hands on project took place on McMenemy Trail where many of the switchbacks suffer from erosion and angles which make it difficult for equestrian users and other trail users to navigate. The solution- creating a rolling crown switchback to improve sustainability, longevity, and accessibility of all users.

Building a RCS is a massive undertaking with a lot of planning and coordination involved. Almost like building a house, it involved clearing the space, excavation, building the foundation, and shaping. Thanks to Marc Russo of the MTF, the construction area was already cleared of brush for the build. We dug up as many large boulders and rocks as possible then removed all stumps and roots that were still in the way. The retaining wall was build to last but not be seen and look as natural as possible. The final steps of construction are still underway as a little more works needs to be done for it to fully functional but the project is usable and all of those involved know their work made this trail better for all to use

Props to SBMTV for bringing the TCC to town again and special thanks to all that came out to help.

Volunteers at the IMBA TCC event

Construction of the RCS in progress
Retaining wall completed and holding

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National Public Lands Day, 9/25/10- McMenemy Trail, Montecito, CA

McMenemy Trail got a little more enjoyable to use after this last weekend thanks to the local agencies and in large part to the United Way's "Day of Caring". The Day of Caring, a 19 year old nationwide event provides volunteers to many projects locally and across the nation, provided approximately 40 volunteers to this trail event. National Public Lands Day, also a national event fell upon the same day as the Day of Caring and locally was celebrated on McMenemy Trail in Montecito. This 17th annual NPLD was organized locally by the USFS, City and County of Santa Barbara. Last year on NPLD over 1300 miles of trail was repaired or built nationwide.

Most of the volunteers that showed up had never participated in any sort of trail maintenance project but were quick to learn and worked hard despite the 95 degree temperatures. A mile long section of McMenemy Trail in Montecito was picked as the project site to remove overgrown brush and repair damaged trail tread. The event was a success and today McMenemy Trail is a much better place to use today thanks to the agencies and great volunteer turnout. Even more encouraging is the fact that many of the volunteers were interested in helping in future trail volunteer projects.

The Multiuse Trails Coalition and Santa Barbara Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers helped provide trail crew leaders for instructing the volunteers of this event and special thanks to The Santa Barbara Chicken Ranch for donating the BBQ at Manning Park following the event.

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Moonrise and Sunset On Mcmenemy Trail 11/19/09

Fog Invasion, McMenemy Trail, 1/8/09