The November workday started as a classic example of the microclimate weather you often hear about on weather reports. As I left home on the San Jose side of the hill the temperature was in the low 50's with valley fog. As I headed downhill from Saratoga Gap towards Boulder Creek the car outside temperature sensor said it was 70 and by the time I arrived at park headquarters it was a chilly 43.
Despite the variable late Fall weather, we had a great turnout of 16 and the plan was to finish work on the big Doug fir on Dool that we started last month, remove a trail blockage on the Pine Mtn Trail and if time permitted send a crew out Sunset Trail to the Timms Creek area to deal with several medium size trees David P. said were blocking the trail. After the usual morning gathering, John C. headed a group out to Pine Mtn while Mike and Dale S. took the remainder of the crew to Dool to continue the work there.
John’s Crew worked on Pine Mtn and Sunset
Saturday's work crew had a little bit of everything. We headed out to Pine Mountain Trail to clean up a blow down but someone beat us to it and took the tree out. After we stood there for a minute or two, looking at each other with disappointment on our faces, we figured we could spend some time cleaning up the rest of the debris. Since that didn't take too long we headed back to the big tree on the Dool Trail and helped everyone split and stack the rounds as they got cut off the tree.
Since there were plenty of workers there Mike decided to send a group of us out to the Sunset Trail near Timms Creek to clean up a couple of oak trees that came down over a bridge. Looking at the map we figured the trees were about 2.5 miles down Sunset Trail and volunteers who wanted to take hike quickly assembled. After we parked our cars at the trail head we took a little bit more time to make sure we had the right tools, food, water and the first aid kit since we were going on an hours hike from the car.
It was a picture perfect day on the trail, we stopped half-way down and had a lunch break. It felt good to pause and not focus on our goal at the end of the trail and just take in the quite and scale of the redwoods. We found the down trees and we worked steady for a couple hours to clean it up with a self imposed 3:00 deadline so we could hike out before dark. Everyone did an outstanding job hauling logs and brush and hiding them off the trail.
I am not going to lie, for me, the hike out at the end of a work day is not as easy as the hike in but I am sure everyone felt is was worth the effort. Special thanks to the Sunset Trail crew, Shyamal Kapadia, Rob Mann, Lisa Mauney, David Philleo and Gary Dudney.
Mike’s Crew continued on 5’ Fir on Dool
We had opened a 5-ft gap in the Dool tree during the October workday, so November was easier as we cut off an additional six rounds and then did the hard work of breaking them up into small enough pieces that they could be carried from the trail and hidden in the nearby brush.
The trail had been reopened by park staff after our Oct. workday and there was a steady stream of hikers as we worked. Most of them stopped to look at the fresh cuts we made, the sap dripping from the tree and the scent of fir in the air. Some even tried taking a couple of swings of the maul as we broke apart the rounds. It was apparent that most of the hikers had never really thought about a tree falling on a trail or the process it took to remove it, so it was a good educational moment.
Thanks to David Bryan, John Collins, Michele and Peter Gelblum, Jan Hill, Shyamal Kapadia, Janie Liefhelm, Rob Mann, John Martin, Lisa Mauney, Mike Peasland, David Philleo, Aaron Poulos, Devdutt Sheth, Dale Stadelman, and newcomer Gary Dudney for their help on a busy day.
by John, Mike, and Jeff
photos by Jan, Lisa, Mike, Peter, Rob, and Shyamal