A GREAT summer turnout of 17 on our July work day, which included two newcomers. We worked the Sky-line to the Sea (STS) Trail just beyond Creeping Forest with the State Crew. The July workday really began back in February when we worked on clearing a 4-ft Doug fir from the Skyline-to-Sea Trail just north of Creeping Forest.
It was a big tree requiring the use of the Big Bertha chainsaw and physically draining work, so we left five large rounds on the edge of the trail hoping the State Crew would take care of them later. Fast forward to our July workday and the adage 'payback is hell' (work day from the 50’s).
With 17 for the workday and working with the State Crew on trail improvements to the Skyline-to-Sea Trail in the general vicinity of Creeping Forest, we split into three groups with the first one cutting, carrying and installing, sections of logs to act as abutments for a footbridge landing while the third group dug a trench and began installing the initial section of a small retaining wall that would secure the edge of a trail reroute around a low lying area that often flooded in the winter.
In between the first and third work areas was the 4-ft Doug fir from February and the large rounds we had left next to the trail. The State Crew had not been back and since the trail improvements were in the same area, they wanted us to break apart the rounds and hide them in the nearby brush.
We ended the day kind of early, but it was a lot of grunt labor - digging trenches, cutting and carrying log sections, splitting and hiding large Doug fir rounds. A satisfying and exhausting day. Whether it was digging trenches, carrying logs, moving gravel or splitting Doug fir rounds, it was demanding but in the end satisfying work.
The BBVTC put in 124 hours and thanks to Herman Aster, David Bryan, John Collins, Michele and Peter Gelblum, Glenn Joy, Shyamal Kapadia, Janie Liefhelm, John Martin, Jordan McDaniel, Mike Peasland, David Philleo, Aaron Poulos, Devdutt Sheth, Chris Young, and newcomers Elena Kelareva and Steve Nagayama plus from the State Crew Jose and Eamon for a total of 19.
by Mike
photos by Mike, Chris, and Steve