As with the entire world these days, the Trail Crew's June workday was a little different with people wearing masks and visitor vehicle traffic at the parking entrance backed up 10 deep before 9am because of staff's new Covid procedures, but it was great to be back in the park and see everyone. The 3 month break between workdays seemed to go on forever, but as I sat on a Basin Trail Trail overlook eating lunch the break shortened considerably and it seemed like we had been away only a month.
Since the park was closed for so long, we had no idea what to expect on the trails, but a lot of folks came out on their own and scouted areas in the week before our workday so we had reports on Eagle Rock, Pine Mountain, Meteor, Dool, Creeping Forest, Hollow Tree, Basin, Howard King, McCreary Ridge and the Sunset-Timms Creek-STS loop. Thanks to John Collins, Dale Elliott, Barry Grimm (Basin docent), Kurt Leal, Steve Stolper (another Basin docent) and Mike, for giving us running start on what was out there.
With a turnout of 12 we had enough people for three crews, so we settled on working problems in three areas of the park - Basin and Hollow Tree, Pine Mtn Trail, a couple of sections of Skyline-to-Sea in the core park area along with Creeping Forest and Meteor Trails.
Mike’s crew worked on Hollow Tree and Basin Trails
After deciding on our assignments, the Basin-Hollow Tree crew made the drive up China Grade and entered the trail at the Lane Trail Camp since most of the problems were in the upper sections of both trails. Even though we were in the chaparral section of the park and able to use a chainsaw, none of the trees looked too big in the scouting report so we decided to carry the 3-ft hand saw.
We started our work on the Basin Trail and worked our way down about 1.5 miles removing several small-medium trees and doing as much brushing as we had time for.
This is what brushing can do for a trail (not the crew’s favorite activity but better than weeding)
After taking a lunch break at the rock outcropping overlooking the basin, we hiked back to the top and looped onto Hollow Tree.
Our goal was to remove two medium size trees within the first mile and with the Basin trees being easy to handle we were looking forward to the same on Hollow Tree. Of course that turned out not to be the case. The Basin trees had been down for quite a while, dry and easy to cut. The two Hollow Tree trees were fresh, a lot harder to cut, and tended to pinch and bind the saw even though they were only 18-inches at the most. After a little more work than expected, we finally got them cut and rolled off the trail and were done for the day getting back to the tool shed about 4.
John C crew handled Buzzard’s Roost
Several of us took scouting hikes once the park opened to assess the status of a forest without humans for the last 3 months. I took a hike up to Eagle Rock and Buzzard's Roost with my daughter who was home from college. The trail from headquarters to the top of Buzzard's Roost was in need of brushing (trimming back the overgrowth on the trail) and clearing some small trees. The one major issue was an old rotted redwood about three feet in diameter that had slid down the hill making the trail impassible. Our plan was to let a crew of three start hiking and brushing starting at headquarter and work their way up to the crew working on the redwood just above Pine Mountain Road.
The old rotten redwood was a tricky project, it was not safe enough to work on the downhill side, it was too big to roll down the hill and being a half rotten tree in the dirt, too messy to cut up. Scratching our heads we figured we would just start trying things. We cut some rounds off the uphill side, found the limbs stuck in the ground that stopped it from rolling and then viola...five of us straining we pushed the remaining tree off the trail.
After a high five or two we took a social distancing lunch sitting six feet apart on a 50 foot down tree just up the trail. We regrouped and pushed up the trail brushing and clearing until we got to the spectacular 360 degree view at Buzzards Roost. Everyone was stoked to be back in the park, seeing hikers pass by and working up a good sweat.
Chris’ crew worked on Skyline to Sea and Meteor
Janie and I were the dynamic duo that comprised team 3. We were tasked with the trees within the noise restricted area that we could work on by virtue of the Zombi electric chainsaw. We first hiked from the toolshed up Skyline to the Sea, past the Hihn-Hammond connector. I had actually forgotten that I had scouted this trail obstruction back in March!
That was a bit more tree than I had bargained for but a good test of the Zombi. There was a lot of foot traffic even though it was before 10 in the morning. Janie kept an eye out for hikers and I made cuts while the coast was clear. The 24" Doug Fir was fractured and partly rotted, which helped a great deal. We dug and chipped away the easy stuff and then I freed up a section in the middle. Rocking and rolling and feathering some cuts on the edges to release the hinges and we had it loose. Also, for like the 3rd time, I reminded myself: Always bring your Pulaski! We managed without but the digging would have gone quicker if we carried it along. Lots of raking later with the McLeod and our hands and we had it in pretty good shape. I definitely want to go back and cut the 2nd log back further. I settled for a narrow dog leg path for now to conserve battery as we had more sites to visit!
We hiked further up STTS to find the report 8" tan oak. A couple quick cuts and we cleared the log off the trail.
We found a nice log just below Middle Ridge to eat our lunch before heading back to the tool shed. From there we drove up North Escape road to check in on a tree reported on Meteor Trail. We found the tree and saw that it was perched at a very steep angle on the hill side. The log had broken free of it's stump and the heavy end was balanced up in the air resting on top of a 2nd tan oak it had knocked over. Without a doubt if we cut it at the trail the bulk of the log would come sliding down on us. The best way to clear that tree will be to remove all the weight from the uphill end piece by piece and then ensuring the rounds do not roll down the hill. Not something the two of us could manage with a low battery saw.
So noted we hiked back out to North Escape road and drove back to Gazos Creek to check out some trees on Creeping Forest. We headed up to the Dool trail and did a little clean up around the 5 foot Doug Fir that had been cleared off the fire road last year. The reroute around the stump was in place but a bit lumpy with some step-overs. We removed two small logs and did a little trail grubbing with McLeod and Pulaski.
Satisfied that the trail was improved we drove back to the STTS/Creeping Junction. There were two more spots on our list to investigate. The first being north on STTS from the junction and the other north on Creeping Forest. A two tan oak chain reaction that was easy enough to step over looked to be an easy clean up. However the battery in the Zombi called it quits on the first cut. It is true that we had put a cross cut saw in the van but somehow that fact eluded us at the time. Janie and I noted 'The battery is dead and so are we!'. We left some work to finish for next month and headed back to the tool shed at 4:30pm.
Thanks to John Collins, Dale Elliott, Michele Gelblum, Peter Gelblum, Shyamal Kapadia, Janie Leifhelm, John Martin, Mike Peasland, Devdutt Sheth, Beth Wichman and her son Alex Szewczyk, and Chris Young for helping get the 2020 year restarted!
by John C, Chris, Mike, and Jeff
photos by Beth, Chris, Michele, Peter, Shyamal, and Mike