It was another productive year with the BBVTC putting in 3160 hours by 73 members that put in at least a day with numerous putting in over 100 hours. The 3,160 total hours worked is less than in 2022, but we had fewer workdays due to a longer than expected January break because of an atmospheric river of storms to start the year. There was a skipped March workday due to dangerous conditions from rain, wind, and more rain. Then an August workday was skipped since we got ahead of the District crew and they had not flagged the next stretch of trail that needed work.
The focus of the first 3 workdays in JAN and FEB was to recover from the heavy rainfall that pounded the area. The highways running through the park reopening to through traffic the day before our Feb. 11th workday and the park was scheduled to reopen to the public on Feb. 21st though only the Redwood Loop Trail (RWL) will initially be accessible.
After the storm clean up 14 workdays, starting at the end of MAR, was dedicated to restoring the Creeping Forest Trail. Most of the work was reclaiming the trail from the undergrowth and rerouting the trail away from wet and slide areas. After almost three years of regrowth since the CZU fires in 2020, even working along an existing trail corridor was a challenge and it becomes even more difficult when doing a trail reroute. Park staff took the opportunity to improve the trails by moving sections out of low lying areas that can become wet and muddy in the winter and our challenge was to move a 400 ft section of Creeping Forest.
The old restroom at Jay Camp was converted into the the new BBVTC tool shed
During the summer, with the open canopy and higher temperatures the Crew start time was changed to 8:30 so a full day could be put in and still ending the day before the peak heat of the day. At the end of AUG the Crew celebrated the accomplishments so far with a cool beer and good food.
With our work on the Creeping Forest Trail ended, the Nov. 18th workday was a quick stop on the Blooms Creek Connector Trail. This is a short section between the Redwood Loop and the old Blooms Creek Campground and it will provide access to Middle Ridge via the Hihn Hammond fire road. So more clearing, felling of trees, and creating burn piles.
There were a few Crews working on the trails around the old HQ with the Redwood Loop, Meteor, part of Skyline to the Sea, Dool, Creeping Forest, and the lower section of Sunset now opened to the public (see map below).
Light Blue - Redwood Loop Trail
Yellow - STS from Old Lodge area to Meteor
Orange - Sunset from Dool to Middle Ridge
Green - Lower section of Creeping Forest
Dark Blue - Dool from STS to Middle Ridge
Purple - Meteor Tr. from STS to Middle Ridge
Light Gray - Upper stretch of Creeping Forest that is almost finished and should open by early Dec.
Three fire roads were opened during the year, which included Johansen, Gazos, and part of Middle Ridge (see map below).
Magenta - Gazos Creek Fire Rd is open from the Basin floor to Sandy Point
Yellow - Middle Ridge is open from Gazos over to Johansen. (Middle Ridge is still closed in the other direction since no work has been done on STS or Sunset going west from Middle Ridge.
Blue - Johansen is open from upper China Grade over to Sandy Point.
The BBVTC and the Santa Cruz District Trail Crew were recognized at the State Parks California Trails and Greenways Conference in March for their work in preparing the trails for Big Basin's reopening to the public in July, 2022.
But despite (and perhaps because of) the challenges we averaged 20 people per workday and continued to attract newcomers throughout the year. It takes a special group to come out on hot, cold, wet, workdays to do dirty, difficult, and potentially dangerous work, and come back again and again.
Our work continues to be needed as Big Basin moves forward with its recovery from the 2020 fires, so thanks to the newcomers who joined the effort in 2023 and the veterans who have been there all along. The BBVTC will celebrate its 55th anniversary in 2024 and we wouldn't have made the milestone without everyone's support over the decades. Our next project will be to open the Sequoia trail in 2024.
By Mike and Jeff