We had a break in the heat for our Saturday workday. The heavy fog rolling in from the coast caused a misting rain to settle on our cars at the Blooms Creek Campground parking lot while we waited for the rest of the crew to arrive.
Dale Stadelman had pulled up to the gate right before I did and Rory was not far behind me. With 20 minutes to go before the eight o'clock start time, we started to wonder if the cool, damp morning had caused people to sleep in. But in the next few minutes the rest of the crew filed in. Rory and Dale went and got the tools loaded into Rory's truck while John led everyone else to our work site back along Sky Meadow Road. I waited until 8:10 for our last two remaining volunteers to show up and Cecil came in right at the end making a 16 member crew
We all spread out along the section of trail we had cleared two weeks before, just north of the Wastahi Campground, focusing on widening the trail by brushing back the Ceanothus and pulling out any stubs from the tread. Denis was back from his fire academy training and took up sawyer work again. Andrea brought her own Pullerbear weed wrench to help clear the trail. Three small burnt snags that were hanging over the trail were felled. Materials were either dropped through our 'keyholes' down to the road for stacking or dragged out on tarps by teams. We have quite a pile waiting for our chipping days, whenever that happens.
During lunch we talked about how the trail would probably not be used until next year until Huckleberry campground was scheduled to reopen. We talked about how we used to meet outside headquarters before the fire and check the board in the office to see what we might accomplish in our monthly work day. We wondered if the arched bridge up on Eagle Rock Trail would ever be rebuilt. Dale S. was pretty sure the plans for it were still out there among the old crew members. He remembered how the original bridge was assembled with wooden dowels and then lowered into place back when it was first built.
Eagle Rock Bridge completed in 1991
Dale also told the story of how the Bob Kirsch Connector trail was intended to be ADA accessible so that people in wheelchairs could go and look over the Sempervirens Creek on the Schulz bridge viewing platform. The bridge was constructed out of 45’L X 8” W X 12” H beams that were cut with an Alaskan Mill from a 5ft diameter Douglas Fir that fell across the Gazos Creek Road at a 45-degree angle. It took 2 years to cure the beams and a year to build the bridge for the Big Basin SP 2002 entennial celebration.
Schultz Bridge completed in 2002 (for details see our Projects Post)
After lunch we went back to work until 1:30pm. A little more saw work by Dennis but we mostly focused on tidying up. Once again the crew had caused a dramatic transformation in just a few hours. The trail now felt open and clear. We'll see what Eamon and Chris P. have waiting for us next time.
The Crew put in 115 hrs and thanks to Daryn Bieri, Fremont Bainbridge, Jim Brooks, Rory Brooks, Cecil Coe, John Collins, Denis DeCeuster, Ori Faigon, Peter Gelblum, Andrea Lee, John Martin, Ann McCormick, Craig Ramsay, Devdutt Sheth, Dale Stadelman, and Chris Young
Sempervirens Falls
by Chris and Jeff
photos by Fremont, Daryn, and Jeff