As the Trail Crew has worked it's way along the north section of Sequoia Trail between North Escape Rd and Hwy 236 since November we knew at some point it would make more sense to start from the 236 end rather than continue hiking uphill from N. Escape. With work now beyond the halfway point, we decided to send a small scout party out as part of the March 8th workday to see what the area looked like and begin initial clearing (see red section on map).
Even with the increasing challenges encountered on lower sections of the trail, it did not go as well as hoped (see yellow section on map). Although making it almost halfway to the work area below, the crew encountered several hillside slides, a rock fall and missing foot bridge, all creating challenges for future efforts. We will need to check with the District crew to see the best way to approach work in the area.
While the scout crew worked its way in from 236, the bulk of the crew continued working up from N. Escape. Overall forward progress on clearing the trail was slower than previous workdays as there was a large volume of debris from earlier work that needed to find a home before new work could begin. Fortunately we were able to clear a large area just below the trail where we were able to build three burn piles.
Most of the old debris was moved into the burn piles by lunch and afterwards we were able to begin clearing new sections of trail.
Despite the continuing challenges we had a good turnout of 23. The crew put in 191 hours and thanks to Fremont Bainbridge, Daryn Bieri, Jim Brooks, Rory Brooks, Karen Cheeniyil, Santhosh Cheeniyil, John Collins, Dale Elliott, Michele Gelblum, Talu Gonzalez Drew Granzella, Ryan Granzella, Mimi Guiney, Norb Lazar, Greg Lendahl, John Martin, Joe Mitchell, Mike Peasland, Dale Petersen, Devdutt Sheth, Chris Young and newcomers Chandra Allen and Doug Smith, for their support.
Pacific Trillium (Trillium ovatum)
Milkmaids (Cardamine californica)
Redwood Violet (Viola sempervirens)
Gymnopilus, sp
Pacific Trillium, mature (Trillium ovatum)
by Mike and Jeff
photos by Fremont, Mike, and Mimi