Yellow Trail and Green the Keyhole
The Trail Crew's March 21st workday was a throwback to the pre-2020 fire days when we would split into two (and sometime three) crews when there were multiple trails that needed attention and we wanted to cover as much ground as possible. But since the fires we have worked one trail at a time as we focus on helping reopen new sections of the park to visitors.
Heading into the workday we had our Pine Mtn Trail plan in place and were ready to go when the District crew called 24 hours beforehand to say they needed help on another trail. A CCC crew had to leave on short notice, which left the District crew shorthanded and since we strive to support each other we jumped in! Fortunately we had a big turnout for the day and were able to proceed with the planned work along with splitting a small crew off to help with the District's effort over on Sequoia Trail.
Pine Mountain Crew
For the Pine Mtn work, there were still no suitable areas along the trail for burn piles and we had moved far enough along the trail that it was becoming less practicable to carry debris back to the trailhead, so the day was planned as a proof of concept for a new idea.
We're still fortunate to be on a stretch of trail that parallels the fire road and we ended the previous workday by identifying a keyhole connector (a temporary access point between two trails or in this case a trail and the fire road above) that would allow us to more easily move debris up to the road for disposal. The hillside between the two ends was about 60 ft in length and steep in one section, so the idea was to set up a drag line rather than hand carry material up to the road.
Most the morning was spent clearing the hillside of vegetation, rocks, or anything else that could snag the material as it was pulled uphill, while on the road a drag line was set up and attached to a truck that would be used to pull the debris uphill.
Just before lunch the clearing work was finished, we did the first trial pull uphill and it worked!
After lunch we spent the remaining time working on the best ways to bundle material for the lift and staging more cut debris along the trail for our next workday.
Sequoia Crew
Meanwhile over on Sequoia Trail just north of 236, a BBVTC crew of five joined the District crew for a more strenuous effort. The work was on a narrow section of trail with a steep drop off on the downhill side that permitted little room for error.
The tasks included installing a split redwood retaining wall to hold the trail in place along with using a jack hammer to chip away a rock wall on the uphill side to widen the trail. Of course there was the usual pushing wheelbarrows full of rock and soil to a dump area and this work was a reminder of why we typically leave grunt work for younger people.
The crew put in 155 hours and thanks to Fremont Bainbridge, Jim Brooks, Rory Brooks, Karen Cheeniyil, Santhosh Cheeniyil, Cecil Coe, John Collins, Laurel Enders, Andrew Fiatal, Michele Gelblum, Peter Gelblum, Andrea Lee, Janie Leifhelm, Jack Marshall, John Martin, Joe Mitchell, Mike Peasland, Chris Young, Daniel Zichuhr, and newcomers Patty Fusari and Reave Hosman, for two very successful workdays!
View from Sequoia Trail
Sequoia West View
Mountain Iris
by Mike and Jeff
photos by Andrew, Fremont, Joe, Karen, Mike, and Patty