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We've all been inundated with Covid-19 news coverage (don't watch too much of it), so it's no news that we'll have to cancel the Trail Crew's April workday scheduled for this Saturday. State Parks has closed day use parking at all 280 of it it's parks and beaches and for Big Basin this means they aren't allowing parking within two miles of headquarters.
A big turnout of 18 for the workday, which included 10 regulars, one newcomer who seemed interested in our work, six from American Conservation Experience (Americorp) and one friend of Dale P. who wasn't quite sure what Dale had talked her into. We almost had 15 CCC's, but they backed out when we said they needed to bring their own hand tools (that would have been nuts).
As the January workday approached we seemed to face two opposing forces, a shortened workday due to the afternoon Holiday Party and winter weather that left trail issues in almost every part of the park - Skyline-to-Sea, Sequoia, Creeping Forest, Dool, Sunset. And those were just the ones we knew about in advance.
The park needed the BBVTC help in splitting wood for the HQ fireplace. We usually move the wood from the Maintenance Yard but this year the park asked if we could split the wood too. So we came out for a second NOV workday. Seven crew members came out on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and we split about three cords of wood.
We cut some of the logs into manageable lengths while the rest of the crew used the log spliter for most of the job but some we split by hand.
Hopefully 3 cords with keep the fire going over the winter
The crew put in 44 hrs cutting about 3 cords of wood and thanks to John Collins, John Martin, Mike Peasland, David Philleo, Aaron Poulos, Devdutt Sheth and Chris Young, for splitting firewood on the second workday in Nov 2019.
The November workday started as a classic example of the microclimate weather you often hear about on weather reports. As I left home on the San Jose side of the hill the temperature was in the low 50's with valley fog. As I headed downhill from Saratoga Gap towards Boulder Creek the car outside temperature sensor said it was 70 and by the time I arrived at park headquarters it was a chilly 43.
October's workday looked to be a full day with chainsaw restrictions from the Murrelet nesting season lifted and problems on Dool, Pine Mountain and Sequoia Group Camp trails, to deal with.
The biggest issue was going to be a 5-foot Doug fir on Dool just below Gazos Creek Fire Rd that had closed the trail since May. We had requested the State Trail Crew leave a splitting maul and steel wedges at HQ so we could split the rounds as they came off the tree, but unfortunately the request fell through the cracks and sent us on an early morning scramble to find replacements and delayed the work. Fortunately the Pine Mtn/Sequoia Group Camp crew decided to head out for their work rather than wait for the Dool crew to get itself untracked.
Sometimes trail work doesn't go quite as imagined and our September workday seemed to be one of those days. The plan was to spend the morning working with the State Crew on a new bridge on Skyline-to-Sea near the Maddock Cabin Site with the afternoon reserved for prepping the Sky Meadow Ramada for the October overnight.
