Since the CZU fires in 2020, we've watched the Ceanothus grow taller and thicker every season and wondered what impact it would have on future workdays. The short answer is to make the work even more difficult!  The Trail Crew's July 13th workday brought us to the stretch of Sequoia Trail between the old Wastahi Campground and Semperviren Falls and thickest Ceanothus we've encountered to date.

The June 29th workday was our first hot one of the summer, but fortunately it fell on what we decided would be a half workday due to the 'Art in the Park' special event. We also switched to our earlier summer start time which meant more time in the cool morning hours, so overall not too bad.

The Trail Crew's June 15th workday was a continuation of earlier work as we returned to the Sequoia Trail near the old Wastahi Campground on Sky Meadow Rd. The previous workday we had completed the initial rough cut that left us with a narrow corridor that resembled a game trail at best, so the goal this time was to expand on it by clearing the trail shoulder on both sides and then trimming the 6-8 foot high surrounding Ceanothus so it wasn't tall enough to droop onto the trail. 

Most Trail Crew workdays provide a sense of achievement as we begin the day with no sign of a trail anywhere thanks to the dense vegetation regrowth since the 2020 fires and by the end there is a walkable path through the forest that did not exist just hours before.  Our most recent workday was not one of those days.

The BBVTC's May 18th workday brought us to the end of the line in our initial effort on the Sequoia Trail, which in the pre-fire days was one of the most popular trails for Big Basin visitors. Beginning the work in mid-January, the initial goal was to rough cut the trail to the old Huckleberry Campground area, which park staff wants to reopen to visitor camping in spring-summer 2025, but just before the 18th we received updated instructions saying push-on to Wastahi!

Over the past year we've become accustomed to encountering increasingly dense vegetative regrowth, but the work on Sequoia is the thickest we've experienced as it sometimes requires getting down on hands and knees to determine the trail alignment we should be clearing. Over the past year we've become accustomed to encountering increasingly dense vegetative regrowth, but the work on Sequoia is the thickest we've experienced as it sometimes requires getting down on hands and knees to determine the trail alignment we should be clearing.

Since the Trail Crew began its post fire work in Big Basin, a standard workday has been to clear brush from a trail corridor, deposit it into burn piles and then repeat the process over and over and over again. Having to build burn piles slows progress as sites need to be identified and cleared, debris needs to be carried to the location and then assembled into a burn pile like a giant jigsaw puzzle. On a good day only about 150 yards of trail could be cleared, but the April 6th workday brought about a BIG change!

With almost four years since the CZU fires of 2020 vegetative regrowth is becoming more prolific, making it sometimes difficult to lay out trail routes for clearing. Especially when a reroute takes us away from the old trail corridor.  

The Crew's March 9th workday was our second day of realignment work on Sequoia Trail as we cut the corner on the hillside above the Hwy 236 - Sky Meadow intersection and although trail and off trail areas burned equally during the 2020 fires, off trail areas create unique challenges.

The Trail Crew's Feb. 24th workday was one of those false spring days with temps hitting 70 after lunch, but a nice break from what has been a wet 2024 so far. (By the following weekend, winter had returned with rain, afternoon temps in the mid-40's and the park closed for several days because of wind.)