Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Hard Work Until The Very End
In spite of the cold days and some snow, we were still going out and working in November. But that is why we live in beautiful Santa Fe. Our Team Leaders had four work days on the trail, and lead and our hale and hearty volunteers up and away to continue our progress, maintaining the Dale Ball Trails.
For our large work event, Scott from the County Open Space and Trails Program requested a work day to clean up the trails and parking lot at the Arroyo Hondo Open Space off Old Aqua Fria West. The trails are about two years old and were correctly laid out and built so the actual maintenance needed on the trail was minor. The new parking lot, put in this year by the County was attractively designed to keep the trees in tact and creates a lovely entrance to this historic and very beautiful site.
We had 12 volunteers show up and we worked for a solid 2 ½ hours and got everything done that the County requested. Scott directed the workers and our session. Our Team Leaders, County staff and volunteers all pitched in for a very successful work day which ended in sampling some home made brownies. Thanks to all for a job very well done and a wonderful time working out on the trails.
Invitation!! On December 31, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. we will hold our second annual End of the Year Hike. Meet our Team Leader Margaret will lead a hike of the La Tierra trails.
Directions: From Highway 599, turn north onto Camino de los Montoyas (the Unity Church is near this intersection). Go north for approximately 1.5 miles and you will see a communications tower on the right. Go .25 miles further to a parking lot on the right. Meet here for the hike.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
October News 2009
Sierra del Norte Trail Re-Route; A GREAT Success!!
And a good time was had by all.
Team Leaders and volunteers showed up early in the morning on October 2, to begin our re-route of the trail head at the Sierra del Norte parking lot, off Hyde Park Road. We began our work day with our standard tool and safety talk. Although it was chilly on that new fall morning, the sun did a wonderful job of warming us all up as we worked.
Cynthia our volunteer trails guru flagged the trail before the event and led the volunteers through their dirt management. Our super-duper dynamic duo Team Leaders, Steve and Cath worked diligently the night before trimming some of the tree branches and vegetation so that the site would be ready on Friday morning. Steve did not mess around and brought his own chain saw to quickly dispatch the larger branches. The next day Cath and some helpers disassembled and wrangled a large dead Cholla that was in the path.
Scott, a representative from the County passed out water bottles to the volunteers and worked along side everyone to accomplish our tasks at hand.
Prior to the main event, several dedicated City staff did a lot of prep work removing the fence rails for the new trail head and the new crossing for the trail across the street. Special thanks to Fabian Chavez, Nestor Martinez and Leroy Pacheco for their support and work in getting phase one accomplished and supplying the rail road ties and gravel.
We had volunteers digging dirt and moving rocks, spreading new gravel, picking up trash, and cutting down the over grown elm spurs. We also passed out a number of our volunteer business cards to hikers and mountain bike riders who commented on and appreciated our work.
Executive Chef, Cord Martin was recruited by Steve and Cath and did a wonderful job cooking a boat load of hamburgers and hot dogs for all the hungry troops. Everyone left the site full of good food and satisfied with their accomplishment of creating a new safe trail head. Thanks to all of the Trails Alliance of Santa Fe volunteers and the splendid work they did to make this a happen.
The Mountain School Day of Service
On the following Sunday the Trails Coordinator for the Trails Alliance of Santa Fe, along with the head of a local private school, lead a group of nine volunteers from Albuquerque and Santa Fe who were all alumni of the Mountain School in Vermont. This was an afternoon event and a very enthusiastic group of experienced outdoor people showed up to learn about trail building in the mountains of Santa Fe. Steve our supreme Team Leader lead half of the group farther up trail #3 and the Trails Coordinator worked with a small group on trail #2. We de-bermed and re-cut the bench along the trail and removed the excess debris to take the trail back to its original width. We all had a happy time with our McLeod’s.
Volunteer Appreciation
On Saturday, October 17 our long time board member Janie Bingham and her husband George hosted a volunteer appreciation BBQ lunch with hamburgers and chicken and a special cake designed to look like our trail business card. Two other board members, Connie and Dave showed up to help with set-up and cooking and to chat with our volunteers. The day was beautiful and after lunch, our group went on a hike at the Arroyo Hondo Open Space. We admired the lovely new parking lot that the County has had installed and then hiked the trail to the views, the old dam and back again. Scott and Beth from the County talked about the significance of the surrounding area and how important that it was protected and is now open for the enjoyment of the community.
REI Service Project
On October 24, Kerry from REI joined six new volunteers and our Team Leaders, Scott and Suzanne for maintenance work on the Dale Ball Trail off Sierra del Norte Rd. We fixed two big areas of serious erosion and removed a number of upper trail dams that were causing damage to the hillsides above the trails and as well as to the trails. We had an excellent group of volunteers who did a super job taking direction and using the tools. And of course, they properly admired our new trail head re-route off the parking lot, which we used to hike up and back for our work project. A big thank you to Kerry for organizing this group of new people who are ready and willing to join us again for work on the trails.
Margaret, our Team Leader writes, "While REI worked above us, Keith and Margaret did a number on an eroded switchback, between #3 and #4, not far from Sierra del Norte Road. It was extremely satisfying to see a severely grooved trail turn into something that won't catch a bike tire."
And a good time was had by all.
Team Leaders and volunteers showed up early in the morning on October 2, to begin our re-route of the trail head at the Sierra del Norte parking lot, off Hyde Park Road. We began our work day with our standard tool and safety talk. Although it was chilly on that new fall morning, the sun did a wonderful job of warming us all up as we worked.
Cynthia our volunteer trails guru flagged the trail before the event and led the volunteers through their dirt management. Our super-duper dynamic duo Team Leaders, Steve and Cath worked diligently the night before trimming some of the tree branches and vegetation so that the site would be ready on Friday morning. Steve did not mess around and brought his own chain saw to quickly dispatch the larger branches. The next day Cath and some helpers disassembled and wrangled a large dead Cholla that was in the path.
Scott, a representative from the County passed out water bottles to the volunteers and worked along side everyone to accomplish our tasks at hand.
Prior to the main event, several dedicated City staff did a lot of prep work removing the fence rails for the new trail head and the new crossing for the trail across the street. Special thanks to Fabian Chavez, Nestor Martinez and Leroy Pacheco for their support and work in getting phase one accomplished and supplying the rail road ties and gravel.
We had volunteers digging dirt and moving rocks, spreading new gravel, picking up trash, and cutting down the over grown elm spurs. We also passed out a number of our volunteer business cards to hikers and mountain bike riders who commented on and appreciated our work.
Executive Chef, Cord Martin was recruited by Steve and Cath and did a wonderful job cooking a boat load of hamburgers and hot dogs for all the hungry troops. Everyone left the site full of good food and satisfied with their accomplishment of creating a new safe trail head. Thanks to all of the Trails Alliance of Santa Fe volunteers and the splendid work they did to make this a happen.
The Mountain School Day of Service
On the following Sunday the Trails Coordinator for the Trails Alliance of Santa Fe, along with the head of a local private school, lead a group of nine volunteers from Albuquerque and Santa Fe who were all alumni of the Mountain School in Vermont. This was an afternoon event and a very enthusiastic group of experienced outdoor people showed up to learn about trail building in the mountains of Santa Fe. Steve our supreme Team Leader lead half of the group farther up trail #3 and the Trails Coordinator worked with a small group on trail #2. We de-bermed and re-cut the bench along the trail and removed the excess debris to take the trail back to its original width. We all had a happy time with our McLeod’s.
Volunteer Appreciation
On Saturday, October 17 our long time board member Janie Bingham and her husband George hosted a volunteer appreciation BBQ lunch with hamburgers and chicken and a special cake designed to look like our trail business card. Two other board members, Connie and Dave showed up to help with set-up and cooking and to chat with our volunteers. The day was beautiful and after lunch, our group went on a hike at the Arroyo Hondo Open Space. We admired the lovely new parking lot that the County has had installed and then hiked the trail to the views, the old dam and back again. Scott and Beth from the County talked about the significance of the surrounding area and how important that it was protected and is now open for the enjoyment of the community.
REI Service Project
On October 24, Kerry from REI joined six new volunteers and our Team Leaders, Scott and Suzanne for maintenance work on the Dale Ball Trail off Sierra del Norte Rd. We fixed two big areas of serious erosion and removed a number of upper trail dams that were causing damage to the hillsides above the trails and as well as to the trails. We had an excellent group of volunteers who did a super job taking direction and using the tools. And of course, they properly admired our new trail head re-route off the parking lot, which we used to hike up and back for our work project. A big thank you to Kerry for organizing this group of new people who are ready and willing to join us again for work on the trails.
Margaret, our Team Leader writes, "While REI worked above us, Keith and Margaret did a number on an eroded switchback, between #3 and #4, not far from Sierra del Norte Road. It was extremely satisfying to see a severely grooved trail turn into something that won't catch a bike tire."
And last but not least, meet our official Trails Mascot,
Aseri, the brave and wonderful!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Simmering this Summer and Welcoming the Fall
The fine weather in Santa Fe has been unusually hot this summer, with seldom a real break from the intense heat. For some of the Team Leaders, the heat cut short the work sessions. This was necessary so that our teams do not get too much sun exposure, or become overly fatigued from their trail maintenance work.
The Team Leaders and their volunteers this summer have worked diligently and have been a mighty crew, not letting the sun daunt their desire to make significant progress on the trail. The three sections of trail, Picacho Peak, Sierra del Norte and Cerros Colorado have all been greatly improved and the hard work of our volunteers is evident.
Steve, Cath, Larry and Margaret have been concentrating their efforts on the Sierra del Norte Trail off Hyde Park Road and have completed fixing five switchbacks on the west side and one switchback and other trail damage on the south side that was caused by a couple of marauding bears frequently spotted in the neighborhood and on the trails. Judy has been working on the Cerros Colorados Trail off Cerros Colorados (also off Hyde Park Road) and has installed several drainage dips, humps and has completed plenty of de-berming. Les has invented his own “Lesanator” and is tackling the trail from the Nature Conservancy/City Trail entrance, going up to Picacho Peak. He is already past trail marker #30 and is determined to make significant progress before the snow flies.
The amount of work accomplished on each section of trail is truly inspiring and the Trails Alliance of Santa Fe is grateful and proud to have such hardworking and dedicated volunteers.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Train, Train, Train!
And so we did; in the sun, wind, snow and mud, our hale and hearty volunteers worked to upgrade their trail maintenance skills, learned how to manage their own team of volunteers, and explore the mysteries of rock work, the "scooching" and "finning" of our odd shaped southwest rocks.
Our great thanks go out to the Outdoor Stewardship Institute for sending Bob Finch to provide the training. Santa Fe County, one of the Coalition partners, paid for this as they know it is important to upgrade the skills of our dedicated volunteers.
We are now preparing our monthly schedule for the Team Leaders, which will be posted on our website; www.trailsofsantafe.org We have also posted our Trail Maintenance training schedule on our Events Calendar on the website.
Please join our volunteers! We have a wonderful time and take great pride in the work we accomplish on the Dale Ball Trails!
Monday, January 5, 2009
End of Year Hike 2008
The Trails of Santa Fe Coalition ended the year with a wonderful snowy walk around the County’s gorgeous Arroyo Hondo Open Space (AHOS) off of
After introductions and background information about the site provided by our County staff hosts, Beth and Scott, we were on our way through the snow and sun. Our hale and hearty volunteers joined us as well as some new folks with hiking interests, and we were all up for the snowy challenge. We worked our way up to the top of the trail where the scenic
Thanks to Bill, our trusted Trails Committee board member for suggesting our hike, to County staff for leading the way and educating us, and to our wonderful volunteers who have worked hard on the trails during the past year and joined us for a winter respite.
A special thank you to Steve for supplying the pictures!
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