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!
Wow...or, rather, bow wow, you got the dog involved. His nick name is water bar because that's what he does as we work away on a trail.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan, for all the news. While the REI group 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 severly grooved trail turn into something that won't catch a bike tire.
Thanks, I added your comments to the blog.
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