Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado: Continental Divide Trail Construction, Clear Creek Reservoir, 7/28-7/30

Trailcology made a stop on the Continental Divide Trail this past weekend for 2 days of trail restoration and rerouting near the historic mining town of Winfield between Leadville and Buena Vista. Together the Continental Divide Trail System runs 3,100 miles between Canada and Mexico. It’s estimated that the trail is 70 % complete and only about 24 people per year attempt to complete the entire route. In conjunction with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) and the U.S Forest Service there is an ongoing effort to move this Colorado section of the trail further away from the 4x4 road and clear it of debris for safer access. Ultimately, the goal is to connect with the extremely popular Lake Ann Trail located in the middle of the towering Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. This is one of the more scenic areas I’ve had the opportunity to visit and there are an endless array of climbing opportunities in the area including, Missouri Mountain, Huron Peak and La Plata Peak, three of the smaller 14ers in the state.  The area is extremely popular with campers and backpackers so it’s become an urgent necessity to repair and clean up the trail.  This is one of 9 weekends that VOC will spend in this area over the summer and more volunteers are definitely needed.

                Over the weekend our group attacked and graded more than 500 feet of trail above Winfield and built a lengthy addition to the rock ‘turnpike’ that crosses over the wetlands at the base of Granite Mountain and the Three Apostles.  On Saturday, our crew mostly focused on carving the upslope of the trail to a 45 degree angle to allow for good water flow and developing a solid ‘critical edge’ on the downslope of the trail. We also removed boulders and stacked and sorted them according to size for construction of the ‘turnpike’.  Because there was an old mining road adjacent to the new section of trail, we used the debris from our excavation to cover up the road and keep people on the trail. After a long day of work we returned to the campsite for cold beer and a delicious dinner of biscuits, chicken stroganoff and red velvet cake.  Since the fire ban prevented us from partaking in the main event of any good group camp-out, most people chose to retire to their tents early after a long day of work.

                Sunday morning, we arrived at the worksite with a slightly smaller crew after a few volunteers departed the night before. We quickly got to work continuing the ‘turnpike ‘and cleaning up the trail from yesterday’s work.  Our focus was on continuing the rockwork and covering a washed out portion of trail above where we worked the day before. This stage of the project was my first experience using a rock sling and bars to haul boulders and I have to say it was extremely rewarding work.  Although it took us 10-20 minutes each time to get the rocks up from the lower portion of the trail we made the process more enjoyable with plenty of lively and encouraging conversation.  Other volunteers worked to chip larger rocks and prepare the upper sections of trail for future work. When we ended on Sunday afternoon it was amazing to see the progress that was made over the weekend. I can't wait to get up here again and see the finished product that is years in the making.

Enjoy the Photo Gallery:

Happy Trails!

-Jon

"A first-rate trails system can only be created by people."

—President's Commission on Americans Outdoors

1987

Americans and the Outdoors

 

WRV Crew Leader Training

Crew Leader training was this weekend and I had an awesome time learning leadership and ecological restoration skills in one of the last remaining Civilian Conservation Corp Camps in the United States. The CCC was formed post Great Depression and operated from 1933 to 1942. They offered thousands of men rewarding work and the opportunity to rejuvenate the stagnant economy. The CCC is responsible for building some of our nation’s finest parks and highways including, Red Rocks Amphitheater which opened in 1941. There were once more than 4,500 of these camps but only a handful remain so it was extra special to be sitting in the birthplace of the greatest music venue in the world. The training was taught by the amazing staff at Wildlands RestorationVolunteers (WRV) and followed the comprehensive crew leadership manual provided by The Outdoor Stewardship Institute (OSI).  Throughout the weekend, Denver Mountain Parks graciously provided us space in an old CCC  hall where we examined topics ranging from dealing with different learning styles, conflict management and the proper methods for carrying, using, storing and safely engaging with tools. We even got a really cool history lesson about the camp from a DMP employee on Sunday morning.  We also learned how to properly assess your crew, provide praise, recognition and feedback and follow the correct agency protocols on projects. There were a variety of different WRV staff members present at the trainings and each module took on a slightly different feel according to the personality of the instructor.  

CCC Camp-Morrison, CO

 After spending the morning indoors learning and going through exercises, we ventured to Red Rocks in the afternoon to practice the skills we learned. Saturday afternoon was spent on the edge of the lower south lot at Red Rocks where we learned to dig seed and place erosion matting in a highly degraded and sensitive area. Although we had limited time on Saturday, I really enjoyed the hands on practice with seeding and it was awesome to see our new group collaborating so efficiently.

               

Red Rocks Social Trail

Hard At Work Laying Coconut Fiber Erosion Matting

Nate In Action

Sunday involved more hands on training as we ventured to a popular and less than desirable ‘social trail’ at Red Rocks to practice transplanting and erosion control techniques.  The park is cracking down on these illegal social trails that slither throughout the park and we were responsible for closing one of the more frequented routes. The first part of the morning was spent digging up shrubs and grasses and transplanting them on the social trail to decrease the potential use. We also gathered slash and placed it over the trail to prevent people from entering the area. In the afternoon we switched gears and learned to install rock structures to prevent erosion and control the flow of water.  This was my favorite part of the weekend as I quickly learned that it’s insanely fun to gather rocks and fit them like puzzle pieces into the right areas. After this, we concluded our training by practicing various crew scenarios. We learned to deal with the volatile husband and wife tandem, the overly eager distracted volunteer and the extremely dehydrated worker. Big thanks to Nate for being the best and most calm instructor possible through these scenarios.

Tremendous View

After this weekend I certainly feel much more confident leading a crew and can’t wait to get out there and mentor on a few more projects. Although the technical aspect of each project is something I’m still learning about, I’m anticipating this knowledge will grow as I continue to volunteer . Thanks to WRV and the Denver Mountain Parks for a fantastic weekend!


Enjoy the Pictures!

-Jon

"Trails have multiple values and their benefits reach far beyond recreation. Trails can 

enrich the quality of life for individuals, make communities more livable, and 

protect, nurture, and showcase America’s grandeur by traversing areas of natural 

beauty, distinctive geography, historic significance, and ecological diversity. Trails 

are important for the nation’s health, economy, resource protection and education." 

—American Trails, Trails for All Americans report, 1990 

Repairing Bridges In Lory State Park

The restoration effort is fully underway at Lory State Park following the devastating Galena Fire that roared through the park in early March. Although the cause of the fire was eventually determined to be accidental, 10 multi-use wooden bridges important for resource protection and trail safety were completely destroyed in the fire. This prompted the Friends of Lory State Park to launch a volunteer initiative to repair the bridges and safely reopen the valley trails that were scarred by the fire. 

March 15th 2013

Along with the assistance of The Fort Collins Kiwanis Club, these bridges will be slowly replaced over the next month. I was able to get out on an initial volunteer day and had an awesome time leveling and placing the beams for the new bridges and staging materials throughout the park. Replacing these bridges is no easy task, as many require new concrete pillars to be placed. Today's action was on the West Valley Trail where we were able to finish construction on one of the priority bridges.  

The goal is try to be prepared for the 3^rd annual “40 in the Fort” endurance mountain bike race on June 29^th.  The work was a concentrated effort that involved staging materials, sawing wood and leveling out the trail for the new structure. We also dug down and removed a massive 9-foot railroad tie that was holding the old bridge in place. Although we made significant progress, there is still plenty of work to be done and volunteers are desperately needed. Friends of Lory have set up a sign up page for the bridge repair, which can be found here.  This is extremely rewarding work and I highly recommend putting your mark on the fire restoration effort.  The Park has smartly provided a detailed map of the damaged bridges and closed trails. Check it out; you can clearly see the path that the fire took through the park.  

Clean the Poudre 2013

In Jon's second post he tells us about his experience during the recent Poudre River Cleanup, sounds like it was a great event!  Trailcology appreciates the organizations and citizens who took the time to organize the event and cleanup, thanks!  - Chris



The 14^th annual Cache la Poudre River Cleanup was held last Saturday and it turned out to be an awesome day helping get the river and trail in sparkling shape for the summer. Local rafting company Mountain Whitewater Descents coordinated the event with additional sponsors including Save the Poudre, City of Fort Collins Natural Areas, American Rivers and New World Sports. Its estimated that between 80-90 volunteers arrived bright and early at Lee Martinez Park armed with work gloves and a passion for keeping our local river and trail system free of trash.  After a quick orientation and safety meeting reminding everyone to leave the sketchy items behind, the volunteers were given trash bags and set free to clean the river and trail between Shields and Lemay Ave. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the overall lack of trash along this stretch of the river.  This is one of the most heavily trafficked sections of the Poudre Trail and is also one of the more scenic stretches of urban river that you can find anywhere. Although we discovered quite a mess on the north side of the river especially around College Avenue, it was still relatively clean after a long winter. I think this speaks to the incredible community of environmentally conscious citizens that we have in Fort Collins. Everyone loves the river and is willing to give it the care it deserves.  On an even better note, the Poudre is running high and appears to be much cleaner and less clogged with debris after the High Park Fire last June. I highly recommend attending this event in the future as it is extremely rewarding and really brings the community together. 
I had the chance to speak with several anglers on the river throughout the morning and they were all incredibly appreciative of the work being done. One guy even managed to snag a large brown trout right as we were passing through the area.  
Following the cleanup, a large volunteer appreciation event was held at Mountain Whitewater Descents located at 1329 North Highway 287. Food was provided by the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant and LaPorte Pizza with plenty of tasty beer courtesy of Odell’s.  This was an awesome way to end the day and it was great to talk with all the volunteers about their experience.  Overall, everyone seemed to have a positive experience and many indicated this is an event they will return to for years to come.  Get out on the Poudre Trail and check out the hard work done by our local volunteers, it’s pretty encouraging.   


Happy Trails!
-Jon

"People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened. Showing up is 80 % of life."
   -Woody Allen 

Summer Explorations: Vedauwoo

With all the trails and recreation opportunities available in the Fort Collins area, it’s easy to forget that the wild terrain of southeastern Wyoming beckons just to our north.  Although the secret has already been out for quite some time, there is a vast, granite oasis hidden in this barren landscape called Vedauwoo (Vi De Vu). Named for the Arapahoe word meaning “earth born,” Vedauwoo is a high altitude maze of Sherman granite, dense pine forests and aspen groves that draws mountain bikers, climbers, hikers and snowshoers to its easily accessible location off Interstate 80, 20 miles east of Laramie.  (You can view the close proximity to I80 on this map).  Most passing motorists ignore this area as it isn’t completely visible from the highway (Exit # 329) but a short trip past the exit reveals a startling array of climbing opportunities, wildlife and scenic camping. The University of Wyoming holds a ritual called the Vertical Dance on the cliffs every spring. This event draws hundreds of people and it really highlights how versatile and sacred this area really is.  The alien-esque rock at Vedauwoo is 1.4 million year old Sherman Granite, exposed over thousands of years by the gradual uplift of the Laramie Mountains to the south. Amazingly, the Tetons, 8 hours to the north, are still more than a billion years older than this formation. You can learn more about the geology of the region through this interesting Turnstone article.  Wyoming also maintains a detailed online database on Vedauwoo and the interesting trails in the region. 

The randomness and beauty of the area make it immensely popular with Wyoming residents who flock here every summer to climb one of the more than 900-recorded routes in the region and observe the large populations of mule deer, elk and yellow-bellied marmots that call Vedauwoo home.  There are 28 semi primitive campsites available at a minimal fee of 10 dollars per night, although many people choose to camp at a non-designated spot further into the park.  If a daytrip is what you prefer, a 5-dollar fee is required to park your vehicle.  Updated campsite information and alerts can be found here. With incredible views of the Continental Divide and Longs Peak from every angle, it’s a small price to pay for access to such an amazing area. Although the official USFS open date for the area is May 15^th, you can still park outside the gates and walk in at any time of year. I can’t wait to get up there and take some updated pictures of those crazy rock formations and infamous crack climbs.

Project Day: Hermit Park Open Space Slash Pile Burn Scar Remediation 4/6/13

Wow.  What a beautiful property Larimer County has with the Hermit Park Open Space.  Being able to spend a day remediating burn scars on the landscape at Hermit Park was more like a day of enjoying the outdoors with new friends more than it was a full day of work.  The weather forecast leading up to the project day wasn't exactly giving me warm fuzzy feelings.  When the project day finally arrived, we had nothing but sunny skies the whole day.

Casey Cisneros

The day started with all of the volunteers and County staff gathering at the Hermit Park visitors center.  After some chatting over pastries and coffee we headed up the road to the Hermit Cabin picnic area.  We assembled our tools and received a great project overview and example of our work for the day from Casey Cisneros.  Then we formed into small crews of 4-5 and headed out on our own to remediate as many slash pile burn scars as we were able to.

Hydrophobic soil clod

Remediating slash pile burn scars is actually quite fun.  It's sort of a combination of gardening and ecological restoration.  The process starts by clearing remnant debris from the burn scar and using a stiff garden rake to break up the soils.  Many times, slash pile burning causes hydrophobic soils - soils that resist water infiltration due to the buildup of a waxy coating caused by the high heat of a stationary fire - which restricts plant growth on the burn patch.

Preparing the seedbed

After the soils are broken up the seedbed is prepared by raking the soil until the patch looks a bit like a garden bed, the tines of the rake making many small furrows.  Seeds are then thrown out by hand, or using a broadcast seeder.  The next step is to use a floppy metal leaf rake to do the "hop and shuffle"!  I know it sounds silly but this method is extremely effective for incorporating the seeds into the soil without covering them with too much soil.  Essentially, you bounce the rake back and forth across the soil surface, or hop-and-shuffle the rake across the soil.

Seeding

Finishing touches

Once all of the seeds have been incorporated you finish the remediation process by adding grass litter, pine needles, pine cones, sticks, etc as a form of mulch to improve soil moisture and reduce the probability of seeds blowing away.

Our 4-person crew was able to remediate about 15 slash piles during the course of the day, as a group we addressed roughly 75 slash piles around the Cabin Loop of Hermit Park.  It was really a gorgeous day and was a lot of fun!  Hopefully Trailcology will be able to make back up to Hermit Park this fall to treat some more slash piles, especially since they were able to burn another 75 this spring!

Enjoy the pictures!

Happy Trails,

Chris

Demonstrating how to throw seed

Alex talks to us about some of the plants we are seeing

It's not always hard work!

Our Crew!

Project Day: Friends of Lory trails day at Lory State Park

On April 27th Trailcology assisted the Friends of Lory and Overland Mountain Bike Club groups to maintain a variety of trails in Lory State Park that needed some love. The weather was amazing and so were all of the volunteers that came out to help!

After a general introduction from Friends of Lory we broke up into separate crews and were assigned trail segments. The Trailcology crew was made up of Jon and I along with 7 other folks. We were fortunate enough to be assigned the Mill Creek and Howard trails! Other groups were assigned to the Shoreline trail, the South Valley trail, and Arthur's Rock trail - all of which were impacted by the Galena Fire. The majority of work for the day was all maintenance related such as, cleaning out water bars, breaking down berms, and adding drainage features like nicks and rolling grade dips.

As we started to make our way up Mill Creek we stopped to look at all of the drainage structures on the way up. If you're not familiar with Mill Creek trail you should know that there are many water bars and steps on the way up Mill Creek from the South Valley trail. Many of these made for good learning points where we could stop and talk about the work that needed to be done on these kinds of structures. After everyone was comfortable with what we needed to do I broke the crew up into smaller crews to tackle a small section of trail at a time. I had two crews working on grade dips and one working on a water bar (which was beautifully done!). Everything was going very smoothly and we were accomplishing quite a bit along the Mill Creek and Howard Trails, until we found a questionable section of trail under a ponderosa pine.

The section of trail that came into question was on Howard and was directly under a ponderosa pine. The out slope of the trail was starting to erode because the edge was very soft from years of pine needle deposition. We decided that if it was left alone it would probably cause the trail to creep downhill. The decision was made to complete a rock retaining wall that would hold the trail tread in place for years to come.

We knew that we only had an hour and a half to complete the work but by that time all of my mini crews came together and we were able to get some serious work done! We started by digging down to hard mineral soil on the out slope edge to remove the excessive buildup of soft soil and pine needles. While some of the crew was cutting a bench into the hillside the rest of the crew went on rock detail to find suitable large rocks to build the foundation of the wall. Once we had made a large enough bench we started to stack the rocks. Building a rock retaining wall is a bit like working on a large, very heavy, jigsaw puzzle. It takes a lot of patience and much trial and error to find a way to make the big rocks fit together in a way that will provide a stable foundation for the smaller rocks that follow on the upper layers of the wall. Once all of the rocks were in place we were able to start backfilling with soil and smaller rocks to create a solid trail tread that would resist the forces of all trail users as well as the natural forces of erosion.

Everyone on my crew did an absolutely amazing job with their small maintenance projects, but especially with the rock retaining wall. I have never seen a structure like that be built so well in such a short amount of time - it was really a testament to how well my crew worked together! After some celebratory high-fives and photos, we started heading back down the mountain to meet with the other crews and join in on the barbecue.

I had an amazing time on this project and cannot speak highly enough about my crew. Jack, Zack, Susan, Steve, Dave, Jameson, Corey, and Jon you guys rock!

Until next time, enjoy the photos from the day!

Happy Trails,

Chris

 

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