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By admin, April 15, 2010 12:26 pm

• • McLeods
  • Rakes
  • Flat shovels
• Extra tools if you’ve got them:
• A 4-Wheel drive vehicle, if you’ve got one that can carry people
  
• Water to hydrate yourself
• Recommended clothing
  
  • Well-fitting gloves
  • Hiking or work boots
  • Long-leg pants / work jeans
  • Long-sleeve shirt
  • Jacket or sweater in case it is cold
  • Hat for shade
  • Eye protection: safety glasses or shades
  • Helmet — we’re working in close proximity to each other, head protection is a good idea
    

Bike Monkey will provide the following:

• Volunteer waivers
• Coordination of trail work areas
  
• Refreshments
• Pizza in Cobb after the work-day

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By admin, March 16, 2010 6:37 am

The fifth annual Boggs 8 Hour Solo and Team Mountain Bike Race takes off at early on the morning of April 3rd. Each year this mountain bike race has sold doubled in size until last year when it sold out to the tune of more than 400 participants. While the race is sold out, it’s not too late to join in the fun. Volunteers are needed for the following:

• Registration – 6am
• Food service – evening
• Rest stop – couple of shifts during the day
• Beer/waste monitoring (with Ken Wells)
• Clean up

A portion of the proceeds for refreshments goes to the Trails Council — if we can put together enough volunteers to help out, so your service will directly support our programs. Please contact volunteer@bikemonkey.net to sign up or for questions. See the race page for additional event details

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By admin, January 7, 2010 1:30 pm

Sonoma County Regional Parks is pleased to announce the kickoff of expanded public access at Tolay Lake Regional Park with the new Interim Plan (IP) Day-Use Permit Program.

The new IP Day-Use Permit Program allows the public to visit the park during posted hours once they’ve completed an hour-long orientation and obtained a permit. Regional Parks is offering these mandatory one-hour orientations, free of charge, which cover permit procedures, and rules & regulations. After the orientation, participants receive Tolay IP Day-Use Permits, along with maps, park rules & regulations, and gate access cards. Permit holders may use the park for a variety of activities, including hiking, bicycling, picnicking, or horseback riding. Regular day-use parking fees apply.

Orientation sessions:

ORIENTATIONS START PROMPTLY – LATE ARRIVALS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED

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By admin, January 7, 2010 1:24 pm

LandPaths, the Sonoma County Ag Preservation & Open Space District, and Sonoma County Regional Parks are offering an interim Permit Program at Taylor Mountain in Santa Rosa, similar to the one in place at Willow Creek and Tolay Lake. After a one-hour orientation on the property, you will receive a free permit allowing biking, hiking and horseback riding on the 1000+ acre preserve. Contact LandPaths to make a reservation (RSVP required). Orientations will be be held on the following dates:

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By admin, December 4, 2009 7:30 am

A big thanks to everyone who came out for The  Trails Council’s annual membership meeting on Nov.17!  Attendance  on Nov. 17 was a little lower than we’d hope — perhaps due to the heavy rain — but those who made it had a good food and drink, great door prizes and heard an excellent  presentation, “Maximizing the  Community Value of Trails” by Randy Martin, professional trail designer and builder.

Swoopy Trails

Randy’s firm, Trailscape, has completed trail projects in the Sierra foothills, Susanville, CA, and most recently, Jamaica. Randy spoke on how well designed and built trails provide value to communities as they satisfy the growing demand  for outdoor recreation while providing an experience with nature that feeds the heart and soul. In Randy’s experience, trails with a relatively low overall grade (4-6%) and short, steeper grade reversals create undulating trails that are durable and more enjoyable for all users. Through slides and videos, he demonstrated how this design worked in a number of settings, with a focus on a single track trail recently completed near Susanville and his project in Jamaica.

Randy has more videos from these and other projects on YouTube.

Elections and Swag

After a brief presentation of the year’s accomplishments and events, accompanied by trail project photos courtesy of  Tim Mayer, the entire Board of Directors was reelected (thank you!).  And thanks to our sponsors, REI, Sonoma Bicycle Company and Fly Goat Coffee, almost all attendees came away with a door prize, including a Giro helmet and Sonoma Bicycle Company gift certificates, a sleeping bag, backpack, jackets, premium coffee and more. Finally, a big thanks to all the members of the Board for putting together a great evening!

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By admin, December 4, 2009 6:34 am

Completed causeway

Thanks to the great efforts of Tim Mayer and the State Parks staff, we successfully repaired a portion of the Spring Creek Trail located about one half mile up from the Spring Creek/Canyon trail intersection. For this project, completed the weekend of Oct. 31/Nov. 1, we built two sections of causeway to elevate the trail through particularly muddy spots. Over the course of the two days, a dozen volunteers prepared the trail bed with McLeods and mattocks, laid down geotextile to prevent materials from sinking into the muck, and moved rock and tread mix in wheelbarrows to create the raised surface before a final compaction.

A few large boulders hid under the tread with only a small portion cropping out — a few volunteers valiantly excavated and moved them out of the way. The other challenge was the amount of traffic on the trail while we worked, which had the benefit of forcing the crew to take frequent breaks.

Check out the rest of Tim’s photos from the project, then take a ride, hike or run to see the finished project. The causeways are located about 1/2 mi. south of the intersection of Spring Creek and Canyon trails; they are roughly 100 yards north of the Ilsanjo spillway drainage.

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By admin, October 20, 2009 4:15 pm

Now that we have had some rain and the soil is workable we want to begin the long-awaited Spring Creek Trail project.  The site, which is about half a mile up the trail from the intersection of the Spring Creek and Canyon trails, is a wet muddy mess in the winter, and we hope to build a long-lasting repair with short sections of causeways.

This summer we hauled rock and tread mix up to the project site, so some of the heavy work has already been done.  Now we would like to get together a crew of 6 or 8 to actually build the project.   The work will consist of preparing the trail bed with McLeods and mattocks, moving rock and tread mix in wheelbarrows for a short distance (50 to 100 feet, generally downhill), placing materials (fabric, border rocks, drain rock, and tread mix), and finally compacting the surface.  We plan to begin work on Saturday, October 31.  This trail is gets a lot of use, and we don’t want to leave the project unfinished, so those who can will work on Sunday, Nov 1 as well.

If the weather doesn’t cooperate for the 31st or 1st, we’ll try again the following weekend, Nov. 7th and/or 8th.

Leader for this project is Tim Mayer. Please contact Tim directly to sign up for either (or both) days.

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By admin, September 25, 2009 5:29 pm

Sonoma County Regional Park recently announced a new day-use permit program to increase access to Tolay Lake Regional Park. The program, similar to that implemented at the Willow Creek addition to Sonoma Coast State Park, allows the public to visit the park during posted hours once they’ve completed an hour-long orientation and obtained a permit. Tolay Lake Re­gional Park will be open to permit holders for hiking, bicycling, horseback riding and picnicking starting September 18th. See below for a list of upcoming orientations For information on these and future orientations visit the Regional Parks Tolay Interim Plan page.  Hats-off to the park staff, volunteers and community mem­bers who supported the access planning for this south-county jewel.

Orientation sessions:

ORIENTATIONS START PROMPTLY – LATE ARRIVALS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED

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By admin, September 6, 2009 10:33 pm

On July 13, at the site of the future Taylor Mountain Park, Sonoma County Open Space District and Regional Parks staff and Third District Supervisor Shirlee Zane introduced a revised Interim Access Plan to allow public access while a Master Plan for the property is prepared. The revised Access Plan will allow hikers, cyclists and equestrians to use the existing ranch road to get to the top of the mountain. Access will be limited to those with a permit obtained by participating in an orientation meeting. This access program, similar to the current program at Willow Creek, will be managed by LandPaths.  The access program is proposed to start this fall, after the CEQA documentation is completed. The SCTC will stay involved with the Interim Access Plan and the Master Plan process.

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By admin, September 6, 2009 10:30 pm

Tim Mayer led the way in moving several tons of materials to the site of our causeway project on  Spring Creek Trail at Annadel State Park We’re now entering the design phase and expect to construct the causeway in October and early November, though the planned State Park closures may affect the schedule. Stay tuned for volunteer opportunities for this much needed project.