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By admin, June 17, 2010 2:26 pm

The SCTC’s trail stewards, ably led by Tim Mayer, descended on Shiloh Ranch Regional Park’s Creekside Trail for two days of great work. On May 1, we tackled a pair of eroded sections that we discussed during last year’s trail stewardship training, as well as some smaller sections with ruts and berms.  For the largest section, the crew removed a stump at the top of a short, steep grade and dropped the overall  grade of the trail down over a 20 foot stretch to reduce erosion.

The problem -- a mudhole where the trail approaches the bridge. Our plan -- put in a French drain and build the trail up with crushed rock.

The crew returned on May 8 to address a boggy stretch just east of the bridge. Though the soil was now fairly dry, water seeping from the hillside where the trail passes across the nose of a small ridge had made the area difficult to traverse much of the winter. We installed a French drain above the trail to capture  seepage and installed a turnpike with gravel on the trail itself. Regional Parks staff delivered a motorized compactor to make sure the new material would stand up to horse traffic — the old boot tool (or hand compactor) don’t cut it when there will be immediate heavy use.

At the end of the day, we had a great looking stretch of hardened trail and it should keep the trail more passable next winter and beyond. Thanks, trail crew!

The finished product

See additional photos from Tim Mayer

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By admin, April 15, 2010 12:53 pm

Robert Louis Stevenson State Park needs your help!

Join volunteers from the Rock Ice & Mountain Club, and REI from 10am-2pm on May 22, 2010 with much needed service projects such as trail maintenance, trash clean up and fence repair work. Parking is limited,  so please carpool to the parking lot on Hwy 29 and join us afterward for a raffle and BBQ. Contact Harrison Hood at 707-217-4730. For more information, see the Rock Ice & Mountain Club site.

In partnership with: The Access Fund, REI and Hood Mountain Adventures.

Sponsored by: Calistoga Roasters, Calistoga Water, Marmot, Lagunitas Brewery and Trinchero Family Estate Wine, LowePro, CamelBak.

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By admin, March 16, 2010 6:45 am

March

• Saturday, April 17: Maxwell Farms Regional Parks Stewardship. Earth Day creek cleanup. Contact Mallory with questions 343-5221 or maldavenport@comcast.net
• Thursday, March 18th: Hood Mountain Regional Park
• Saturday, March 27th: Hood Mountain Regional Park

April

• Saturday, April 3rd: Hood Mountain Regional Park
• Thursday, April 8th: Hood Mountain Regional Park
• Tuesday, April 27th: Hood Mountain Regional Park

May

• Tuesday, May 4th: Hood Mountain Regional Park
• Thursday, May 13th: Hood Mountain Regional Park
• Saturday, May 22nd: Hood Mountain Regional Park

June

• Saturday, June 5th – National Trail Day: Hood Mountain Regional Park

Hood Mountain workdays notes from Dave Chalk: All workdays are from 9am to 1pm. Most of the upcoming workdays will focus on finishing off the Merganser pond backpacking sites. Once those are completed we will move up and over the mountain to the second backpacking site located at Azalea Creek. This backpacking site has been around since the 1970s but hasn’t been open to the public since the 80s. It won’t need anywhere near the work put into Merganser. It’s basically all set to go with just a couple of workdays needed to spruce it up. Contact John Ryan (565-3356) for more information.

Directions: Meet in the Pythian Road parking lot (1450 Pythian Road) for all Hood Mountain workdays.

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By admin, March 16, 2010 6:42 am

Trail stewardship season is here! We have several projects in the works for spring and into summer.

May

• Saturday, May 1 & 8: Creekside Trail maintenance, Shiloh Regional Park. In the first part of this two-day project, we’ll rebuild a steep and entrenched section, as well as several other problem areas. On our second day at Shiloh, we plan to build a causeway on the upper approach to the bridge to reduce erosion and make the trail more usable year round. Workday will be from 9am to 2pm. Meet at Shiloh parking lot, 5750 Faught Road, Windsor, CA. Contact Tim Mayer for more information or to sign up.
• Saturday, May 15: Helen Putnam Regional Park. Tread maintenance and improvements on Savannah Trail (or other trail TBD). Workday will be from 9am to 2pm. Meet at the parking lot on Chileno Valley Rd. Contact Tim Mayer for more information or to sign up.
  
• Sunday, May 16: Little Black Mountain Celebration: Save the date for a hike and trail celebration on Little Black Mountain, a Sonoma Land Trust property near Cazadero. Be one of the first to explore the trail (recently upgraded by SCTC) to the “Lone Antler Lookout” and experience the unfolding panoramic vista of Sonoma County’s beyond. This is special event open to SCTC and SLT members — a perk since this property is generally not open to the public. For more information or to sign-up, please email Sonoma Land Trust

June

• Saturday & Sunday, June 6 & 7: Pickin’ at the Point 2010. We return to Salt Point for a weekend project. We expect to work on the Stump Beach Trail and more. Free camping available for all volunteers — additional details TBA. Contact Rob Helms to sign up or for more info.
• Sunday, June 12: Americorp Trail, Sebastopol’s Laguna de Santa Rosa Preserve. Clear blackberries, willow and debris to reopen this trail near downtown Sebastopol. Details TBA. Contact Geoffrey Skinner to sign up for more info.

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By admin, February 23, 2010 1:41 pm

The Trail Council’s sister organization, the Trail Center (located in Palo Alto), developed the training model and materials used in the Council’s own trainings held in 2008 and 2009. We updated the training materials and shared them back with the Trail Center, which has just completed a training session with San Mateo County Parks at Huddart County Park in Woodside. We received this report sent by Justin Knowles, training organizer and member of the TC Board of Directors:

Trail Center crew leader training, Feb. 20, 2010

This past week’s volunteer crew leader training was a series of firsts. The training was San Mateo County Parks first crew leader training and was the Trail Center’s first sponsored training since 2004. By all accounts the training was a success.

On the night of Thursday, Feb 18, we had about 10 crew leader trainees, and on Saturday, Feb 20, we had 8 trainees. Thursday’s session included overviews, trail standards, a day in the life of a
crew leader, and safety. My Thursday highlight was Scott’s Joe Crew Leader session where he channeled Geoffrey Skinner and described a fictional trail day where “Joe Crew Leader” was strong in enthusiasm but weak in self awareness and people skills.

On Saturday, we focused on putting our learning to the test. We started the day with the rituals of the trail day and then broke into three, rotating groups that focused on drainage, tread, and
brushing/trail maintenance. The weather cooperated since it did not rain until later on Saturday afternoon.

Through both the classroom and field sessions, the instruction concentrated on the three objectives of a trail day: 1) safety, 2) having fun, and 3) building quality trails.

Next Saturday, Feb 27 from 9:00 am to noon will be an optional crew leader training session. We need to finalize the agenda, but we will probably focus on building drainage structures.

The training came together through the efforts of many. I’d like to thank the following:

• Coastal Conservancy for their grant that helped make the training possible (and the quality sandwiches and shirts).
• Geoffrey Skinner, former Trail Center president, and the Sonoma County Trails Council for allowing us to leverage SCTC training materials.
• Carla Schoof, the SMCP volunteer coordinator, for organizing the effort for the SMCP.
• San Mateo Park rangers who participated in the Thursday and
• Saturday sessions, especially David Vasquez who participated in both sessions.
• Trail Center projects team including Scott Heeschen, Dave Croker, Dave Taylor, and Hank Magnuski for their work in preparation and instruction.

I learned a lot from the sessions including how to make the next one even better.

Here’s the link for pictures from the Saturday practical session.

Tool demonstrations

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By admin, February 19, 2010 1:42 pm

Save the date for a hike and trail celebration on Little Black Mountain, a Sonoma Land Trust property near Cazadero. Be one of the first to explore the trail (recently upgraded by SCTC) to the “Lone Antler Lookout” and experience the unfolding panoramic vista of Sonoma County’s beyond. Bring a bag lunch and day pack for a picnic along the way. Additional refreshments provided.

This is the trail project SCTC worked on last year (under contract).This is our chance to get out there and see the product of all that hard work. It’ll also be a good time to catch-up with each other and meet some SLT folks. This is special event open to SCTC and SLT members — a perk since this property is generally not open to the public. For more information or to sign-up, please email Sonoma Land Trust

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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.