May 1 and May 8, 2010: 9am-2pm
Contact: Tim Mayer 707-528-8089, email allwet@sonic.net
The Sonoma County Trails Council and Sonoma County Regional Parks Department need your help to complete some trail repairs in Shiloh Ranch Regional Park. We will work on two consecutive Saturdays (May 1 and May 8) to repair some sections of the Creekside Trail. This one of the best hiking trails in the park, but it needs some work.
On May 1 we will work on two sections that are too steep and narrow. We’ll widen the trail and reduce the grade so that the trail won’t be a slippery mess in the rainy season.
On May 8 we will fix a mudhole where the trail approaches a foot bridge.
Come join us on either day, or on both days. No experience is necessary. We’ll provide the tools and instruction. If you would like to help out please RSVP, and I will send you additional information. Feel free to call or email if you have any questions.
Contact: Tim Mayer 707-528-8089, email allwet@sonic.net
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.
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.
District acquisitions totaling $12 million to connect to Jack London State Historic Park
Today, Feb. 23, 2010, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, acting as the District’s Board of Directors, approved five contracts totaling $391,360 to prepare for the construction of the North Slope Ridge trail on Sonoma Mountain, and to assist the District with other trail development projects at the Montini and Healdsburg Ridge Open Space Preserves.
Continue reading 'North Slope Sonoma Mountain Ridge Trail Project Kicks-Off'»
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
The Sonoma Land Trust announced on Dec. 17 that escrow closed on the stunning 5,630-acre Jenner Headlands — a nationally significant project and the single largest conservation land acquisition in Sonoma County. This $36 million purchase from willing sellers Sonoma Coast Associates, Gualala Redwoods, Inc., and Russian River Redwoods was completed due to the extraordinary efforts and collaboration of 10 public and private funding partners. Sonoma Land Trust is now the proud steward of this incredible coastal property.
Eventually the property will include a section of the California Coastal Trail as well as other trails. While the interim public access plan is being developed, the Land Trust will begin conducting guided hikes in January 2010. From January–March, SLT will offer a hike each month along the coastal headlands. This strenuous 3.5-mile roundtrip hike will ascend more than 700 feet in elevation to a rocky hilltop within the coastal prairie portion of the Headlands. Along the way, hikers will be greeted with dazzling views of the Sonoma Coast (on clear days!). Although this route will follow old ranch roads, some sections are especially rough with uneven footing. This hike is not for inexperienced hikers — you must be in good physical condition and sturdy hiking boots with ankle support are strongly recommended.
See the Land Trust Jenner Headlands pages for more information on hikes and the property.
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.
Please Join us for our…
Annual Membership Meeting
Tuesday, November 17th, 6 to 8:30 pm
Location: 900 College Avenue, Santa Rosa
An evening of Food, Beer, Beverages, Board Elections, and a presentation, “Maximizing the Community Value of Trails” by Randy Martin, professional trail designer and builder.
Randy’s firm, Trailscape, has completed trail projects in the Sierra foothills, Susanville, CA, and most recently, Jamaica. Randy will explain 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.
Open to all Sonoma County Trails Council Members – Renew or join at the door!
Sonoma County Trails Council info@sonomatrails.org 707-623-1466
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.
Equestrian, Hiking & Running, Mountain Biking, News, Trail Crew, Trails & Parks
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Annadel, parks, Spring Creek Trail, Trail Crew, trail work, trails
The Senate rejected several amendments to the 2010 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill (H.R.3288) that would have directly threatened the protection and establishment of trails, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and habitat connectivity projects. A significant amount of funding for trails comes from this bill. The defeat of the amendments was in part due to an outpouring of opposition from trail users, bicyclists, conservationist and transportation planners across the U.S.
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