June 8, 2012 - East Ridge and Beyond

It was a very nice morning and 7 crew members started out with 2 others being behind their time and they never caught up to us.  We decided to clean up after last months work on the East Ridge Trail.  The first tree to finish up looked a little strange in that the saw dust looked a little large for a hand saw and this would be confirmed a little farther down the trail.  We stopped by a grove and noticed that a Tan Oak was obstructing the dedication sign.

It didn't take long to clean up the area and we were off.  This section of the park was very birdy with the Hermit Thrushes and Pacific Wrens singing their heart out.

Farther down the trail we came across an area we left a 20" oak across the trail.  This and all the other clean up work was done and with a chain saw.  So much for the Marbled Murlets.

We came across a small patch of Wintergreen along the trail.  Along with other great sights of a charred grove and an old cut Redwood mostly likely cut after the 1900 San Fran earthquake.

Along Shadowbrook we came across this monster blockage that took about 2 minutes to clear.

We head toward the Redwood loop to take care of a Tan Oak that was partially on the trail and then headed back where we found another Tan Oak on the STS/Hihn Hammond Connector trail.

I was carrying the crosscut saw all day and we finally were able to use it.  Three cuts, 2 with the crosscut, and the trail was cleared.  The larger section was moved behind the old Redwood (see below) by pivoting it while balancing on the Redwood.  Monkeys use tools and there was much rejoicing and chest bounding.

I would like to thank Dale S., Micheal, Norm, Dale P., Gene, and Mike with a tip of the hat to Fran and Francis for showing up although not being able to connect the the rest of the crew.  We put in 63 hours but it was a great day for a walk in the woods since must of our work was taken care of over the last month.

Mother of the Forest on the Redwood Loop.

See you on the trail.

Jeff

Birds of the Day

1 Anna's Hummingbird Calypte anna

10 Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus

3 Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus

    Nest hole in a dead fir next to the Redwood Loop and Hwy 236

2 Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus

9 Pacific-slope Flycatcher Empidonax difficilis

    One fledgling calling peep

1 Warbling Vireo Vireo gilvus

8 Steller's Jay Cyanocitta stelleri

2 Common Raven Corvus corax

8 Chestnut-backed Chickadee Poecile rufescens

2 Pygmy Nuthatch Sitta pygmaea

8 Brown Creeper Certhia americana

9 Pacific Wren Troglodytes pacificus

1 Wrentit Chamaea fasciata

10 Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus

1 American Robin Turdus migratorius

7 Wilson's Warbler Cardellina pusilla

2 Spotted Towhee Pipilo maculatus

5 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) Junco hyemalis [oreganus Group]

1 Black-headed Grosbeak Pheucticus melanocephalus

1 Purple Finch Carpodacus purpureus

May 13, 2012 - Dool & East Ridge

There were 11 crew members this month and with these numbers we were able to split up.  Dale P. took one crew and they went up the trail from headquarters to Sequoia Group Camp and did not find the reported tree down on the trail.  They then went across Opal creek near the amphitheater to Skyline to the Sea Trail.  They followed that to Dool Trail and did some brushing along the way and went up Dool to Middleridge and did a little brushing along the way. 

They came back down Dool to Creeping Forest Trail and followed it back to Skyline to the Sea back to Headquarters.  There was not much to do on these trails.  There was one tree across Creeping Forest less than a quarter of a mile up from Skyline to the Sea.  It was only about 8 to 10 inches in diameter and was laying on the ground and was easy to step over.  They did not take the hand saw on this portion of our expedition so we could not take it out.

I took the other crew on what I thought would be a lazy walk through the park.  There were two areas that was worked on over the last few months so it was time to take care of them.  One area was on East Ridge on the other side of Hwy 236 and the other was the 115 foot section along Blooms Creek.

I had a bright idea to take East Ridge from the bridge on the road leading to Hihn Hammond road.  It was long when we found the first of what would turn out to be 8 areas with trees from 1/2" to 24".  Plus we only had hand saws.  The first area was an oak, which was covering about 30-40 feet of the trail.

 

 The next section was a tree that fell all over the trail.

 

 Bill did a great job tackling it in quick time and it could be hear "He's so strong.  He's our hero" :-)

The next one blocked the trail completely and it was so dense that you couldn't see through the mess.

 We could see through the mess at lunch time

 and at the end of the day you could at least walk over the trees.  This will be for next month.

 I would like to thanks Dale P., Bill, Janie, Tom, Herman, Gene, Janette, Francis, Peter, and Michelle.  We put in 7 hours for a total 77 volunteer hours.  Hope to see you next month.

See you on the trails

Jeff and Dale P.

Bird Count

1 Northern Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium gnoma)
3 Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)
1 Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus)
1 Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
5 Pacific-slope Flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis)
1 Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus)
2 Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens)
1 Brown Creeper (Certhia americana)
5 Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus)
1 American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
4 Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus)
1 Orange-crowned Warbler (Oreothlypis celata)
1 Hermit Warbler Setophaga occidentalis)
1 Wilson's Warbler (Cardellina pusilla)
3 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) (Junco hyemalis [oreganus Group])
2 Black-headed Grosbeak )Pheucticus melanocephalus)

April 14, 2012 - 2 Crews, 2 Big Trees

Another day in the park brought out Dale S., Bill, Janie, Gene, Fran, Norm, Peter, and me.  We split up into 2 crews to take care of large blockages on the STS trail.

The first crew of Janie, Bill, Norm, and Dale^2 headed back to Skyline to the Sea and the remaining 4 ft redwood tree on the STS trail near the Sunset Connector Trail. They took the large Stihl saw and the basic hand tools.  They started off with cool overcast skies…

 Norm was determined and not ready to give up to the saw

 OK, he’s tired.

 Now it’s the saws turn

 oops saw stuck, Mr. Stickum trying to un-stickum.  So it was time for a short walk to the tool bin and another saw.

 As the gap got larger

 everything else did too.

 Victory was finally achieved.

and we finished in beautiful sunshine.

The second crew went out to take care of a 3ft Fir down on the STS trail between HQ and Middle Ridge fire road.

This was actually 2 trees this one, a fir, that blocked two ends of the trail.

This was the second , which was the root ball and a 3 foot fir on the trail.

The first fir was under tension along the entire length.  It took a few cuts to open the one end and it ended with help from a few hiking volunteers to roll the section off the trail.

The other end required taking the tension off the trunk by taking sections out using the Pulaski.

 The Fir was over 200 years years old and it didn't go down without a fight.

We bent the hoe end of the tool

 We finally opened up the end next to the root ball but ran out of time and energy to take on the second tree.  We routed the trail around the root ball by putting in a few steps.


We put in 64 hours and was able to open one section and made the other safer for the park visitors.  Thanks to Dale for the crew #1 report and well as the photos.


See you on the trails


Jeff


Birding update:

1 Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus

1 Band-tailed Pigeon Patagioenas fasciata

4 Pacific Wren Troglodytes pacificus

2 Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus

1 Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens

2 Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus

1 Hutton's Vireo Vireo huttoni

1 Steller's Jay Cyanocitta stelleri

1 Pygmy Nuthatch Sitta pygmaea

2 American Robin Turdus migratorius

3 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) Junco hyemalis [oreganus Group]

March 10 2012 - Pine Mountain

It was a cool morning with a lot of visitors in the park.  Ranger Karsten informed us of blockages on Gazos, Pine Mountain, and behind Blooms Creek campground.  It sounded like a plan.  I took Gene and Janette to clear Gazos and there was a small tree on the road before Middleridge.  We wondered if that was the blockage but the report was that the blockage past Middleridge.

We did find an 18" fir down between Middleridge and the San Mateo County Line.  We opened the road but the root ball was rolling down with each cut so we left it but it was still off the road.

Don't forget I need to be on the other side of the gate :-)

We caught up with the other group at an oak down along 40 ft of the trail about 10 minutes past the Pine Mountain fire road.  This report was found in the dark while the range was searching for a couple of hikers that headed out a 5:30 pm or about 30 minutes before the on set of darkness.

A lot of limbing was required.

Fran with her trusty saw.

 Still clearing after about an hour.

One last push.

After 8 cuts with the chainsaw, lunch, and the final clearing the trail was open.  About 15 hikers past us and they did express their appreciation. 

I had hiked back down to get fuel and bar oil and drove back to the intersection of the fire road and trail earlier.  This allowed Gene, Norm, and me to get back to the parking area before the rest of the crew.  I asked Norm about the blockage at the campground and he said that the first thing they encountered was on Pine Mountain.  Base on the description, I knew that there was something else on the trail.  We headed out and about 50 feet from the foot bridge we ran into this.

At first we thought that it was a short section that was blocked but it turned out to be a 22" oak and 2 smaller oaks that it took out and about 115ft of the trail was blocked.  It was impassable and had turned hikers around as we reached it. 

This took 2 saws working and the entire crew to hide the cuttings but after about 2-1/2 hours we had the trail opened.  There is still work to be done since the oak was so wet that we were cutting pulp so we left it and another 20" oak for next month.

It was a short day turned into a long day with the final blockage.  Someone suggested a brew at the pub and that was all that needed to be said.

Another great turn out with 10 members putting in 75 hours.  I would like to thank Janie, Bill, Michelle, Peter, Fran, Mike, Gene, Janette, and Norm.  Hope to see you next month.

See you on the trails.

Jeff

Photos by Jeff and Janette

For the birders

At HQ: Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon), Acorn Woodpecker, Steller's Jay, Pileated Woodpecker, and Robin
Gazos: Hutton's Vireo, and Pacific Wren
Pine Mt: Band-tail Pigeon, Varied Thrush, Acorn Woodpecker, Pigmy Nuthatch, Chestnut-back Chickadee,  Spotted Towhee, Hermit Thrush, Pacific Wren, and Raven

February 11, 2012 - 3 Crews

On the way into the park there was light rain falling but it didn’t deter 11 regular crew members and 3 new guys from showing up.  One of the new crew members was Jordan, who is an ultra marathoner.  He regularly runs 20+ miles through the park so he supplied the crew with a very good report of trail blockages.  We were able to split up into 3 crews with Dale P. leading one with Michelle, Peter, Janie, and Bill to take care of Hollow Tree Trail in the Lane Camp area.  Dale S. took Mike, Fran, Gene, and Michael to continue the work on the 2 4ft redwoods that fell across the STS just above the STS-Sunset connector.  I took the new guys of John, Josh, and Jordan on the trek around the Sunset>Timm’s>STS Loop.

Dale P’s crew headed to their work area via China Grade, with Dale S’s and my crew heading to the parking area where Middle Ridge, Sunset Trail, and Gazos Creek Rd meet.  I decided to take my Husky just in case and I asked if anyone had a hand saw (need to get the crew’s 24” saws sharpened) and Mike offered his up and it would turn out to be fortuitous.  We did light brushing and cleared 4 small trees across the trail with 2 being taken care of by the hand saw and 2 were around 10” and were quickly taken care of with the Husky.  We were moving at a good clip and we reached the blockage on Timm’s Creek in about an hour.

This was an 18” oak that had fallen on the trail and blocked about 25 to 30 feet of the trail.  This is at the same spot where a 36” Fir came down on the trail and covered about 60 to 80 feet of the trail.  We could see the tree across from where we were working.

The oak had fallen hard and was buried about 6-8”, which placed the truck in tension.  I was making the first cut and I was about 2/3rds the way through when the tree cracked and caught my saw.  We tried levers, releasing some the weight by trimming the top off with Mikes 9” folding saw, and after 3 or 4 cuts at different points over about an hour and a big push we were able to move the tree freeing the saw. 

After that we had lunch and when we started back up in less than 30 minutes we had the trail completely opened.

We finished up with a tan oak that had fallen next to the STS portion of the loop where a few small branches hung over the trail.  This was about ½ mile from the connector and as we approached the connector we could hear Dale S’s group working on the redwoods

We hiked up to the work area and got some video of log rolling. It took Dale S’s crew until 1 pm to finish the first cut because it was lying against the standing redwood and Mike said that it was a bear to make the cut and it took some time to find out what was still holding the round in place. It seemed loose and they could move it a little, but it just wouldn't break loose so they could roll it out of the way. What a pain! But after that cut larger sections were able to be cut. Dale eventually put us to work to finish off the first redwood that had the lowest clearance making it very difficult for hikers to crawl under. With that redwood cleared, the number of people climbing up and down a steep slippery route to bypass the blockage should be reduced

Dale P’s group cleared the tree on Eastridge Trail near Roger’s Rd and about 4 or 5 on the Hollow Tree Trail. They started from the Lane trail camp and went as far as the Johansen Shingle Mill. The last one was cleared and it was about 100 yards past the shingle mill. The upper part of Hollow Tree needed a lot of brushing and they did quite a bit of it but it could still use some more.

It was a cool damp day with a light rain coming and going. Every time we brushed something the water on the branches would add to the rain. With that said, we put in a solid 8.5 hour day for 119 volunteer hours. I would like to thank Mike, Michelle, Peter, Janie, Bill, Michael, Gene, Dale P., Dale S., Fran, and the 3 new additions to the crew Josh, John, and Jordan. Hope to see you all out next month.

See you on the trails.

Jeff

Thanks to Mike and Dale P. for helping in the writing of this month’s trail report.
STS = Skyline-To-Sea