JAN 2015 - Sunset and Middleridge

Happy New Year.  2015 started out with a great turn out of 13 members and that allowed for us to split up into 2 crews.  Dale P. took one to cover the fire roads and trails around HQ.  The first crew headed out to Middleridge clearing a couple of spots near the junction of Meteor Trail.  Dale headed back to North Escape Road were he met a few of the crew that checked out Meteor but they didn't find the tree that was supposed to be down.  Then over to the Sequoia Trail and they removed an 14” Tan Oak from the trail between the Blooms Campground link trail and the cutoff to the Bob Kirsch Bridge, and cleared a couple of Tan Oaks that were hanging across the Sequoia Trail.

The 2nd crew was talked into doing a death march, which is the inner loop of Sunset, Timm's Creek, and back STS.  This is about a 6 mile loop and it's difficult without the tools and chainsaw in tow.  We hiked down Sunset and came across fresh cuts after the Sunset STS Connector.  We had visions of an easy day with the trail having been cleared already.  We did run into some small hand saw work and then .  .  .

 

 That was easy

 

 

 A little more effort

 

 Another easy one

 

 

 Now we needed the saw with a 65" circumference Fir (ok 21" diameter)

 

Next step up was another 95" circumference Fir that took much more effort for the 24" Husky we had to work with.

 

 Then we ran into this.  A 122" circumference (39" diameter) Redwood took out 5 other smaller trees and with the saw not starting we thought that was sign that it was time for lunch.  After lunch the saw still wouldn't start so I opened up that fuel tanks to make sure it wasn't empty, which it wasn't, closed it up and it start right up: vacuum lock.  Half of my 8 crew wanted to push ahead as the rest worked on the Redwood.

  We took a guess on how long it would take to make the first cut and David was close: 7 minutes

 

It took 5 cuts and the hardest part was moving the last 2 sections off the trail.  The job took 95 minutes with the cutting and stopping for the numerous hikers we let pass.  Since it took so long we headed back to the trucks to lighten the load and search for the other half of the team.  We head back down Sunset to the connector and STS heading to the falls.  Since we didn't get any hikers remembering yellowed shirt trail crew recruiters but headed back to wait at the trucks.  At the intersection of the Sunset-Middleridge-Gazos we met some hikers who had one of their party injured and slowly making his way back.  We flagged down park personnel for help and they head back to HQ to get the rangers; however, the hiker showed up before the rangers returned.  Dale was driving the hiker back when the ranger showed up but continued on after checking with the rangers.  We got many thanks for our work from the rangers and shortly after the rest of the crew showed up.  They reported numerous less than 20" mostly branches down on the rest of the loop, which would be another days work.  Long day and  I'm still feeling it as I write this.

Thanks to Norm, Dale P., Dale S., Janie, Jan, Fran, David P., David B., Herman, Michelle, Janette, Chris, and new member Ryan.  We put in 128 hours, a good start for the year, in what did turn into a long day but not as much of a death march I was expecting.

See you on the trails

Jeff

Birds of the Day
Varied Thrush
Raven
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker

DEC 2014 - Hollow Tree and STS

Last work day of the year we had 10 crew members out so we split up into 2 crews.  One crew worked on the Hollow Tree Trail and I took one to work on the STS and Creeping Forest.

 

 

10" Tan Oak on the STS just before Maddox Cabin site.

 

 

 3 small things to clear on Creeping Forest

 Redwood to the sky

 

 A little rain and the shrooms come out

 

 Small but messy

 Slugs on the run

 

 Another small but messy blockage

 At last water after 3 year drought

 

 We thought we were done but came across 3 small trees across Gazos Creek Road

 Some new member for the year added to the strength of the crew

 

 

 

Holiday dinner at the Boulder Creek Brewery

In 2014 we had 33 people help out in maintaining the trails and we put in 852 hours.  Each work day we had over 7 members and up to 13.  I would like to thank Francis, Dale S., Mike, Norm, Janie, David B., Peter, Michelle David P., and Janette for the time they put in on this work day.  Hope to see you in the New Year.

See you on the trails.

Jeff

Birds of the Day

Acorn Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Pacific Wren

Hutton's Vireo

Raven

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Varied Thrush

NOV 2014 - STS and Creeping Forest

Growing up in the NE, when it's Fall you know it and it does start in early October.  Here we are in the second week of November and half way through fall with temperatures in the 70's it's sometime hard for me to tell the season.  However, what has been a sign for me is the emergence of mushrooms soon after the first rain.  A week before we got .6" of rain and sure enough the mushrooms have started to show up.

The crew started out in search of a couple of downed trees on STS near the Maddox's Cabin site.  We got to the site but no trees.  One of the crew scouted ahead and found a Fir and Oak just past the site.

Two down

Limbing for ease of clearing

Final roll and trail cleared

After clearing STS, we headed up the Creeping Forest trail and first came across a downed Tan Oak that caused a hiker reroute around the brush pile.

Clear and in contemplation of banana slugs

Another obstacle was a Madrone about chest high across the trail.

This was about 60 ft long

Slug making a break for safer grounds

One last toss and tail cleared

Old man Douglas Fir

Band-tail Pigeon hunter's victim

We finished off the day moving firewood for HQ and the cooler mornings coming.  It's great to have a large group to make a difficult one person job into an easy job (it took 17 minutes to unload and stack about 2 cords of wood).

We put in 66 hours on a beautiful day in the park.  I would like to thank Francis, Dale S., Janette, David B, Shelly, David P., and Jan.

See you on the trails.

Jeff

Birds of the Day

1 Band-tailed Pigeon, Patagioenas fasciata

5 Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus

1 Hairy Woodpecker, Picoides villosus

1 Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus

1 Hutton's Vireo, Vireo huttoni

8 Steller's Jay, Cyanocitta stelleri

12 Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Poecile rufescens

2 Brown Creeper, Certhia americana

1 Golden-crowned Kinglet, Regulus satrapa

4 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula

1 Hermit Thrush, Catharus guttatus

2 Varied Thrush, Ixoreus naevius