Mar 2015 - Sunset, HQ area, and Shadowbrook

Another nice morning with the temperature expected to reach into the mid 70s.  Another good turn out with 11 crew members turning out are 2 new members.  Again with this size of a crew we split up where I took one crew back out to Sunset starting at the Trail Camp and Mike took the rest (Norm, Janie, Michele, Janette, Kurt and Mike) focused on the main park area to start.

The first stop was right next to the headquarters building where a large redwood had fallen earlier in the winter and while the staff had removed the section blocking the road, there was a lot of debris remaining. The first effort was to clean up the small clearing just up from HQ towards the Sequoia Group Camp where the interpretive staff holds Jr. Ranger programs. 

 With the road coming into the park on one side and the HQ building on the other, there weren't a lot of good places to hide the debris, but we were able to get everything tucked behind a couple of redwoods so it wasn't too visible There was too much debris to be removed from the remaining areas next to the Sequoia Group Camp Trail, so we worked on cutting up the larger pieces so it looked more natural rather than just a large dumping area.

 

 

After taking a lunch break we had a choice of making the steep hike up Meteor Trail to look for a reported down tree or going out to the  Shadowbrook Trail  to look for a misplaced sign that staff said was confusing hikers. The trail sign work was the easy winner, especially since this was the second month in a row that staff had mentioned it was a problem.

We parked at Huckleberry and made the short walk to the Shadowbrook Trail where we found the misplaced sign. It had been incorrectly placed at the small spur trail in to the campground rather than down where the   Shadowbrook and East Ridge Trails intersect. It didn't take long to remove the sign, but there was a lot of discussion at the new location on exactly where to place the sign and its proper orientation so it read correctly for passing hikers. Since we were there, we also replanted a trail marker that had rotted out at ground level. It was a little shorter after we finished, but it looked good and we headed back to HQ to end the day.

 

My crew headed out Gazos Creek road for Sunset Trail Camp.  This ride takes about an hour but usually there are things to take care of on the way and this time was no different.  First there was a Tan Oak and next there was a Madrone.   Although our trucks could pass, we took it out because the taller fire trucks probably would not.

 

 Madrone about 15" diameter

This Fir took about 10 cuts to clear just because of how it landed on the bank and road.  The bank was about 5 meters high and to get the tree on the ground we had to cut from the top.  Of course it didn't just fall after the first cut but after about 5-6 cuts later it finally was on the ground.

 

The 8 mile ride out to Sunset Camp took about 2 hours with the amount of clearing we had to do.  It was a little after noon so we had lunch at the Sunset trail head and then we headed out to clear a "Big Tree" down on Sunset before Timms Creek Trail.  Right after we got onto Sunset we heard a very unmistakeable sound of a rattle and this guy was just off the trail under a small manzanita less than 1 meter from the trail.  He wasn't too happen about us passing through her territory.  So after a few photos I got the oh so clear message and we moved on leaving the girl in peace.

Red Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber) 

 

Along the way we asked the numerous hikers if they had seen anything blocking the trails and one hiker reported a tree down before Timm's Creek coming from HQ.  This contradicted the report we had but after doing this for nearly 20 years little surprises me.  After hiking about a mile, we finally came across the "Big Tree" on Sunset and as you can see big is a relative term.  This was about a 12" Tan Oak that didn't take long to clear and then that was it for the day.

 

 

Surprisingly, we got back before the other about 10 minutes before the other crew but I had left just before they got back.  The 2 crews put in 85 hours and I would like to thank Norm, Dale S., Janie, Michele, David B., David P., Janette, Mike, and new members Kurt and Shyamal.

See you on the trails

Jeff and Mike
Photos by: Jeff and Kurt

Birds of the Day
Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)
Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus)
Hutton's Vireo (Vireo huttoni)
Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens)   
Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus)
Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata)
Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus)

FEB 2015 - 2 Crews: Timm's and Middleridge

It was much cooler at HQ than at my home just over the east ridge but it seemed that the warm more summer like weather would greet us as the sun continued to rise.  There were 11 crew members out so to keep everyone busy we split up into 2 crews.  Dale S. lead one to Middleridge Road and I lead one back to complete the work on the Sunset-Timm's-STS loop.

Dale Petersen's group of Norm Beeson, Bill Drulias, Jan Hill, and Mike Peasland, headed out to work another familiar area along Middle Ridge Fire Road.  The first stop was on Skyline-to-the-Sea between Middle Ridge and the connector with Sunset where we found a down tan oak suspended above the trail about forehead height. It was only about 12-inches in diameter, so it didn't take long to remove this hazard to inattentive hikers.  After we passed Jeff's group of vehicles parked at the fire road-Sunset trailhead, we continued up Middle Ridge north of Gazos Creek. About a quarter mile above Gazos we stopped as the road disappeared into a jumble of branches and foliage. As we got out of the vehicle we weren't even sure what we were looking at. Just a lot of branches blocking the road? Was there a tree in there somewhere? And what happened to the fire road??

We eventually discovered there was a 3.5-4 ft diameter redwood, 90 feet in length and laying parallel in the middle of the road, buried in the mess. Since we had a small crew and only Dale's 14-inch chainsaw we decided to limb the tree and clean up the area so everything would be ready for the State Crew that would have to come out and clear the road. It was still a big task and took about an hour to remove all the debris.

Since we couldn't get the vehicle past the down tree, we headed back to the park office after lunch to take a look another look at the big board for more trail problems. As we stared at the wall map, Susan Blake walked in with a hot off the press report of a tree down on Creeping Forest, so we headed out there. What we found was a 14-inch Doug Fir blocking the trail. It had obviously been dead for a long time as most of the bark was gone or peeling off and when we completed the cuts we discovered it was hollow inside. After a couple of quick cuts and rolling the rounds off the trail, we were done for the day!

As for my crew we were ready for another long day covering the Sunset-Timm's Creek-Skyline to the Sea loop.  We were hoping to be able to hike right out to blockage on Timm's Creek trail but in less than a 1/4 mile about half way to the Sunset-STS connector we found an 18" Fir.  So that's how the day began and as we found out would be how it would end.

The second more motley crew, unluckily decided to go with me back to the Sunset-Timms-STS loop to finish what we started last month.  We thought it would be an easy hike to Timm's Creek Trail but less than 1/4 mile and before the STS-Sunset Connector we ran into this 18" oak.

 

A little farther down the trail we found the 10" fir.  We looked at it and made our predictions but all it did was gently slide down the tree it was resting on.

 

Spring Sorrel Blooming

 

And another on Sunset taking us all morning to reach Timm's

 

Horn of Plenty (Craterellus cornucopioides)

Finally we reached the 30m long blockage of about 3 Oaks and a Redwood but not before  lunch.

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day

  The day crew being very satisfied with a job well done

After a total of 12 trees from 3" to 18" and when we thought we were done, we ran into this about 1/2 mile from the connector.  There was some grumbling but it only took about 10 minutes to clear.  I had a weird feeling with the remembrance of clearing an oak from the very spot a few years ago in an adventure like today.  Total 13 trees cleared.

 

It was a great work day and I think we all felt satisfied with the accomplishments.  Another great turn out and I would like to thank Dale S., Dale P., Janie, Bill, Jan, Bill, David, Shelly, Norm, Mike, and Michelle.  We put 97 hours and another great summer I mean winter day.  That's California.

See you on the trails

Jeff and Mike

Birds of the Day
1 Dark-eyed Junco
1 Pygmy Owl
9 Pacific Wren
4 Chestnut-backed Chickadee
1 Hutton's Vireo
1 Golden-Crowned Kinglet

   

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