This morning, four of us drove down a narrow, rutted access road below Ten Gallon to get close to Magma Trail, which is under construction.
I left my saw in the truck and carried fire extinguisher, first aid pack, shovel, gas, and oil. Bryson Schreder, Todd Whitney, and Michael McGill carried their saws, axes, packs, etc. We hiked down a long, steep hill with Nate and Kyle, Trail Labs’ excavator operators, then attacked the deadfall obstructing the trail corridor.
Bryson, Todd, and Mike did all the saw work, while I pretended to swamp the pieces, bravely giving suggestions on where to cut, and slowly falling behind as we climbed through the branches and logs. We were able to clear a very long segment so Kyle and Nate can continue building. The photos show how difficult the conditions were. Then we climbed back up the long, steep hill with all our equipment, this wheezing geezer trudging along in last place. I think the guys considered calling search and rescue to get me out.
Many thanks to this strong crew for spending a hard day pushing Gateway II construction forward! I’m now sitting at home gobbling down handfuls of Advil.
Also, I want to thank the crew that showed up about a month ago to dig holes for kiosks at the McBride and Ten Gallon Trailheads (Mark Telegin, Chris Williamson, Chad Lancour, Emma Wilcox, Neil Posson, Steve Diaz, and Paul Schwartz). We’ll be scheduling insertion of those kiosks soon.
