Most of the puzzle pieces for our work day on Monday have come together, but the heavy equipment (hydraulic post driver and hydraulic augur) are not available due to snafus with delivery vehicles. Therefore, we’ll have to postpone sign installation and hope that the weather won’t blow us out before Jan. 1.
I plan to go up to the McBride Springs and Ten Gallon Trailheads tomorrow or Sunday to test the soil for rocks. If favorable, maybe we can dig two holes at each site and at least get the monument signs installed on Monday (they go on wooden 4X4s).
Stay tuned for further information, but for now, we’re on hold. Thanks to all who’ve agreed to help.
As part of our $1.1 million grant from the state for Gateway II, we are obligated to install a bunch of signs along Everitt Memorial Hwy and Road 31 (upper Old McCloud Ave). These include the trailhead monument signs, warning signs to drivers that the trailheads are coming up ahead, and signage to demarcate anywhere the trails cross a roadway. This is not sexy work like trail construction, but has to be done before Dec. 31 and before the snow flies.
We have a volunteer heavy-equipment operator who will dig the holes (the hardest part of the job) for free. Now we need a traffic-control crew (approximately 7), a crew to attach signs to posts and drop them into the holes, and a crew to pour gravel into the holes and tamp it down. I estimate we will need about 20 or more volunteers. Some of the work will merely be standing in the road with signs making sure drivers go around the heavy equipment.
This will be one of the last big work days before winter sets in, but WE NEED EVERYONE who’s available on this Monday (had to do it on a weekday to avoid interaction with traffic).
If you can help, please email me via this website (click contact on the home page) so I can place you in the appropriate crew. Exact time and meeting place will follow, but I suspect it will be 9 am at the GW Trailhead on Everitt Mem Hwy on Nov. 13, 2023.
About 18-20 volunteers showed up yesterday to fix the damage to Strawberry Valley as a result of too early riding on that trail. Andrew roughed it up with a dozer and then the McLeods and rakes took over. It was a day for volunteers new and old to meet and become friends. Much of what we wanted to accomplish was completed. PLEASE DON’T RIDE THIS TRAIL UNTIL WE GET SOME RAIN AND COMPACTION!
Reminder: We’ll be finishing work on lower Strawberry Valley where early riding created ruts in the trail and then it hardened. Trail Labs will bring in a dozer to rough up the trail, then we’ll smooth it out and compact it with hand tools and motorized compactors. Much of this is rake work. Join the gang and stay only as long as you want. Meet at the Gateway Trailhead on Everitt Memorial Hwy at 10. We’ll work if it sprinkles and probably cancel if it rains hard.
When I arrived at the trailhead with concrete at 8:45 am yesterday, there were already three volunteers waiting. By 9:30, we had mixed and poured 10 bags. We had to go get four more bags and were done by 10 am. We topped the holes off with gravel and raked the dirt by 10:30. Awesome job, Emma Wilcox, John McDermott, Rick Cory, Steve Larson, Jim Pepin, Neil Posson, Mike McGill, Steve Diaz, and Ray Uhlig.
We are tentatively looking at conducting another prescribed burn in the Gateway trailhead area next week, as early as Tuesday October 24th. We have 270 acres identified and prepped for burning within the closure area on the attached map, split into two units. A helicopter may be utilized to assisted with ignitions of the unit, so if you see a helicopter flying over the area, don’t be alarmed.
The trails passing through the closure area on the attached map will remain temporarily closed.
Let’s pour cement to finish the kiosk installation this Sat. morning. I’ll pick up the cement between 8 and 9 am and meet everyone at McBride Trailhead at 9. All we need is an additional metal wheelbarrow and some extra 5-gallon containers of water (or anything containing water, for mixing and cleanup). This won’t take long.
We got it done. Eleven of us wrestled with the three posts and templates to get them level and at the correct depth. Several immovable rocks at the bottom of one hole made the job tough, but not too tough for this grizzled group. Thanks to Jim Wrona, Mark Derby, John McDermott, Ray Uhlig, Neil Posson, Steve Larson, John Kelly, Emma Wilcox, Jack Moore, and Steve Diaz.
Stay tuned because we’ll be pouring the concrete soon; possibly Saturday. The concrete, oddly, is much easier than what we did today.
We got the kiosk finished at the Ten Gallon Trailhead the other day (see Mark Derby below, smiling after putting up with me for the final steps). Now we’re starting the kiosk at McBride. We need a little more digging (some of it already done), some arranging of the steel posts, and then cement work. All I want to accomplish is the digging and placement of posts on Tuesday. We’ll do the cement later.
Please meet us at the McBride Trailhead (about 100 yards below McBride Campground) on Everitt Memorial Hwy at 9 am on Tuesday, Oct. 17. We’ll work an hour or two. Warning: if you don’t show up, I’ll do it all myself, and you’ll miss out. Reality: I can’t lift the steel posts myself.
Trail Labs has already roughed in some long segments in the Learning Zone of Gateway II near the Nordic Center, and we are gathering to do some finish work. It will be raking and shaping the tread, removing small rocks, and nipping some roots. This work day is sponsored by SORA, MSTA, and Bike Shasta. Meet at 9 am in the Nordic Center parking lot (or stop at the Park and Ride at 8:45 to carpool). This is the last phase of trail construction under our big Prop 68 Grant. Hope to see you there.
