Author: Karl Mosgofian

Project: Memorial Park

Photo Album: Memorial Park - Homestead Trail Photos 

Memorial Park – Homestead Trail
Trail Center Work Day Report
May15, 2021

On Saturday, May 15, the Trail Center returned to Homestead Trail in San Mateo County’s Memorial Park. This was the second of three scheduled workdays with the goal of recommissioning the trail in time for the 100 year anniversary reopening of Memorial Park. The Trail Center was thrilled to participate in this important work, and its 17 volunteers brought this enthusiasm to Saturday’s workday.

The weather began with a light drizzle that ceased by midmorning. Sky was overcast throughout, with temperatures in the high 50’s. The trail tread is a mix of organic, sandy, sandstone soil, nicely workable after last season’s rains and dust free due to the overnight and morning drizzle.

We staged the trailer and volunteers in the Azalea Flat Campground at Homestead Trail Milepost 7. Ranger Dave Vasquez had previously staged the materials and tools, required to build two retaining walls, at Milepost 14 in the Huckleberry Flat Picnic Area, the midpoint of Homestead Trail.

Hank’s crew began at the western end of the “maidenhead prow” retaining wall. They proceeded west to the Huckleberry Flat access road with by brushing, reestablishing trail width, ensuring proper outslope, and removing toe-trip roots from the trail tread. Their work on his portion was stellar.

Judd and Helen’s crew continued the work at the “maidenhead prow” retaining wall by driving and fastening the last of the hat channels before the final backfill with compaction. The retaining wall at this location is 100% complete, excluding manual de-staging of excess hat channels (which will be repurposed at the other second retaining wall - see below) during the June 26 workday. The Trail Center recommends that SMCP cut back the prow an additional 6 to 12 inches using a chainsaw; estimated duration is less than one hour, including transit time.

Dave C’s crew resumed construction of the retaining wall where a tan oak had fallen onto a Douglas fir and had narrowed the trail. They drove, fastened, backfilled, and compacted the eastern section of the wall, and it is now 100% complete.

At the more challenging western portion, they excavated and constructed and installed the x-brace tie-back, finally safing it off with sufficient backfill, compaction, yellow caution tape, and red Do Not Cross tape to make the trail passable. While the trail is currently passable, the Trail Center recommends that SMCP return the trail closed signage at both the Azalea Campground and Huckleberry Flat access road trailheads. Work at this location was interrupted in the afternoon by yellow jackets and possible ground bees; three volunteers were stung, one volunteer twice. Ranger Dylan indicated that SMCP will deploy to the area and eradicate the hazard as needed prior to the next workday. When that occurs, all work at this retaining wall is confidently estimated to be completed by end of the June 26 workday, at which Homestead Trail may be reopened from Azalea Campground to Huckleberry Flat picnic area.

Due to the work delay caused by stinging insects, Dave C and Bill did not have sufficient time to revisit the trail at the decommissioned utility bridge nor were able to makes a plan for work and materials at this location. This review is scheduled to occur during the June 26 workday.

The Trail Center looks forward to returning to Homestead Trail Saturday June 26, completing all work planned for Homestead Trail, excluding the pending retaining wall at the utility bridge.

Thanks to Judd for driving the tool trailer, to Kathy for coordinating our volunteer, to Larry for checking them in, and to our glorious volunteers. Thanks to Ranger Dylan for preparing Azalea Flat for the volunteers, including opening the restrooms, and to SM Volunteer Coordinator Stu for his assistance planning the project. Special thanks to Ranger Dave Vasquez for providing and staging all materials and for his assistance in coordinating the work.

Project: Memorial Park

Photo Album: Memorial Park - Homestead Trail Photos 

Memorial Park – Homestead Trail
Trail Center Work Day Report
April 24, 2021
Homestead Trail runs 0.6 miles from Azalea Flat Campground (near the park entrance and ranger station) west to Homestead Flat Youth Camp. If it were not currently closed for the public’s safety, it would likely be Memorial Park’s most popular and used hiking trail. This very scenic trail is designated a hiker-only trail, as its topography make it neither feasible nor safe for equestrian and bicycle users. It connects to Pomponio Canyon Trail, allowing campers easy access to the Mount Ellen and Trillium Nature Trail complex.

On Saturday, April 24, we returned to San Mateo County’s Memorial Park with the goal of recommissioning the trail in time for the 100 year anniversary reopening of Memorial Park. The Trail Center was thrilled to participate in this important work, and its 19 volunteers brought this enthusiasm to Saturday’s workday.

The weather was overcast with unexpectedly warm temperatures in the low high 50’s by workday’s end. The trail tread is a mix of organic, sandy, sandstone soil, nicely workable after last season’s rains.

We staged the trailer and volunteers in the Azalea Flat Campground at Homestead Trail Milepost 7. Ranger Dave Vasquez staged the materials and tools, required to build two retaining walls, at Milepost 14 in the Huckleberry Flat Picnic Area, the midpoint of Homestead Trail.

Hank and Karl’s crew began at the western end of the trail. They spent the majority of the workday reestablishing the trail bed through a slide area approximately 30 yards long, grading the trail to remove large humps and to improve transitions at each end. After remarkable success at this, they undertook an exploratory attempt to restore the trail width and establish a stable inside bench on the uphill side. Unfortunately, the initial suspicion that the soil would be too unstable proved to be true, and a new retaining wall will be required. Still, the route and grade of the new trail is more than sufficiently laid out as to allow Pedro, SMCP’s carpenter, to survey and to design the retaining wall.
The crew had sufficient time remaining to clear duff and reestablish inside bench from Homestead Flat Youth Camp to the slide area.

Judd and Helen’s crew worked all day manually transporting the materials from Huckleberry Flat and building a large retaining wall. This wall is required to support the trail as it circumvents a “maidenhead prow” Douglas fir root impinging on the trail. By day’s end, all 4x8 lumber had been installed and most hat channels had been driven in place and fastened to the lumber. Remaining, work included driving and fastening the few remaining channels and to backfill the gap between the existing trail and the wall, estimated to require 2 to 3 hours with a crew of six.

Dave C’s crew also spent the day transporting materials and building a large retaining wall where a tan oak had fallen onto a Douglas fir and had narrowed to trail. The design and construction of the wall was made particularly challenging by the fir and its roots. The volunteers installed all 4x8 lumber east of the fir, including all hat channels and fastening. After considerable excavation and grading of the wall base west of the fir, Dave recommended that 6-foot tie-backs be installed under the trail, to be done during the next workday. 30-40% of all work has been completed, and remaining work is estimated to require two workdays with a crew of six.

The Trail Center looks forward to returning to Homestead Trail Saturday May 5 and Saturday June 26, completing all work planned for Homestead Trail.

Thanks to Dave C for driving the tool trailer and to Kathy for coordinating and signing in our glorious volunteers. Thanks to Ranger Dylan preparing Azalea Flat for the volunteers, including opening the restrooms, and to SM Volunteer Coordinator for his assistance planning the project and participating in the workday. Special thanks to Ranger Dave Vasquez for providing and staging all materials and for his assistance in coordinating the work.

Project: Huddart Park - Chinquapin Trail

Photo Album: Huddart Park - Chinquapin Trail Photos 

Huddart Park - Chinquapin Trail
Trail Center Work Day Report
February 8, 2020

On Saturday, February 8, the Trail Center performed some bread and butter maintenance on the Chinquapin Trail at the upper end of Huddart Park. We had a great turnout of about 30 people, with lots of first-timers. We were welcomed and greatly assisted in preparing for staging by Rangers Joe Immethun and Dylan Hofflander of San Mateo County Parks, who walked the trail with Judd before flagging to confirm the priorities for the work. They confirmed with Kings Mountain Archers that our event wouldn’t conflict with others so we could use the parking lot at the archery range for trailer and volunteer parking (SMCP post “52”). A representative of the archery group also helped ensure the gate stayed unlocked and provided a tool to a late-arriving volunteer.

The day started clear but chilly in the 50s as volunteers gathered. After the safety talk, the crews made the steep descent about 0.5 mi down Archery Fire Road to the upper of the two SMCP “41” posts that marks the lower end of Chinquapin Trail. The crews would spend their day working uphill on the trail.

Dave C’s crew took the first section of trail, where there was damage from drainage off King’s Mountain Rd. They restored the pathway, and re-purposed a length of 10” diameter redwood log on the hillside as a bar set firmly in the trail to protect against future heavy flows running down the trail. This area also needed a great deal of removal of dirt from the inside edge that had accumulated, narrowing the tread. Woody was key to that effort. They then continued upwards throughout the day to handle additional de-duffing the inside, mild brushing and tread clean up.

Hank’s crew was the next in line. Their key tasks beside more de-duffing and brushing was to add several drains on a long, straight, steep run of trail to reduce water speeds during rains. Several first time volunteers were able to participate in this effort, with mentoring from Hank and Judd. Further uphill, they brushed back the huckleberry growing on the uphill side of the trail.

Helen’s crew dealt with a root ball that impinged on the trail corridor a bit, cutting back parts to widen the path and then improving the tread through widening. Ken worked with a new volunteer on a very nice drain in this section. The crew then handled several drains that needed to be re-established off the ends of switchbacks. They also removed log debris that was getting in the way on the up-hill side.

Bill’s crew, furthest up the trail to start, converted a “speed bump” style drain that had already been damaged under foot to a swale-style one at a wet turn in the trail that’s more open due to power lines running overhead. They worked on widening the tread in a number of places, too. One of their special projects was to replace some lost boulders that helped retain soil in the ramp at one end of a footbridge. They did a great job making it look like there was never a hole there. In addition, that crew helped to restore some width near the upper end of the trail where an uprooted tree had taken out some of the outer edge. They cut into the hillside a bit to accomplish this.

As the day went on the crews advanced to the longer switchbacks at about the 0.8 mile mark and were able to clean up the tread quite a bit there and do additional brushing. As a final push, several crews worked on removing lots of duff/dirt from the inside edge to restore the width on a long, steep section that eventually parallels a ravine with a bit of a causeway. It was just past this turn (about 0.9 miles in, flag 40) that we came to the end of our time and hiked out the upper end of the trail, to post “51”, then back down Archery Fire Rd to the trailer for drinks and snacks. Bill and Kathy were kind enough to coordinate snacks. Thanks to Dave C. for hauling the trailer.

-Judd Volino
2/27/20