Category: Reports

Project: Craig Britton Trail 

Photo Album: Craig Britton Trail Photos 

For our Earth Day project we worked on the Craig Britton Trail in the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve, part of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. This trail is also part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail.

About twenty volunteers attended and were led by crewleaders Dave Croker, Judd Volino and Bill Farrell. Hank Magnuski was supervisor for the day.

In the morning the precipitation exceeded expectations and we were all standing in the rain waiting for our shuttles. Fortunately, the worksites were reasonably sheltered in the forest and the rain dissipated as the morning progressed. There were a few spots with a little more moisture in the soil than we needed, but most of the trail was quite workable.

We staged from the North Lot and shuttled to the Purisima Creek Trailhead where MROSD staff drove us and the tools to the Craig Britton Trailhead. We thank Brendan Dolan and his assistant ranger for these rides because they tremendously helped to increase energy and time available to work on the trail. While riding the ATV Mules down to the trailhead some of the volunteers felt like they were in a scene straight out of Jurassic Park with a windy, wet road and dark forest all around.

We were able to finish a lot, but not all, of the southern half of the Craig Britton Trail. The majority of the work done was widening tread and reestablishing the inside edge. From the original plan the centrally located markers CB216-CB220 were not assigned because of the distance involved and due to the earth already being hard-baked. All work was completed up to CB235, but CB236 and higher remain to be done.

The crewleaders estimate that there is one more day's work left on this trail and we should probably re-survey and possibly plan a revisit for the November BART Service Day.

Many thanks to all involved for these repairs,

Hank Magnuski
12-May-2019

Project: Skyline Trail 

Photo Album: Skyline Trail Photos 

On Saturday, January 12, Trail Center returned gave some love to the Skyline Trail, bringing 29 experienced and new volunteers to the task of general maintenance, with a focus on removing accumulated slough & duff to restore tread width and some drainage work. The project spanned a 1.5 mi section starting north of the Molder Trail junction. We were fortunate to catch a break in a series of rain storms that, but it remained chilly with some mist as the day wrapped up.

Volunteers parked at the El Corte de Madera OSP parking lot and either shuttled or walked on the Sierra Morena trail about 0.8 mi to reach the Molder Trail pullout on Skyline Blvd where the trailer was staged. Thanks to Brendan Dolan of Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District for coordinating a permit for our group that day.

This trail runs between Huddart and Wunderlich county parks just east off the ridge and Skyline Blvd in Redwood City/Woodside areas. This trail is maintained by San Mateo County Parks, but lies largely on California Water Service Company property, and presumably is accessible due to an easement. Our SMCP contact for the project was ranger Rogelio Castaneda.

In order from south to north the crew leaders were…

Hank, who had a group of relatively new volunteers who dug right into the work of removing exposed roots in the trail, brushing, clearing duff from inside edge and removing debris.

Karl and Tim Moore paired up to lead the next section’s crew, also focused on restoring tread width and trimming back some growth of saplings and cutting a dead “widowmaker”.

Bill’s crew tackled some areas where the tread had become uneven before overgrowth had been trimmed back. They did a great job restoring an even bench and outslope, improving drains, and more of that slough and debris removal.

Dave Croker’s crew also cleaned up some long stretches and made a number of well-developed “nicks” for drainage.

At the far end, Woody led a very game group who had to hike out the furthest. They had some of the most challenging sections in terms of the amount of slough to remove and also a fair amount of berry bramble that had grown into the trail. They also had to remove some roots that were hazards after the slough was removed.

Overall, we were able to address nearly all the areas planned for the day. The lesson trail boss Judd re-resolved keep project work areas 1 mi. max in length.

Snacks were served at the pullout. We made due with the coolers as flat surfaces, as the classic folding tables had accidentally been left out of the trailer when we packed up at Hidden Villa last month.

Hank awarded teen volunteer Alex his green hat for his participation in at least 4 work days. Alex and his associates have made strong contributions to projects including Hidden Villa and Sugarloaf Mountain Open Space.

Thanks to Larry for snacks and Dave Croker for bringing the trailer.

Judd Volino
1/22/19

Project: Hidden Villa 

Photo Album: Hidden Villa Photos 

On Saturday, December 1, Trail Center completed its second work day at Hidden Villa open space and farm on the north 0.3 mi portion of the Short Bunny Loop Trail, starting from the Long Bunny Loop junction in the creek valley. We were lucky to have a very strong turnout of 29 volunteers, including many teenagers.

We began the day under drizzling rain, and endured one short downpour before the rain eased up in late morning. This made from muddy conditions. We decided to go forward with the work day due to the lack of a rain date. The area of the Short Bunny trail we worked on weaves among bays and oaks, with occasional openings for more shrubby vegetation. The hike in is only about .25 mi.

The key goals for this work were to replace deteriorated retaining walls, install new walls where needed, improve switchbacks, general tread widening, and brushing. We were greatly enabled by Hidden Villa’s Jesse Dolan who procured all the materials we requested and staged them at the work sites with Scott Farnworth. This greatly accelerated the retain wall work.

Tim Moore, a crew leader trainee, led a mix of experienced and new volunteers who worked on the lower switchbacks, widening the tread to make the initial steep trail more passable. In addition, Dave K. and Larry planned and guided the installation of 24’ of retaining walls at a very narrowed switchback. This required more earth moving and regrading than the work plan anticipated, but they ended up with a much improved tread. Ideally, an addition 4’ or so of retaining wall will be added by Hidden Villa staff at the pivot of the switchbank to further armor the turn against shortcutting.

Dave Taylor’s crew worked on the next higher set of switchbacks, aided by a set of 3 teenage volunteers and a dad helping as part of a school project, along with Kathy and the two Franks. They installed 16’ of retaining wall at the foot of a tree, replacing one that had been undermined. Then they moved on to another 16’ in a switchback, and 8’ just below there. The crew also worked on general widening above and below the wall projects.

Crew leader trainee Karl, aided by regular volunteer Neil, Hidden Villa volunteer Ron, and several others, focused on brushing back a 50 yard stretch of more exposed trail to allow for the bench to be moved back uphill. With the brushing completed, they restored the tread to a more solid alignment, although this was challenging because it was fairly muddy. This crew also shored up a a couple sections of retaining walls, using a reclaimed board that had by lying on the trail in one case.

Dave Croker oversaw a mix of new and experienced teenage volunteers and regulars, including the ever versatile Ken and Tom. The latter two installed 16’ of wall, where hikers had been sidestepping a tree in the trail, to create a solid bench and stop deterioration of the hillside. Tom also installed another 16’ under a big tree where the root system had limited the tread. Dave and the teenages and one dad completed an ambitious set of walls totaling more than 48’ under a big partially fallen bay tree. This work included lots of backfill, reinstalled 3 steps, and shoring up a couple other walls in that stretch. They also did brushing in this area and further on to reduce branches at head and eye level.

Overall, the volunteers and leaders performed admirably in challenging conditions, with everyone sticking with it in good spirits until it was time to leave. We were able to complete all the work that was planned for the day. Crews starting packing up and heading down about 2:00 p.m.

Judd Volino
12/2/18

Project: Purisima Open Space 

North Ridge, Harkins & Craig Britton Trails - Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve
Trail Center Work Day Report
November 3, 2018

Saturday, November 3rd, was the annual Bay Area Ridge Trail service day and the Trail Center partnered with the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to run a trail maintenance event at the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space District preserve.

A total of 32 volunteers showed up for this event plus 4 staff from MROSD and representatives from the Bay Area Ridge Trail and REI.

Our task was to do needed maintenance on the North Ridge Trail, the Harkins Ridge Trail and the Craig Britton Trail, all part of the Ridge Trail running through this park. There was a lot of erosion, drainage and gulleys to repair or refurbish along with some tread rework. Five crews were organized led by Lisa Jewett, Judd Volino, Dave Croker, Bill Farrell and Karl Mosgofian. One crew worked the North Ridge, two on the Harkins and two on Craig Britton. Hank Magnuski was supervisor for the day.

For the assigned worksite tasks there was a completion rate of about 105%. All crews managed to get their original assignments done and a number of crews found some bonus projects to do on their sections. Only about two or three flagged sites were deferred as these were really horrible sections of trail that probably needed a backhoe and a dump truck full of base rock to fix. The North Ridge and Harkins Ridge segments are done, and about half of the Craig Britton is waiting for another trail day.

Many thanks go to Brendan Dolan of MROSD for proposing this project and helping to survey it. He also helped coordinate the transfer of tools to the worksite, provision for sanitation, and reservation of the parking lot where we staged our event. We also deeply thank REI for their support, cash contribution and raffle items. For a project with so many people dispersed over a wide area and with so many moving parts, the day went about as flawlessly as could be expected.

Hank Magnuski

Project: San Mateo Memorial Park 

Pomponio Trail - Memorial Park
Trail Center Work Day Report
October 13, 2018

On Saturday, October 13, we returned to San Mateo County’s Memorial Park to work on the long anticipated and recently reopened Pomponio Trail. The trail had been closed for years due to washed out piers under the footbridge at the park’s northwest corner west of Mt Ellen. SMCP recently replaced the damaged bridge with a 36” culvert, and the park rangers were eager to restore the long neglected trail and welcome visitors to this scenic stretch. The Trail Center was thrilled to participate in this important work, and its crews brought this enthusiasm to Saturday’s workday.
The weather was clear, with unseasonably warm temperatures in the high 80’s by workday’s end. The trail tread is a mix of organic, sandy, sandstone soil, mostly workable after last month’s rain. The work area was partially under Douglas fir tree shade and partially under full sun. Our 20 volunteers included a nice mix of experienced and first time volunteers.
As on previous workdays, we staged the trailer and volunteers in the pull-out area immediately before the park entrance kiosk. Ranger Matt Auda-Capel transported our tools to the trailhead in the SMCP pick-up, and he and Dave C helped shuttle volunteers up the hill to the worksite.
Hank’s, Karl’s, and Tim’s crew began at the new culvert, brushing, restoring tread width, and outsloping nearly a quarter mile of trail. Judd’s and George’s crew did similar work for the next quarter mile, including the addition of one drain and the reattachment of existing retaining wall lumber to hat channels. Special kudos to Dave C, the Grim Reaper, for preceding all crews; luckily for all, neither he nor the Shindaiwa ran out of gas.
The Trail Center looks forward to returning to Pomponio Trail, possibly later this spring, to complete the portion between Flag 24 and the Mt Ellen trail network. The Trail Center Projects Committee will coordinate with the Memorial Park rangers to plan this next phase.
Thanks to Dave C for driving the trailer, to Kathy for coordinating our glorious volunteers, and to Larry signing in the volunteers at the beginning of the day and for catering the snacks and beverages at the end of the day.

Project: Quarry Park Half Moon Bay 

On a beautiful Saturday day, 25 volunteers assembled at Quarry Park to complete the re-route started three weeks earlier. As with the previous project, Dave Taylor was the Trail Boss. Crew Leaders included Judd Volino, Eva Franko, and Hank Magnuski paired with George Willis. The Coastside Mountain Bikers contributed several people under the leadership of Ric Barker. Judd, Eva, and Ric helped bring folks from the lower parking area to the Dolphine Road gate that leads to the trail.

Even though only three weeks had passed since the previous projects, vegetation was already sprouting from roots not removed in the previous effort, especially in the upper area. Eva’s crew worked on removing the sprouts as well as remaining coyote brush stumps. She also had to narrow the trail in some places where overly exuberant workers had made it too wide. Hank and Judd’s crews worked on widening the lower trail, as appropriate, removing spoils from the edge, and better defining the trail. Hank’s crew also got the honor of removing a small eucalyptus tree from the middle of the entrance to the trail. The nature of the soil made creating a smooth uniform surface challenging, but all three teams tackled this task with reasonable success. A final smoothing will have to wait until fall/winter rains permit a better, less friable soil to work with. At one point, Ric took another mountain biker, Noel, to brush the upper part of the old trail, which he said would still be used by some bikers as a downhill challenge. It is a part of the trail unsuitable for hiking in either direction (hence the re-route).

Work proceeded quickly, and by 1:30-2, the trail was in sufficiently good shape to call it a day. As in the previous project three weeks earlier, the weather was fantastic, if not hot, and the views were postcard like in their beauty. The ocean was about a blue as it gets and crew leaders had to keep reminding volunteers to drink fluids to avoid dehydration.

Larry Stites again capably handled refreshments, and this time ensured that there was sufficient beer, although there was also less demand due to the smaller workforce. We awarded a green Trail Steward shirt to Julio, for his commitment to attending 8 work days. Julio was very happy to be so honored, and promised he'd wear it on an upcoming hike on the PCT. We also raffled swag from National Trails Day, mainly tee shirts and patches, via a raffle.

Dave Taylor

Project: Quarry Park Half Moon Bay 

Photo Album: 1806-2 Quarry Park 

On Saturday, June 2nd, National Trails Day, about 35 volunteers converged for the Trail Center’s first ever event at Quarry Park, a eucalyptus covered San Mateo County Park located on a hilly mountain east of El Granada and north of Half Moon Bay. David Taylor was the Trail Boss and he was assisted by Crew Leaders, Judd Volino, Karl Mosgofian, Tim Murphy, and Bill Farrell. Eva Franko assisted Karl in leading his crew. The objective was to carve out a new trail bypassing the steepest parts of what was a narrow use path up near the top of the ridge in the northeast part of the park. The trail had been previously marked by Dave Croker, Bill Farrell, and Judd Volino, and then re-flagged by Judd about a week before the event.

The initial part of the trail involved cutting a trail through a dense mixture of vines, poison oak, and other mainly invasive vegetation. Karl’s crew handled this responsibility. The next section of the trail transitioned from the “jungle” to coyote brush scrub as it climbed out of the forest and into the hillside. Judd’s crew focused on this section. The hillside afforded a spectacular view of the ocean and the Princeton marina, as the day, unlike many on the coast, was clear and sunny all day. Bill’s crew started at the top end of the reroute and worked its way downhill. Bill’s team mainly consisted of a contingent of volunteers from the Coastside Mountain Bikers group under the auspices of Ric Barker. This was the Trail Center’s first time working with this group and it was a successful partnership, with Trail Center volunteers and leaders gaining new insights into what aspects of a trail are most favored by mountain bikers.

Progress was impressive. The entire reroute was roughed in by noon, and in the afternoon work began on defining the trail’s edges and moving it toward a completable state. The upper area required the removal of a number of coyote bushes, and associated stumps, a task at which the mountain bike group seemed particularly adept.

Meanwhile, Tim’s group worked on widening the trail leading up to the reroute. Although passable, the tread was only about a foot wide, with poison oak and other plants encroaching on the trail and making the probability of contact with this noxious plant for both hiker and biker highly likely. Tim’s group did an excellent job of bringing the narrow parts of the trail into conformance with the broader, wider starting tread coming up from Dolphine Road. Once their assignment was completed, Tim’s group spread itself out at the junction of the reroute’s beginning to assist Judd and Karl’s crews.

The lack of parking, distance to the work area, and steep hills in-between necessitated the car-pooling of volunteers to the gate entrance and the hauling of the tools up in Tom Moore’s pickup truck. The recently repaired road into the site was fine except the placement of a large berm that created some challenges for Tom’s truck, especially on the way out, as his vehicle does not have a high clearance. The gunning of the truck on the way out and its flying over the berm created a highlight for the assembled volunteers and a real jolt for Tom and Dave T, who were driver and passenger respectively, as the truck landed. Thanks to Judd, Eva, and Ric for helping to ferry folks up the hill.

Larry Stites did his usual excellent job with snacks, although for the first time in recent memory, the Trail Center ran out of cold beer! Because of a last minute mix-up, handing out of National Trail Day swag had to be deferred to the next Quarry Park project in three weeks.

Dave Taylor

Project: San Mateo Memorial Park - Mt. Ellen Trails

Photo Album: 1805-12 Memorial Park

On Saturday, May 12, we returned to San Mateo County’s Memorial Park to complete the work on the Mt. Ellen Summit Trail and Nature Trails, continuing both above and to the west of the work accomplished on the May 13 and August 18, 2017, workdays. In keeping with the following day’s celebration, the Trail Center crews did a job to make any Mother proud.
The weather was clear, with temperatures in the low 50’s at the outset and the low 70’s when the workday ended. The trail tread is soft Douglas fir and redwood duff and a mix of organic and sandy soil made workable by last winter’s rains. The work area was almost entirely under tree cover. Our 32 volunteers included a nice mix of experienced and first time volunteers
As on previous workdays, we staged the trailer and volunteers in the pull-out area immediately before the park entrance kiosk. We accessed the Nature Trail by hiking up the eastern end of the Mt. Ellen Nature Trail, while the upper Mt. Ellen Trail was accessed from the west. Many thanks to Rangers Dave Vasquez and Matt Auda-Capel for reserving this area, providing lumber and stakes for the retaining walls, and coordinating with us on the work scope.
Eva and Lisa’s crew began above the western junction of the Summit Trail with the Nature Trail, clearing and repairing a badly damaged switchback before proceeding uphill to brush, widen, bench, and outslope a quarter mile of trail, adding drains where needed. Karl and Helen’s crew (yay, PAli volunteers!) did similar work at the peak of Mt Ellen Summit Trail, artfully dodging lush groves of mid-spring poison oak while installing barriers to discourage the prevalent shortcutting of switchbacks by hikers. Aaron and Lianna’s crew turned a nearly impassable path, overgrown with trillium, forget-me-nots, and grass, into a bona fide Nature Trail (now a showpiece for the Memorial Park network), greatly improving the tread and replacing a rotting retaining wall, severely damaged by a fallen Douglas fir. Hank Magnuski and Dave Croker led a cozy crew, quickly dispatching that same fir, then buckling down to the time-consuming job of cutting a notch into and building steps approaching a fallen 36” diameter redwood which had previously and entirely blocked the trail. Special kudos to Tom, the Grim Reaper, for preceding all crews; luckily for all, neither he nor his weed whacker ran out of gas.
As of now, all planned Trail Center work for the Mt. Ellen Summit Trail and the Nature Trail has been completed. The Trail Center looks forward to working with SMCP on Pomponio Trail. Per discussions and walk-thru’s with Rangers Dave, Matt, and Louisa, this would require either the replacement of the footbridge at the extreme west end of Pomponio or carefully coordinated access from the east.
Thanks to Dave Croker for driving the trailer, to Kathy for coordinating and signing in our glorious volunteers at the beginning of day, and to Larry for catering the snacks and beverages at the end of the day.

Bill Farrell

 

Project: Sugarloaf Mountain Open Space - City of San Mateo 

Photo Album: 1804-21 Sugarloaf Mountain 

Earth Day 2018 saw the Trail Center continue our new trail project at Sugarloaf park (Laurelwood Park) in San Mateo. About 40 volunteers came to help us complete the “Segment 3” trail on a beautiful spring day. The new trail—now called the “Dappled Light Trail”—connects the Amphitheater Trail that we built a couple years ago with a major trail junction on the south-central side of the park. We were confident this would be our fourth and final workday here. We were correct…sort of.

The work areas were split into 3 distinct areas. Dave Croker supervised the upper work areas where crews finished about 150 feet of trail, constructed a switchback, and made the connection to the Amphitheater Trail. Judd Volino supervised the crews that worked on the bottom section of trail that connects with the Salson Trail. That section was longer at about 300 feet, but had a shallower side slope in many places. One last crew tackled the third distinct work project which was a major retaining wall that kept the trail on grade as it passed around a beautiful and unique buckeye tree. Both the upper and lower crews finished* the work within their sections with a few stragglers staying on an extra half hour to finish up. That meant we could officially open the entire new trail to hikers! We had our first hikers before we picked up the last tool.

The retaining wall was quite a beast. We used a new design based upon state park designs using 4”x8” pressure treated lumber for longevity. We expect this trail will get a lot of traffic all year long, so we wanted this structure to last. The wall crew used generators and power tools to shape the timbers, and heavy duty drills to bore holes for 4-foot long foundation stakes that helped hold all the pieces together. The crew here worked hard for another 45-60 minutes past all the other volunteers until the backfill that had been created during the rest of the day ran out. They were understandably pooped when they finally made it back to the trailhead where the rest of the stragglers were still congregated. At this point something happened that I can’t remember happening before: 6 more folks decided to head back out and try to complete the backfill of the retaining wall. For the next hour and a half, these 6 diehards widened and flattened the nearby approaches to the retaining wall in order to generate enough backfill to almost fill the wall. The extra work also widened up the trail to closer to Trail Center standards. It was quite a sight to see. Make sure you visit the photo album for this project to fully appreciate the efforts of everyone on this trail project.

Trail work aside, I have to mention that lunch turned into an excellent affair that included sandwiches and goodies provided by the San Mateo Parks Foundation. Thank you to the contributors and volunteers that delivered the lunch to the work area! Everyone thoroughly enjoy it. Some nice congratulatory words were given by Trail Center President Judd Volino and San Mateo city supervisor Sheila XXX.

Thanks as always to all the background support from Judd to help organize the work day, Kathy for her expert coordinating, Larry for refreshments, and all the crew leaders and crew leader trainees for making sure the volunteers were taken care of and worked safely, and for ensuring expert trail was constructed. Thanks also to San Mateo City Parks for procuring and delivering all the supplies needed for the retaining wall.

Dave Croker
July 3, 2018

Project: Castle Rock State Park 

Photo Album: 1802-10 Castle Rock 
Photo Album: 1803-10 Castle Rock 

The Trail Center once again teamed up with California State Parks in February and March, 2018. This time we helped open up a new trail between the long-time parking lot off of Highway 35—“Castle Rock Trailhead”—to the new parking lot under construction on the Sempervirens Fund property to the north. Due to very enthusiastic and large turnouts, we were also able to send some crews off on other projects near the trailhead, including trail construction and junk cleanup on the new trail being constructed between the new parking lot and Castle Rock Falls.

In February, we were joined by 2 other groups in addition to the state park trail maintenance staff: the Friends of Castle Rock and Portola and Al Lisen’s Skyline-to-the-Sea crew. All told we had around 50 people working on a trail segment that is only 0.2 mile long. With the combined groups, it allowed crews to split up to tackle different projects. Al Lisen’s group volunteered to undertake the hardest work which was removing the old—now unnecessary—barbed wire fence between the state park land and the Sempervirens property. They ended up removing several hundred feet of fence! Another group of mostly Friends of CR and P worked on a large turnpike on the connector between the old parking lot and the crossing of Hwy 35. That left the majority of the new trail to Trail Center and park staff. But, despite that, we were able to finish the new trail segment for as far as wsa allowed. In addition, we had a crew that used a grip hoist (heavy duty come-along) all day long to remove tree stumps, and two crews constructed retaining walls out of rather large fir logs. This new connector trail will officially open at the time of the opening of the new parking lot. The excellent February weather allowed for a lengthy refreshments hour afterwards.

March weather took center stage, but fortunately didn’t perform until mid-afternoon. Another large turnout—this time sans the Friends of CR and P—allowed us to make significant progress on several varied projects. Three crews—supervised by Dave Croker—worked major maintenance projects along the Castle Rock trail that had been lingering on the state park’s project list for quite sometime. The top two crews worked to replace the aging “bridges” across the headwaters of Castle Rock creek. The state park crews had gathered the materials and started the prep for the new bridges that were replacing the old. Trail Center crews worked hard all day long, and managed to nearly complete the upper bridge, while the lower bridge was finished, but the approaches were not because they required more materials than expected. The bottom crew rebuilt 3 major side drainage crossings along the trail. Each built structure ended up being large drain dips with buried, downhill rock support. The other Trail Center crews—supervised by Judd Volino—ended up in a different area to the northwest of the old parking lot. Crews spent quite a bit of time (and energy!) hauling out old telephone poles and other debris from the drainage that the new Castle Rock Falls trail will follow from the new parking lot. By lunchtime, crews were digging in the dirt constructing new tread along this new trail. An American Conservation Corps crew will complete this new trail. It will also be open after the opening of the new parking lot. A light rain came in by 2pm, but blew over in time for refreshments. Another shout out goes to Al Lisen’s crew for continuing to remove old fence. This time they came within just 150 feet of finishing. By the time you read this, the rest should be removed.

Thanks as always to all the background support from Judd to help organize the work day, Kathy for her expert coordinating, Larry for refreshments, and all the crew leaders and crew leader trainees for making sure the volunteers were taken care of and worked safely, and for ensuring expert trail was constructed.

Dave Croker
July 3, 2018