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Workday Report for Hidden Villa – December 1, 2018

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