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