The Trail Companion

Late Winter 1999

Neither Snow nor Ice Shall Stay the Work of the Trail Builders

by Geoffrey Skinner

Our first official day of trailwork at Castle Rock on January 9 was favored with great weather - not too cold, not too hot, and lots of dappled sunshine getting through the tree cover overhead. But turn the clock forward to January 30...
We gathered amidst snow and ice on our second regular workday on the Castle Rock reroute project. The storm had dropped a nice dusting on the park earlier in the week and not all of the snow had melted, though we had none in the work area. Unfortunately, the wind was so strong and cold that none of us lasted through the whole day, even without new snow.

Dave Croker (l) and Tim Oren building a rock wall on the Castle Rock Trail

Photo by Scott Heeschen

      Despite the weather, we have completed several hundred feet of new trail in the most technically challenging section of the new route (just below Castle Rock) after two regular workdays and a Crew Leader Only day. To no one's surprise, we've uncovered a great deal of rock in the process of constructing a three-foot wide trail tread. We've built rock walls along more than three-quarters of the trail so far, which adds up to more feet of wall than we've constructed for two typical projects put together!
      Although the trail doesn't connect to anything yet, many people are already using it to access boulders and we've taken the opportunity to talk to climbers about our work. We'll work on the upper section of the reroute through the spring, extending the new trail in both directions, then connect with the existing trail on National Trails Day (June 5th). We plan to close off the badly eroded old trail at the same time, breaking up the compacted surface and covering it with native materials to let it recover.
      We invite you to sign up to help or just stop by to inspect the work! Please check our website regularly for updated information on workday schedules and progress.

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