Project: Portola Redwoods State Park (Upper Coyote Ridge Trail)
Photo Album: 1610 Portola Redwoods SP/Pescadero Creek CP
On Saturday, Oct. 8 the Trail Center returned to complete work on the Upper Coyote Ridge Trail that spans Portola Redwoods State Park and Pescadero Creek County Park. We were blessed with four crew leaders, Hank, Bill, Dave C., and Aaron and a great mix of 24 experienced and new volunteers. It was a little warmer than ideal, but most of the work had the benefit of the cover of redwoods, Douglas firs, and oaks. We staged from the Tarwater Trailhead in Pescadero Creek County Park, at the north end of the trail.
We focused on removing low vegetation, especially berry vines, at the south and north ends of the trail and a few sections in between we weren't able to get in August. We also improved the tread on some switchbacks to reduce the chance of shortcutting. We covered approximately 0.6 miles of trail.
A bit of trivia: Long-time volunteer Ken pointed out that the Trail Center originally built the Upper Coyote Ridge Trail over a few work days in 1992-93. Check the photo album link for some clippings from the old newsletters.
Particularly in the portion of the trail in Pescadero Creek park, once vines were cut back Hank's crew had to do a significant amount of duff and soil removal to restore the inside edge of the trail and gain full bench width. Bill's crew did similar work just inside the north border in the Portola Redwoods section and worked a particularly overgrown switchback and stretch just before the westward vista.
Aaron's crew worked the mid-section of the trail to open up tread that ran primarily on the ridgeline. As the canopy is less dense there, poison oak was more prevalent. His crew ended by helping Bill's wrap up.
Finally, Dave C's crew started at the south junction with Coyote Ridge Trail and removed a lot of tough vines that had narrowed the first 0.1 mile of trail. They continued north addressing other overgrowth, several areas of tread that needed leveling, and a snag. They ended up in the north area under the redwoods removing duff from the inside edge and sending a few people to help Hank's crew complete their stretch.
As there still hadn't been any measurable rain on the trail, it was not feasible to even out the tread much where the soil was clay-like. We will pass on to state parks staff that this might be good to do if they had time in early spring.
Special thanks to Kathy for helping to determine the work and flag in advance of this work day.
- Judd Volino
10/12/16