Help create "shoulder dragging traction"

(Mailing List Information, including unsubscription instructions are
located at the end of this message)

Today's quote is from smiling Greg Williams at Yuba Adventures in Downieville. He used the term "shoulder dragging traction" to describe the conditions up in the Sierras after the rains and the melt had a chance to settle in and the trails had air dried a bit. The tacky surface of the trail allows for freaky leaning into the banked turns of the Butcher Ranch Trail. How we look forward to a drier spring!


February was tough on trails all over the Bay Area. Soquel Forest has held up very well in comparison to many places, but there are still some problem areas. One of our goals with our trail maintenance is maintaining a firm and tacky trail tread. The Ridge Trail caught the rain in large puddles where the trail wanders through saddles and sags. The pigs have been rooting in the margins too. In some places there's really no way to drain the water; it's uphill in every direction and we just have to wait for it to dry out.


Braille Trail has suffered too. Sunny weekend weather after rainy weekdays has enticed people off the pavement and onto the steeps prematurely. There's plenty of evidence of people walking their bikes down, using the hard edges of their shoes to find a bit of traction. Other, less cautious riders found braking useful only for moving the slimy dirt from above to somewhere down below. Many of the drain dips on the steeps need work to remove this displaced soil that is creating a lip at the entrance of the drain and causing water to bypass and flow down the trail. The reroutes we did earlier haven't yet firmed up and need a bit of attention too.


This weekend should be perfect for sculpting the dirt, since the sun this week should help dry things up a bit. We need your help to ensure spring riding in the Demo Forest is remarkable for its "shoulder dragging traction"! Sunday 3/13 we will be meeting at 8:30 at the top of Hihn's Mill Road; our goal is to get everyone out and ready to work by 9:00.


Please sign up at http://www.trailworkers.com There will be both riding and hiking options, and we will quit around 1:30 so if you want to do a ride afterwards there will be plenty of time to get in a good loop.


ps. An optional afternoon adventure will feature tromping around in the woods. There are a couple of particularly steep sections of Braille that have become troughed and need to be armored to be truly sustainable. A few of us will be hiking around off trail above those areas for about an hour or so, looking for BIG rocks that can be moved into the tread. We are attending a workshop this week on using rigging to move heavy things, something we've avoided so far. <http://www.trailbuilders.org/conference/2005/trail_services05.html>;


pps. I'm planning on baking some of my killer oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to satisfy that trail-work induced hunger. Arrive at 8:30 for other baked goods and Peets coffee as well, courtesy of the Stewards of Soquel Forest.


Patty Ciesla
Stewards of Soquel Forest

This email was sent to Charles Jalgunas' list of volunteer trailworkers in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Subscribe to Trailworkers Past and Future: