About ten of us showed up for a few hours of trailwork at ECDM Saturday. We worked on a section of the Methuselah trail, where it is singletrack, as it heads down to the creek crossing at El Corte De Madera Creek.The heavy rains this winter caused a drainage to overrun a creek bed at a little bridge and ran down the trail, causing erosion of the trail bed. the goal was to make sure that on both sides of the bridge the trail went uphill. This meant a re-alignment of the trailbed onto a very steep sideslope.
After some initial discussion about where the trail should line up, we removed duff from above the trail and put it aside. Some of us began cutting a new bed in from above, while others tore up the old bed and built up the new trail from below.
The section closest to the bridge took shape quickly, but the rest required the removal of some serious roots, and moving many cubic yards of dirt. With much discussion, and hard work, we built a section of trail that I think we all can be proud of. The new trail adds a new grade reversal, and two new flowing turns, and much to the trail from a cyclist’s perspective. From an environmental perspective, the new trail alignment will not flood and cause siltation of the creek.
After we finished the trail work, pretty much right at 3:00, some of us went for a ride. We road down Methuselah, crossed the stream and up North Leaf and Resolution. Then we headed down Manzanita and Crossover. We road up Gordon Mill and Serra Morena. All told, it was 11 miles and probably 2500 feet of climbing. As we rode, I noted the numerous trees that had fallen across trails and sawed out. I noticed many places where tread had been repaired. I admired the heavy work done on Gordon Mill, and how the grasses are growing in the moved dirt along the edge of the trail.
Craig Beckman, a maintenance supervisor for MROSD, and his staff are incredibly talented and prodigious trail builders and maintainers. It is a real privilege to work with them and learn. The next opportunity to do trail work at ECDM will be June 3 at 9:30 AM. This is National Trails Day, so please consider giving back to the trails at ECDM or another location. For ECDM, please register with Paul McKowan at volunteer at www.openspace.org
Josh
