Once again ROMP teamed up with the good people with the Viking Ski Club and came out to support the Donner Lake Rim Trail project, lead by Susan Sheffield of the Tahoe Donner Land Trust. Paul & Chris Voci-Nam and myself were joined by Warren, Louise, Mike Masek’s two daughters (of Viking Ski Lodge)& two guys from Grass Valley. We assembled near the Donner Lake interchange of I-80 & after sign in, introductions & project overview, we were shuttled up near the worksite. There we loaded up with tools and the 15 cinder block pavers that were the primary objective for the day. A short hike, that seemed longer when toting 40lb pavers, led us to the worksite.
There was a relatively straight, steep approach to a switchback and mt bikers were skidding into the turn & carving a rut down the middle. Our goal was to lay the pavers & armor the approach and make subtle changes to the trail alignment uptrail to slow cyclists prior to the pavers. Five of us, including Paul & myself worked with Susan and two other volunteers and did a fine job of it, finishing before lunch. We made the tail weave left to right & placed barriers to encourage slowing. We restored the areas adjacent to the re-routed trail segments with duff & pine needles to complete the job & improve the visual aspect. The rest of the crew was doing much needed maintenance in the area & we joined them for lunch and assisted with those fixes afterwards. We then hiked back to the trailhead, where some ran or hiked out & the rest were shuttled down to our vehicles. After we were given bike jerseys or t-shirts & much thanks for our efforts.
The whole trail from Tahoe-Donner down to Quinn Memorial Bridge is now in great shape and the project will move on to other areas later this year & next.
At this point most of us retired to the Viking Ski Lodge where Alice & Mike Masek had been busily preparing a delicious turkey dinner for those of us who worked on the trail. The rest of us contributed to the meal in one form or another & we all enjoyed a delightful & well earned meal. After enjoying the fellowship & relaxing after the dishes were done, we melted into our seats & drifted off to bed as the days events caught up with us.
The next moring was another cooperative meal. I was promoted to journeyman bisquit maker & Paul became the apprentice. Mike made basil & tomato scrambled eggs and gravy for the bisquits. After this second session of full tummies, and doing our chores, we headed out for the morning’s activities. We were motivated by the weather to do it soon as snow or rain was predicted. Some did a short bike ride, others hiked. Buster & I explored the remains of the old Lincoln Highway, the predecessor to old US Highway 40.
Thanks to Susan for coordinating the trailwork, Mike Masek and family of Viking for co-sponsoring the weekend and ROMP for paying for our night’s lodging there. All in all, we were able to make a quality contribution to the trail, have fun and enjoy good compainionship throughout the weekend. Stay turned to the ROMP newsletter or Homepage for details for next year’s project and you can be part of the fun, too!
