8/04: Return to Rocky Mountain

August, 2004 - by Derly Rivera

After an absence of one year, 10 Central Texas Trail Tamers returned to Rocky Mountain National Park for a week of work. Cool days and nights greeted us as we pitched our camp tents and stored our gear. After hiking and acclimating on Labor Day, we made final preparations for the work ahead.

Our orders for the week were to work at two different sites. One at Bierstadt Lake was a horse trail, which had to be rerouted due to new highway construction. The other, at Eugenia Mine trail, was a mile hike from the Long's Peak trailhead. Five team members went to the Eugenia Mine trail which was at 10,000 ft.; the other four members remained at the Bierstadt Lake site at around 9000 ft. Depending on their schedule, five to six park trail crew were assigned to guide and work with us, thus simplifying the task.

The first day was difficult as we adjusted to working and positioning large heavy boulders to solidify and control water runoff on the trails. As the week progressed, we cleared trails, trimmed tree branches, moved and repositioned rocks and boulders on new tread. The remainder of the week was much better as we continued to acclimate and managed to work somewhat at a faster pace.

Working ten hours daily, we were able to complete the Eugenia Mine trail project in three days. On Friday, the last work day, all nine CTTT members worked on the Bierstadt Lake trail, completed it, and then moved and positioned logs and timber check logs for the next week's work project for the park trail crew who would be working at the location. Still, the most difficult and strenuous work was moving big boulders around to different areas along the trail. In all, the team was able to work 207 man-hours on these two projects.

We stayed at Moraine Park campground where we had a full-time cook who prepared great hot meals for us. After dinner, we usually had dessert and coffee by the campfire and told stories that only campers can tell but no one believes.

The elks were in their full rut season and showed up at dusk in the Moraine Park grounds. Later in the evening, we could hear the chorus of coyotes howling their favorite yelps and, of course, the hoot owls were around.

To close out the work week, some of the team went hiking while others visited Estes Park and did some shopping. Good work was completed for the Rocky Mountain Park. Special thanks to the park crew and to the CTTT team consisting of Bo, Terence, Bill, Diane, Wanda, Dan, Earl, Jennifer and Hilary.

7/31-8/8/04: Carson National Forest, Taos, NM

Carson National Forest near Taos, New Mexico - by Mike Rogers
July 31-August 8, 2004
Eleven "Trail Tamers" participated in the first - hopefully not last - trip to Carson National Forest. Our hardy crew consisted of Mike Rodgers (Trip Leader), Lynda and Dave DeGroot (chefs & camp security), Fred Winkler, Janette Barlow, George Boemerman, Susan Kleinman, Gerry & Marlene Heiling, Bob "Mountainman" Saegert, and Alex Arreguin.

Our host for the trip, Richard Holmes, Trails Coordinator for Carson National Forest, told us we had "one cool project" and GAZOOK! Was he ever correct!

Our adventure started in the Walmart parking lot in Taos (except for the less patient Trail Tamers - Fred Winkler, who arrived a day early, and the Heilings, who journeyed from Washington State). We left Taos and convoyed to a viewing spot over the Rio Grande Gorge. After a short stop at the Gorge we journeyed to the Ranger Station in Tres Piedras for a "tool pick-up stop". A short way out of Tres Piedras, we turned onto Forest Service Road 87 - if one can call it a road. Our greatest thanks were that the road was dry, otherwise some of us would have disappeared in the ruts left by the big wheels. Even Susan's Corolla made it - all 28 miles - to the Lower Lagunitas Campground (elevation approximately 10,500 feet). The campground was on the south end of the Cruces Basin Wilderness, which several members of our group had the opportunity to venture into. They were amazed at the beauty of the area. As the crow flies our campground was 8-10 miles from Colorado. We set up camp, built the campfire and began the feast. I have never been on a Trail Tamer trip without GREAT meals. This trip was no exception. We started with spaghetti and salad followed by peach cobbler and ice cream(?) in the mountains. Seems each meal got better.



Our "Cool Project" was an eight-mile stretch of the Continental Divide Trail heading South of the Campground connecting to Forest Service Road 93 - I think the wildlife trails traveled better than the roads. Monday morning we started hiking the trail and quickly realized there was no trail. Our objective was the halfway point 4-miles in, but we only reached the "Aspen Tree Cantina" -my name for the lunch stop- at lunchtime. At that point, we realized we had to mark the trail we just founded. We split into two groups; the majority began work marking the trail heading back to the campground, a smaller group (Richard, Mary Ann- Richard's Supervisor & a native Central Texan, Gerry and myself) hiked to the halfway point - our original destination - to observe the quality of the trail to that point. That mile and one half was much better than the 3 miles we traversed in the morning.

Tuesday & Wednesday, we split into two work groups. One group spent time "benching" the down slope hillside, building a creek crossing, and clearing the up slope on the other side from the hillside. The other group (“Rock Engineers”) built many rock cairns marking the trail. The artistic quality of these cairns is beyond imagination. On our next trip, we will have to engrave the names of our Trail Tamers constructing these cairns.

On Thursday, we hiked the entire 8-mile stretch. What took three hours on Monday took an hour and a half Thursday. The improvements by this Trail Tamer work crew were amazing. We completed the eight-mile stretch on Thursday. The last three miles need more refinement, but it is still passable. Richard Holmes mentioned this would be a possible later project for CTTT. We would backpack in and set up camp, complete marking the 3mile stretch, and do some rock work on a section near the campsite.
In any case, CTTT will get credit for the 8 mile stretch of the Continental Divide Trail and we should get an invitation to return next year. Hopefully this can become an annual summer time trip as a relief from the hot Texas summers.