Trip Report: 2007 Guadalupe Mountains National Park

During October 28 - November 3, 2007, the CTTT returned six volunteers to the highest mountains in Texas to volunteer at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The Trail Tamers worked drove from Austin to the Dog Canyon campground in the remote northern section of the park. Under direction of Jack Kincaid, the crew backpacked in to the Marcus campsite approximately 4 miles from Dog Canyon and set up camp.

The crew spent three hard days finishing the last section of a major re-route of the Bush Mountain Trail. As with any new trail construction, a lot of time was spent building the trail base and hauling dirt for the tread. The crew was able to enjoy hours crushing rocks and taking breaks by hauling dirt down the mountain.

Pictured left to right: Mike Rodgers, Wade Powell, Kevin Deiters, Devin Grobert, Allen Weber, and Bob Weglarz. Please note the nice new tread on the trail.

Trip Report: Continental Divide Trail in Carson National Forest N.M.

In August of 2007, eight Trail-tamers headed west to the Carson National Forest for the third time in four years. The objective: to complete the eight mile section of the Continental Divide Trail running from Lagunitas campground south past Olguin Mesa to FR 93. This is a section of the CDT that passes through roadless wilderness characterized by high hills, open meadows and lush forest of aspen and fir. Although lacking the “peaky” nature of the Colorado mountains to the north. At 10,000 feet altitude this area is plenty high enough to provide a mountain top experience. Wildlife sightings included, 4-elk, 2-mule deer, and a plethora of smaller furry and feathered creatures. Evening temperatures were in the 40’s and daytime highs ran into the upper 70’s. The food was plentiful and included many tasty treats so in spite of the hard work no on lost any weight.

Trip Report: Rocky Mountain National Park. 8/25/07-9/3/07

by Jerome Collins, Executive Director and project leader

We left the “Y” between Hwy 71 and 290 in Oak Hill about 7:00 with Jerome Collins, Jan Adler, John Brown, Martha Davies, Robert Gross, Christina Johnson, David Schneider, Bill Swaim, Andrew Waters and Mary Zeitler in the van. Donna Hoffman rode with Dave Schneider in the chuckwagon pickup. That afternoon, with Jerome Collins at the wheel, Dave’s pickup lost the tread off the driver side rear tire about 10 miles out of Levelland, TX. We had the spare put on there, but had to drive to the next town to buy a new tire. We spent the night in Raton, NM, arriving about 11pm.

Sunday, Donna Hoffman, Christine Johnson and Jerome Collins bought supplies at the Costco outside of Boulder, while the van went on to RNMP. The chuckwagon drove into the Moraine campground at Rocky Mountain National Park about 3pm to find everyone had arrived including Debbie and Ralph Ploeger from Grand Junction, CO; Bill Warren drove up earlier with Lori Montgomery; Judy McMillen and Joanne Parker drove directly from Dallas.

Donna Hoffman was camp cook. Returning veterans of prior RMNP-CTTT work trips were Jan Adler, Martha Davies, Christina Johnson, David Schneider, Bill Swaim, Jerome Collins, Mary Zeitler, Ralph and Debbie Ploeger.

Monday through Thursday, seventeen volunteers in four teams worked on four different trail projects in the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) next to St.Vrain Creek under direction from Dan Ostrowski, NPS trail crew leader and his trail crew members.

One team, Ralph Ploeger, Bill Swaim, and Jan Adler, built a 6’x8’ timber bridge over a small stream after widening the bed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeromecollins/sets/72157601941531063/

The Rock Crew: Bill Warren, John Brown, Martha Davies, Robert Gross and Andy Waters built a boulder stairway from the main trail to the riverbank. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeromecollins/sets/72157601953721545/

Christina Johnson, Mary Zeitler, Lori Montgomery, Judy McMillen and Joanne Parker blocked social trails and cleared a new path using a wench to uproot stumps.

Dave Schneider and Jerome Collins worked on a short, badly eroded section of the upper falls trail. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeromecollins/sets/72157601902770957/

Friday morning we all repaired fence around Bear Lake. We hiked up to Dream Lake for lunch. In the afternoon, everyone hauled dry aggregate uphill from Bear Lake past Nymph Lake to Dream Lake trail, since dirt is scarce at higher altitudes and mules or helicopters are expensive transportation for dirt. The job took a lot out of us and by 3PM, we were done.

Saturday was a free day. We broke camp, loaded the chuck wagon and took off for sightseeing, shopping, and lazing around camp. That evening Judy and Joanne, Andy and Robert, John, Chris, Donna, Dave and Jerome enjoyed a dinner in Estes Park. Amanda Laban, Adopt-A-Trail/Trainings Coordinator with Continental Divide Trail Alliance and her friend, joined us for the meal.

We did not refuel in Estes Park. We left Sunday morning at 7:40 a.m.and arrived about 11:30 p.m. in Lubbock, Texas. Eager to get back to Austin, we left about 6 a.m. Monday, Labor Day, to arrive in Austin about 3:30 p.m. Jerome and Mary Zeitler cleaned out the van and turned it in the next morning.

With grateful appreciation of the hardworking, easygoing crew of 2007, respectfully submitted by, Jerome Collins, Executive Director.

Trip Report: Glen Canyon Trail Project – Bullfrog, Utah (March 2007) By Lynda DeGroot

Saturday morning, March 24th, nine excited Trail Tamers from central Texas set off on a new adventure to Bullfrog, Utah on the upper reaches of Lake Powell within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Two members from Grand Junction, Colorado met us at the site. By mid-Sunday afternoon everyone was present and accounted for. We Texans made good time even though we stopped to see a few sights along the way.

We were invited to Utah by Justin Glasgow, Interpretive Officer for Glen Canyon NRA, who heard about us from John Heiner, Chief Interpretive Officer at Fort Davis National Historic Site in west Texas. Justin was based at Fort Davis for a while and trained by John who showed him the trail work done by Trail Tamers over the years! When Justin moved on to Bullfrog, Utah, the first thing he noticed was the lack of trails in the area and, now that Lake Powell is 103ft. below its normal level, many people have been asking about hiking opportunities. That’s when he contacted us to see if we would consider coming out there to utilize our expertise!

What a great opportunity to see a different kind of place! Working in red sandy soil was a lot different than working in a forest, or our own Texas hill country, but I think we did a darned good job. Numerous rock cairns were built to define a trail on the undulating red rock hills, and a new trail was cut into the side of a large hill leading up to the top where you could look out over Lake Powell. A large and unique cairn was built by Raylene & Mary to mark the spot. Some of us moved heavy rocks to mark the trail entrance near the parking area (thank goodness for those rock cradles!). We then fixed a social trail created by people following an old cow path. We decided it was best to leave it where it was, so we added a series of about 15-20 check dams from the bottom all the way to the top of the hill and pulled in the sides of this deeply rutted “trail” to fill in behind them. This leveled it out nicely and made it look more like a trail!

When we finished those trails, Justin asked if we would mind looking at another area several miles away, just off the famous Burr Trail...a 68 mile winding, mostly gravel road connecting Bullfrog to Boulder, Utah through the beautiful painted rock country of Capitol Reef National Park, Waterpocket Fold and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This area actually lists a 3-mile round trip trail in a park service booklet but the trail was seldom used because it was nearly impossible to find! So, we spent our last two days building a series of large rock cairns to guide people to a place at the end of the trail called Pedestal Alley where there are numerous huge pedestal rocks in various sizes & shapes.

The weather went from being a bit chilly on the first day but warmed up nicely and then the winds blew in on the second day and nearly sandblasted us. When they subsided, we managed to get more done but later in the week, it began to get colder and on our last workday, it started drizzling. At least we had a nice, warm house to go back to…compliments of the Park Service!
At the end of our time there…Justin presented each of us with numerous items to show his appreciation. In all, we contributed nearly 300 hours of volunteer labor and put in over two dozen rock cairns plus 15-20 check dams.

On our way back home to Texas, I used my National Park Pass to treat my passengers to a side trip to Arches, Canyonlands & Mesa Verde National Parks. What a wonderful trip this was! My thanks to Raylene Welch & Bob Weglarz, Debbie Galloway, Mary Zeitler, Sharon Highnote, Chris Argyros, Bo Bosarge, Ralph & Debbie Ploeger, and my dear sister, Shirley Harlow.