CTTT Completes Davy Crockett National Forest Project

by Raymond Fore

President's Day weekend at Davy Crockett National Forest was successful again despite all the efforts of Mother Nature to derail us. Friday, February 15 was spent setting up camp and gathering the needed tools and supplies we'd need to complete the task. Except of the retagging of the Tall Pines Trail and the clean up and organizing of the supply yard/lumber yard, all the work we did during the work session took place in the Big Slough Wilderness area. The challenge in this work was doing it without the help of any type of powered tools OR wheeled vehicles. Four sections of the raised wooden foot bridge on the trail had been washed away in recent flooding.

The bridge crew, made up of Mike Rodgers, Terrence Donovan, Andy Zwarun, Pearlie Green(Forest Service), and myself, Ray Fore recovered the sections, re-established them, and added a cable hand rail. The tree crew, Chuck Lundsted, Raylene Welch, Bob Weglarz, Dwight Riley, and Vick Hines removed several very large trees that had fallen across the 4 C trail. They did this with the use of axes, 6 foot cross cut saws, several smaller saws, and a lot of grunting and groaning. As usual, the Forest Service thought it would take us at least two days to complete those two task. We did it in one and still had time to retag and clear the Tall Pines trail which goes around Ratcliff Lake.

After a night of violent thunder storms, we woke to a clear morning. The clearing and organizing the Forest Service's supply/lumber yard was a fall back task just in case we needed something else to do. While that was being done, two of us and the Forest Service personnel returned to the woods to take inventory of other bridges that needed attention. We identified at least two more days of work in bridge repair and trail clearing. This will be a task we'll take care of later in the year.

Six of us took a side trip Friday evening. We went to Crockett and ate at an excellent restaurant, "Tchoupitoulas". After supper we attended a concert at the Camp Street Cafe featuring Elena James. This fiddle player and singer plays for people like Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. She was great and brought the house down with her rendition of "Orange Blossom Special".

Another successful weekend. It was good to meet new members, and visit with those members we haven't seen in some time.

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.

CTTT and Austin Parks Foundation Sign Agreement

Austin Parks Foundation (APF) executive director Charlie McCabe (left) and Trail Tamers president Pat Dixon (right) signed the agreements between the organizations to work together on trail building projects. Trail Tamers will provide crew leader oversight and technical assistance on these projects and APF will provide the promotion and volunteer resources. The agreement intends to help both organizations ease their administrative efforts and help achieve their missions. The first joint projects will be Oct 6 (Pease Park), Nov 17 (Country Club Creek) and Dec 1 (Red Bud Isle).

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.