Trail stewardship at Crockett Hills in 2023 finished up with a surge despite a rough start to the year. Sugar City saw two work days focused on rebuilding and re-shaping rollers, repair and extension of several berms along with drain improvements in those areas.
The rebuilding and reshaping of the rollers was aimed at making them flow better and more pumpable. They’re definitely riding differently and you may need to adjust your riding from what you’ve been used to with the flattened out beat down shaping. There are a few spots that lend themselves to more pop but in most cases it’s pump that’s available. Thus far we’ve just reached the first eastbound pass of rollers and the turns entering and exiting that stretch. A slide was cleared and tread reshaped back to the original line. Thank you to Ian Massey for lending his experience and eye on shaping the rollers. Let us know what you think of the reshaped rollers. As always it’s a work in progress.
Drainage issues are first and foremost the top trail stewardship work priority. Functioning drains allow a trail to be usable as soon as possible after rain, minimize wetspots, rutting, and erosion and therefore impact on the landscape and watersheds. A good drain is invisible to most users as it should be and appreciated by just a few dirt nerds. They aren’t sexy or cool but they are the trail workhouse behind good initial design. Our focus for years has been on drainage at Crockett Hills so it’s been nice to have drainage in good shape such that we could dedicate some time to riding features.
Several of the bermed turns are challenging since the original build has the low point in the turn instead of beyond the turn. This requires draining to the inside of the turn and then across the trail toward the exit of the turn before it has completely finished. We do our best to drain across as late in the turn as possible and minimize impact on the turn.
The start of 2023 was challenged by the dozen atmospheric rivers which saw 3 of our 4 large work days canceled due wet conditions. These historically have accounted for over half of our annual volunteer hours. Additionally the Briones Dig Days and increased advocacy efforts drew resources away from Crockett Hills . A November large work day was added and 3 weekday work sessions in November and December brought 2023 in at 532 volunteer hours, the second largest annual contribution at Crockett Hills. We’re looking forward to a productive 2024 and aiming to create more volunteer opportunities and better trail conditions.
Stay tuned to our Meetup for the larger trail work events and be sure to subscribe to our trail work email list if you want to hear about all of the other opportunities that are available.
