Trail workday at Fernandez Ranch
After months of coordination and planning, BTCEB partnered with JMLT and the Contra Costa Composite MTB team for a trail workday at Fernandez Ranch on March 21. We ended up with 24 volunteers, including 15 riders and coaches from Contra Costa Composite, and we primarily focused on drainage work on Whipsnake Trail. In addition, BTCEB was also able to provide some support for an Eagle Scout project that was scheduled for the same day at Fernandez Ranch. That project involved replacing a couple of retaining walls on Woodrat Trail that were rotting and failing. Those retaining walls allow the trail to be wider, increasing safety for all trail users, and also prevent the trail from eroding into the adjacent gully.
A few of us went out on Friday morning and marked locations for drains along Whipsnake with flags to show the width of the drains we were hoping to cut, and we also cut one demonstration drain to help volunteers visualize the final product. Saturday’s workday started shortly after 9:00 AM with introductions and a safety briefing in the parking lot, and then we split the group into five different work teams, each led by one or two BTCEB trail crew leads. Everybody hiked about a half mile to the work area on Whipsnake for a demo to give everyone a clear idea of the day’s work. By the end of the workday, we had completed about 20 new or enhanced drains along Whipsnake. Where possible, we took soil excavated from drains and compacted that on the tread down trail to serve as slight grade reversals to work in combination with the nick drains. We also filled in a deeper rut toward the upper end of our work area.
Luckily our heat wave had been waning, so it wasn’t nearly has hot as it had been a few days earlier, and most of our work was done in areas that had at least some shade. The dirt in exposed areas had become very hard, so it would have been much harder to cut drains in that sun-baked soil. We had hoped that the conditions would have allowed more work to be done on drainage entering and exiting the sharper switchback turn, but it was too hard to dig there on this day.
Overall there was a lot of interaction between CCC riders and coaches and BTCEB members, and everybody had a good time while getting a lot of good quality work completed. At the end of the workday we had sandwiches, chips, and water waiting for us at the picnic area next to the parking lot. Special thanks to Jon Skramstad (CCC), Ricardo Black (JMLT) and Scott Bartlebaugh (BTCEB) for helping to coordinate this workday over the last few months. This was a great opportunity for disparate groups to come together for a great cause and we are looking forward to further collaboration with both groups in the future.
BTCEB was also able to provide some support for an Eagle Scout project that was scheduled for the same day at Fernandez Ranch. That project involved replacing a couple of retaining walls on Woodrat Trail that were rotting and failing. Those retaining walls allow the trail to be wider, increasing safety for all trail users, and also prevent the trail from eroding into the adjacent gully.
Armando Chavez, Director-at-Large
Scott Bartlebaugh, Advocacy Director
