Hardening Up Sugar City

This spring BTCEB volunteers completed an upgrade of the hardening on the upper start of the Sugar City trail at Crockett Hills Regional Park.  A chronically wet area due to a seasonal seep had been rock hardened a couple of seasons ago.  That rock hardening was out of character for the trail and, when the seep dried up, the ride line moved to the side of the hardening where the tread was smoother.  As often happens, wear patterns from trail users provided clear feedback: riders preferred the smoother route when it was available. Soooo … we pulled out the rock hardening this spring and replaced it with pavers.

We used interlocking pavers like those used by the EBRPD Roads & Trails Crew for stream crossings. We’d used these before on Soaring Eagle trail and they’ve been holding up well. They are a bit more work than the larger diamond block pavers, but they generally contour better to the trail. The park supervisor supplied the pavers we used again: thank you! This time the pavers delivered were 6″ thick instead of 4″ thick, so each block was 50% heavier than those from the pallet we worked with last time. So we’re now a little stronger from the increased workout if not a bit sorer and weaker of mind. The upside is that these pavers will be less likely to shift over time. The blocks are set over a 2-inch bed of 3/4″ gravel. We used the soil that we excavated for the paver installation to build up a roller down the trail by a nice oak tree and further down to rebuild a small berm.

Thanks to the volunteers that made this project happen this spring.  We hope to get more pavers from park staff this year to improve hardening on Warep trail across the valley and south of Sugar City. These hardening upgrades should help make these chronically wet spots rideable sooner after rains when the bulk of the trails have dried out, and should prevent seeps from creating ruts on these sections.

Photo credits to Rebecca Lewington and Dave Sturgis.

Scott Bartlebaugh, Advocacy Director

Recent trail work on Cinderella Trail

On Sunday, May 9, an enthusiastic group assembled on a perfect sunny day to do trail maintenance on Cinderella Trail in Joaquin Miller Park. The day’s tasks included cutting back vegetation — which inevitably includes poison oak — and moving dirt to improve drainage. BTCEB board members Scott Bartlebaugh and David Wilcox lead the work on two grade reversals which will move rainwater off the trail and eliminate a deep rut. The result was textbook, modern trail work that should stand up to heavy use for a few years. Building these structures is a lot more work than clearing out drains but they generally don’t need as much maintenance (and are more fun to ride over).

Further down the trail, Friends of JMP board member Bobbi Babineau-Lounds and longtime BTCEB member (and, so far, poison oak-resistant) Michael Leister trimmed back brush including some eye-level poison oak. Cinderella is one of the most popular trails in the park and bike speeds can be fast, so cutting back the shrubs to maintain sight lines is an important safety measure. The trail is open to all users and on some days as many hikers come up the trail as bikes go down. We also had attendance from members of the East Bay International School mountain bike team, including high school student Kyla Bush-King, who also just joined the BTCEB board as one of two youth board members.

Tom Gandesbery, Trails Director