NOLS and AmeriCorps Volunteers At Little Mountain

Since our last blog update a great deal has happened. First, on 9/30 the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) came out for a special session. They worked really hard, completing a significant trail section. When finished this new multi-use trail connector will give our neighbors on the south side of Little Mountain their own trailhead. Unfortunately our friends from NOLS worked so hard that nobody took a moment to take a photo. At our last regularly scheduled session, Saturday 10/11 - WOW it rained hard! We were fortunate, we were at our awning enjoying hot coffee and fresh pastries when the downpour hit. We decided to let it blow over. It worked out well, pretty much passing before we went to work. Below you can see our 'completely finished' big switchback corner. We finished the rock wall and trail's tread last session, this session we restored the natural vegetation.

Below you'll see Bret and Paul (both AmeriCorps volunteers) and Caroline (with Youth United) transplanting ferns and other plants. Later they covered the bare mineral soil with duff, branches and deadfall:

Meanwhile (shown below) Paul and Cesar are working on the trail section that connects Bonnie & Clyde's to Sidewinder. It is great to have Paul back; he volunteered with us several years ago. Not only did he rejoin us, he brought us a hard working friend...

Below Matt and 'another' Paul are leveling and packing the soil we were moving down the new trail tread. The reroute worked out really well, both corners can now be ridden safely in both directions.

And in this last photo Lynn hides the prior route, she's really good at this...

We hope to see lots of you at our session this Saturday, October 25. While we will be meeting at our normal time, the location is different. We'll be working on the trail that will serve as our southern connector, starting at the Silver Arrow Bowmen Archery Range.

We have two featured groups joining us for this session; Skagit Valley College's Outdoor Club, and a group of Cub Scouts (arriving after lunch). To get to our session follow East Hickox Road 'nearly' to its end. To see a map of Little Mountain click on the following: http://mountvernontrailbuilders.com/map/.

Things in my view are going really well. And Art Tuftee agrees, so much so that he wanted to tell our story at the Washington State Trails Conference last week. We gave an hour long presentation on the work we've been doing here in Mount Vernon, and the support our community is showing for trails -- pretty cool. Thanks Art and Larry Otos!

I must admit, presentations (at least for me) are a little scary - lol...

Trail Builders Break Up & Move Large Rocks

Below you will see our volunteers clearing the extended routing of debris; deadfall, branches and duff. Having the opportunity to extend this corner was made possible by a cooperative effort. Our friend Hal Lee borrowed a GPS unit from the Skagit Land Trust (SLT) to help us determine the property line. This made it possible for the Mount Vernon Parks Department to approve the extended routing, which makes for a much better corner. The slop can be more gradual, making it safer and more sustainable. A special thanks to all involved.

And while the extended routing was being prepared native material was being prepared by Art Tuftee. As you can see, a battery operated roto-hammer is a wonderful tool. And look at the split rock in the foreground, ready to be moved down to the wall - but how you may ask...

While there are many methods for moving large rocks, below you'll see one of our favorites. Here Art carefully moves one of the rock halves down the hill and John Erbstoeszer looks on. Art is using one of our braking wheelbarrows that we find to be indispensable where motorized equipment can't be utilized. We built these wheelbarrows that have modified bicycle disc brakes on them.

Below you'll see Art moving on to the next "large" wall rock...

In the following photo Jerry Granahan (our crew leader) gets an opportunity to see what Art has been up to. He was wondering how Art kept coming up with such perfectly shaped rock...

In our last image below you will see the final corner's routing. At day's end, as is usual, our group's size was a touch smaller. Our volunteers come and go as they want, and their schedules permit. While pleased with the new routing, and the day's work - it is not finished yet. We still need to restore the surrounding areas to a natural form. We contour the surrounding areas that were modified. Then we pull duff (organic material) over it, along with leaves, bark, branches and other native materials. When we are done it will be restored 'as near as possible' to its original form, with one notable change - it will have a sustainable multi-use trail running through it...

On Tuesday, September 30th the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) will be volunteering. We are very excited about this new partnership. If the session goes as we expect, meaning they see value in the experience - it is possible that trail building will become part of their training. Only time will tell... Thanks for your interest in our work!

Bonnie & Clyde's Trail - This Rock Wall On Built In One Day!

As you will see below we had a very productive session:

This rock wall was built in this one session with thirteen (13) volunteers. This photo was taken at the end of the session so unfortunately not everyone was still there. Our goal was to take a problem corner on Bonnie and Clyde's and make it our best. We are about half way there; we will finish it at our next session which will be on Saturday (9/27).

In the next photo (below) Caroline Sandbo is filling buckets with material used to backfill behind the wall. Caroline is a freshman at Burlington-Edison High School, and is part of a new United Way program. It is referred to as Youth United, and gives young people an opportunity letter in volunteering. We think this is great program and have confidence it will help with our youth outreach. For more information please click on: http://www.unitedwayskagit.org/get-involved/youthunited/.

And in this last photo you'll see a first for us, dessert after lunch. Art Tuftee and Whidbey Island Ice Cream Company (http://whidbeyicecream.com/) teamed up to provide a real treat. Below you'll see our volunteers enjoying their ice cream bars, and yes - they are REALLY GOOD!

Volunteers Wanted to Work on Bonnie & Clyde's Trail

Yes we go back to work on Bonnie & Clyde's this coming Saturday, September 13th - our usual time at 10:00 am. We will be meeting at top of Little Mountain Park for this session. We will be working on a switchback that is just below our existing trail Sidewinder. Since the trail is open as we are finishing it we are working on the areas in need of the greatest improvement first. Lots to update you on, but we'll try to keep it short. First, the Heart of the Park Fundraising Event was a huge success. We have raised the money that we need to build phase one of the bicycle skills park, work is expected to begin either late this fall or early winter. It will be our next major project, one we are very excited about! Thank you to all of our donors, and attendee of the HOP event - we sincerely appreciate your support. And a special thanks to our double Platinum donors, the Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon and Walmart.

Last session we had the Kulshan Kids lending a hand. They helped us on a future project, a new connector that will link neighborhoods on the south side of Little Mountain. Here you see them arrive, with some of the group's leadership carrying healthy snacks.

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In this Terry Afdem photo we are having our safety meeting.

Here Jenny Sandbo leads our trailhead crew (our youngest volunteers) to their worksite.

Our youngest workers removing the organic material away from tree roots, and doing it with smiles on their faces.

And lastly, here Duff and Marie are leading our mining team. After utilizing a mound of good mineral soil (which packs nicely) we carefully decommission the site. Using native materials to build trails is a 'best practices' technique. We had a great time, and I believe the kids did also.

Also, since our last posts, we had the Mayor Wellness Challenge hike. In this photo (thanks again Terry), Mayor Jill address us at the East Trailhead before the hike.

This was our third hike with the Mayor, here you'll see our group shot.

And here we go, heading up the Nature Trail.