Work On Bonnie & Clyde Trail and Julieann Reroute Completed

On January 10 the weather was fine and our turnout was great.  Starting 2015 with twenty-four (24) volunteers was far beyond our expectations.  We had a handful new faces, some high school students from Burlington and Mount Vernon, and of course a bunch of regulars - including our friend Art. Having this many volunteers allowed us to break into two groups, and complete two significant projects.  We finished everything that we had hoped to complete, which was a lot.  We finished the second reroute of Julieann, and built two large rock walls - so Bonnie & Clyde's and Julieann are both done.

Below you'll see Martin Dubek and Jerry Granahan, both standing above one of the two rock walls they built.  Not pictured is or friend Maggie Sullivan, she had just left - but had played a key role in the day's rock work.  Thanks Maggie!

Below is the second rock wall, look at the size of some of the rocks!

In this third image (below) you'll see one rock we used to build the above wall. This rock was on average about a foot thick.  The rock bar on top of it is six feet long, so you can see how big it was.  Breaking it up, moving it to where the walls were being built and setting each piece in place was no small task.  Nice work!

Unfortunately, like last time, not enough pictures were taken.  Everyone was working really hard, it was a great session.  Our reroute team did a great job too.  If there was a downside to this session it was my underestimating the number of volunteers we'd have.  We have volunteers that prepare and donate lunch, they need a fairly accurate estimate for planning purposes.

We had twice the number of volunteers I had expected, which is a great problem to have - but that meant we were short on soup.  As the saying goes, there are two types of estimates - lucky and lousy.  Sorry Jenny, it wasn't your fault...

But we had lots of donated Haggen pastries and Starbucks coffee.  So while we were a short on soup, I don't think anyone went away hungry.

So next session (1/24), as we hoped, we begin work on the Heart of the Park Public Trailhead Facility.  We will start by building the connector trail.  It will link the new lower trail head to the existing trails Up Only and La-Z-Boy.

We will meet and at the main park entrance, just below the yellow gate.  We hope to have another great turnout.  Thanks!

Finishing Up 2014 with "Youth United"...

On December 13 we had great weather and an excellent turnout.  With 15 volunteers we got lots done, completing two reroutes on Bonnie & Clyde's. In the following photo you'll see the west end of Julieanne has been relocated.  It no longer connects directly with Bonnie & Clyde's.  It now joins a hiking trail called the West Loop, which then connects to Bonnie & Clyde's.

Below you'll see the sign we installed at the old intersection.  We want to improve the trails, not confuse our friends using them...

Unfortunately few photos were taken.  Our photographer (Terry Afdem) was off skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho. We got busy and forgot to take photos.

In the following photo we have two MVHS students, Jacob Logue & Stryker Magneson, along with Emma Eide a new BEHS volunteer.  Jacob and Stryker have been helping us the last few years, both earning their MVTB tee shirts.

In total we had 9 high school students volunteering.  Of them 7 were from Burlington's Youth United program, the Varsity in Volunteerism club.

We really hope to see them again, there were all great!

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We will be breaking ground on a new "Major Project" in early 2015.  We are building what we call the Heart of the Park Public Trail Facility.

This is an exciting project, it will serve as the park's main trail head - and be located at the entrance to the park.  It will add parking, a restroom, and a bicycle skills park.  We hope young people take an interest in this project.  Not only in building it, but also in both the planning and design phases...

If this interests you please let us know.

Our next session is January 10, we hope to see many of you then.

Reroutes Completed On Bonnie & Clyde Trail

We widened and improved Bonnie & Clyde's in a few places this session. We're working hard to finish up the projects on the South side of Little Mountain. That's because early in the New Year we will begin work on the Heart of the Park (HOP) Public Trail Facility, a.k.a. the bicycle skills park. In the following photo you'll see our group at the session's start. Thanks Kaptein's Ace Hardware for the new buckets...

Below you'll see us standing at one of the spots that we widened. You might say, "I don't see anything that looks like work has been done." And that's exactly the point, to leave our work looking completely natural. Prior to widening the trail and removing a large root we know that several cyclists had crashed here. They literally fell off the trail and down the bank. We're pleased that none of these falls resulted in injuries.

Below is a second team, they were working on another trail section. They were setting 'large rock' to widen a section of the trail that cuts across a very steep hillside. It is amazing how many doctors we have helping us, frequently upwards of fifty percent - as is the case in this photo.

Our next session trail building session will be on December 13. We're finishing our year with Youth United as a featured group. With a good turnout we hope to finish Bonnie & Clyde's.

Local clubs help with work on Southern Connector Trail

Below you'll see the new connector trail we worked on. It is located above the Silver Arrow Bowmen Archery Range. While it is punched through, it is yet to be completed. Here Jerry's working in the background, with a Skagit Valley College Outdoor Club member up front.

Here's the rest of the Skagit Valley College Outdoor Club:

At lunchtime our Cub Scout group joined us (below):

And we received a generous donation. In the following photo our friend and volunteer, Dr. Martin Dubek presents us with a check for $250 from the Family Care Network. It came to us through their recently launched "small gift donation program". Each quarter their employees can nominate local organizations for a donation by FCN. The main criterion for consideration is that the organization helps support their mission for optimum health and wellness in the community.

Martin Dubek, MD nominated MVTB and we were selected as their "first-ever" recipient of this quarterly award! Thanks again Martin!

Their company and physicians have been very supportive, you might want to check them out: www.familycarenetwork.com.