Little Mountain 10K Trail Run

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The Little Mountain 10K - The LM10K is a true trail run designed to challenge even the toughest of runners that features brutal uphill climbs to the top where amazing views of the Skagit Valley along with hydration and energy snacks await you. The return to the finish line is is a fast and technical downhill route back to bottom of Little Mountain.

Day of Race (Sept. 26th, 2015) Registration will be available at the START/FINISH from 7:30am to 9am - $40

This run is the same day as our second September trail building session. So on September 12th we will be working on the South side of Little Mountain Park in preparation. We hope our trail running community will lend a hand...

Below you can see the run route:

Looking at the topography you will see that the run it is mostly on advanced and "some expert" hiking trails.  For race info, or to register click below:

https://www.databarevents.com/littlemountain.

Trail Builder Training Session

The July 25th session was awesome; great weather (not too hot), we had a solid turnout with eighteen (18) trail work volunteers - and it was great fun. Below Jerry Granahan (our co-leader) has his arm around on of our new volunteers, Robert Latimer. On Robert's left is Isaac Cook (Jerry's grandson), and adjacent to them are Sisters Shelby Tennant and Kierstin Howlett - both from the Church of LDS.

In the background is John Erbstoeszer, Jerry's co-leader (in green), along with Sue Krienen (in yellow) of Shell Oil, and (in blue) Ken Bergsma. Ken is a former member of the Mount Vernon Parks Foundation.

It is great working with Ken again, in addition to the Foundation he helped us build steps on Fred's Trail. You've got to see those steps someday...

Ken and Sue worked together most of the day. By day's end their rock wall building skills were well-honed. Sue has also been out building with us in the past also, it was great having them back.

In this second image (below) Jerry shows me where he wants one of our "large" rocks. The loader we're using is a new diesel powered Dingo, a great machine that's provided by Birch Equipment at a "significant" discount. Their equipment discount was an in-kind donation toward the project we're working on, the HOP (Heart of the Park) Public Trail Facility.

That fundraising event was held last year, in June 2014. Thanks again Birch Equipment, and all other donors, supporters and event goers!

Below you can see we have two groups building rock walls, coming together from opposite directions. Kinsey (facing us) is supporting both teams with materials. He looks really serious in this photo, but he's not - lol.

Just below him is Maggie Sullivan, in the center is Tucker Latimer, and (on the right) Lynn Postler. Darn impressive work isn't it...

As an aside there was a remark made at the session, Maggie and Lynn were thought to be twin sisters. We all had a good laugh, and Maggie and Lynn loved that - they see themselves as sisters by choice.

In this fourth photo (below) Jerry is giving detailed instructions to Sue and Ken, putting a real emphasis on training this session. Only a sore back slows Jerry down. Both Jerry and John worked hard on training. Given our amazing results it appears we might want to maintain this focus in future sessions.

Here (below) Lynn shows us how it's done, always with a smile.

In this sixth image (below) Sue is chatting with her close friend and hiking buddy Liz McNett Crowl. Liz made and delivered a great lunch, thanks Liz!

Liz is founder and facilitator of BikeWalk Mount Vernon, an important local committee. She takes a great interest in all issues related to outdoor activities and trails. We are fortunate to have such an impassioned advocate as a friend. I am pleased to be a member of that committee, and we are both members of the Mount Vernon Parks Foundation.

Which reminds me, if helping advocate for local trails interests you please contact us...

Here John shows us that he too is a skilled (and very attentive) trainer. We're getting Robert started early as an equipment operator.

Here Robert shows off his new tee shirt. He and his dad spent their entire day working with us. Checkout our "almost" done parking area, we still have some steps to put in - but we're really happy with it. We'll finish it the second Saturday in September.  We are going into our vacation month, August.

In this eighth, and final photo (below) you can see the first car that drove into our newly improved parking area. It work (the lot), and darn it looks good. Thanks everyone for your hard work, it was another awesome session.

We hope to see many of you at our next volunteer session in September, and possibly at our hike with the Mayor next Saturday (8/1/15):

http://www.mountvernonwa.gov/index.aspx?NID=93

Work Session at Little Mountain Park's Main Gate

The July 11th session was a hot one. Our eleven (11) volunteers worked on the road crossing. In the following image John is compacting the final tread. And take a look at the rock-work that surrounds the culvert.  It was done by our Church of LDS volunteers, and it is beautiful. As a group their level of support has been remarkable, and they've become very accomplished.

In this second image (below) Kinsey and Maria widen the trail just above the crossing. The material they removed was moved down to the crossing.

And in this last photo you'll see the finished crossing, along with a handful of the volunteers that helped wrap it up. Other work (not shown) was wall building behind the parking area at Little Mountain Park's main gate and map kiosk.

Our next session is Saturday at 10:00 am on 7/25/15. It will be our last session for the summer, we take the month of August off.

We hope that you'll join us.

Work Session links HOP connector to La-Z-Boy trail

On this session, our second session in June we had seventeen (17) volunteers. And while this is a touch off our normal turnout we still had enough volunteers to break into two teams. One continued work on the capping of the HOP connector trail, the other worked on the road crossing - the one that joins the new connector trail and La-Z-Boy. It was a hot day so everyone enjoyed our iced beverages. And Leslie's homemade sandwiches, served along with chilled watermelon were great - thanks! Below you'll see John Erbstoeszer (in the cap), one of our core members and a volunteer coordinator, working with the Klein family; Nathan (on the left), Dave (center), and Zachary on the right. As you can tell by the work they are doing they too are veterans. They were doing the tread work on the new connector trail. Here they are spreading the crushed rock before compacting it.

In this second image (below) you'll see Marie Erbstoeszer wetting the crushed rock before we haul it in.

Below you will see Nathan compacting the leveled and well wetted crushed rock. While this is his first time on a compactor he looks like a pro.

In this fourth photo (below) Lynn Postler, another regular, is doing restoration work. After a new trail tread is complete we need to cover the bare soil with duff and leaves, covering the trail's edge which suppresses weed growth while restoring the trail's natural beauty. Nobody is better at this finishing work than Lynn...

And here (below) you'll see a section of the finished trail. The upper and lower trail sections are all capped, compacted and linked. All that is left now is to connect it to Little Mountain Road (a culvert must be put in by the City), and finish the road crossing at the park gate. So for now this trail dead ends, but we hope to be connecting it to the road soon.

In this next shot (below) you'll see the spot where the road crossing is being built. We have another ten (10) yards of material being delivered before our next session. More walls to build, some grades to change, and we have steps to build. With a little luck we hope to pretty much complete this road crossing next session.

And in this last image (below) you can better see how the two trails will connect. The brown bollard that marks La-Z-Boy is on the far side of the silver Honda.

Our next session is Saturday 7/11/15, we hope you'll join us.