One Last Trail Crew

There was just enough time to get in one last trail crew day yesterday, in the hills above Napa. These local (for me) crews are organized through the Napa Parks and Open Space team, but often involve other entities as well.

This time we got to do something new--build a trail for mountain bikers.

Yes, the trail would also be used by hikers, but this one is a trial effort to build something that mountain bikers might really enjoy, complete with a jump on one of the downhill sections. That jump turned out to be a large step--too large to be comfortable for a hiker with sore knees--and complete with a carefully sculpted banked turn leading into it.

And then we addressed a couple of season stream crossings. These are always a mess on bike trails, because they turn into muddy morasses. Not ours. As you can see in the photo, we built a "Roman Road" solution, complete with massive boulders on the downhill side, and good-sized rocks set tightly together for the rest. It's not finished--we still need to extend it a bit more, and add in gravel in the cracks, but it's well on its way.

As usual, the team was great. It included local hikers, a couple of guys from a nearby Coast Guard station, a national park ranger, a local artist, etc. You do meet the nicest people on a trail crew. And they view from this trail (not yet open to the public) from the Soscol Headwaters park, are sensational on a clear day! That's Mt Tamalpais and the North Bay above...but we also had views of Mt. Diablo, Mt. St. Helena, and a view east that can include the Sierra on a clear day.